Tag: IRIB

Broadcaster Khiabani shocks the system.

The banning of Javad Khaibani’s activities on official media seems to be ruled out with the renowned broadcaster appearing on Channel 3 and also on Sports Network’s program.

Javad Khayani’s recent statements in one of the special talk shows of the Home Show Network, in which he quite fearlessly highlighted the economic plights of his countrymen, corruption in sports, and multiple system failures, had created speculations that his activities would be banned on television and also in other visual media.

But on Wednesday, the telecast of the friendly football match between the Manchester City and Bayern Munich teams ended those speculations with Khabani reporting on the game for the TV channel.

The Iranian regime has a habit of blanking its critics and forcing the media to stop publishing images or quotes. The most famous of these critics in recent times is none other than Ali Karimi, who has turned into a cult hero following his harsh criticism against the regime for the oppression of women and the wide corruption. Karimi, the former Captain of Team Melli, Bayern Munich, and Persepolis player left the country fearing for his life.

Khiabani, the veteran TV broadcaster, had some hard words for the authority in a recent TV show reflecting on the plight of Iranians and how the system prevents their progress in all fields.

After this harsh talk, there were calls by hardliners to ban Khiabani.

The regime is well-known to have zero tolerance for public criticism, even the constructive type. It is especially sensitive to celebrities, sports personalities, and Artists, many of whom have been banned for speaking out against the regime practices in the aftermath of Mahsa Amini’s death in police custody.

Adel Ferwosipour is another broadcaster who is currently on the blacklist and has not been seen on TV for a long time since his quite famous and controversial TV show ‘Navad’ has been taken off the air.

IRIB, the official government broadcasting apparatus, is under the control of Ayatollah Ali Khamenai’s office. Policies and direction are scrutinized and channeled toward being a propaganda machine for the Iranian regime., The TV programs have an immense amount of religious content and the screens are mostly colonized by the Shia clergy giving sermons to a population that is living under extremely harsh economical conditions.

Despite Khiabani’s brave words, some cynics in social media have accused the broadcaster and his masters of staging this show. Those people believe that there is no way anyone dares to talk so openly criticizing the system with the approval of the regime’s security agents who have permanent residency in the IRIB properties.

Iran is the 4th worst country on World Press Freedom Index with Vietnam, China, and North Korea being worse.

Azadi is confirmed as the venue for the Syria game, without the fans!

After several years of struggles and follow-ups, Tehran is finally confirmed as the host of Iran’s home matches in the FIFA World Cup 2022  Qatar in the qualifying round.

Shahabuddin Azizi Khadem, said about the plans of the national football team: “an important event just happened after years as we finally gained our right to host the first game against Syria in Tehran, which can help Team Melli a lot.”

Azizi Khadem, then went on to brief the reporters about the preparation plans for the game He added: “With intensive and scientific planning in the new management of the federation and the official support that we have realized, it is now possible for our fans to watch their national team in a competitive match. A lot of effort has been made in this regard. I would also like to thank the Radio and Television Organization for its excellent cooperation with us in this regard. We have set up a special staff to prepare for the World Cup, and Mr. Foroughi is present on behalf of the IRIB. We hope that other government officials will be added to the committee in our headquarters. Football is the manifestation of our national unity.”

The president of the federation said ” all the work of the issue of visa to attend for the Syrian delegation has been carried out and handed over to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Syrian team will arrive on Monday, August 28th. Observers and the refereeing team will also travel to Tehran. Everything is well planned and we are all ready for the game in Azadi against Syria.”

Azizi Khadem then carried on praising the effort of his management is arranging the match in Azadi, suggesting that many countries have been deprived of hosting due to Covid19.

Regarding fans’ attendance, Azizi Khadem stated regarding the presence of spectators in the matches hosted by Iran: in consultation with AFC, which has its own restrictions,  in order to comply with the regulations and satisfy the public opinion, it is unlikely that the fans will be allowed.

“After that, we have to travel to Doha, and the third game is in the UAE and the fourth game is here against South Korea, we will probably be able to allow those who were vaccinated with a special card to gain entry. “

The president of the FFIRI substituted the fans who are customarily considered as the 12 players at home games, with the Head of IRIB!!!

He said: “The twelfth friend was the emphasis of the president of the Radio and Television Organization”

Aziz Khadem’s praise to the head of IRIB that has never paid a single dollar for TV broadcast rights and practically owes football tens of millions of dollars in back pay is a true sound of desperation in a country where the one and only broadcaster considers itself above the law.

This time, there was no other option. It was either IRIB pays for the broadcast to AFC and FIFA or Iran will not be granted any rights to play its home game in Tehran. It is not clear if FIFA is compensated by IRIB for illegally broadcasting official matches without paying the right.

IRIB

The football league committee of FFIRI has agreed to the request by Channel 3 (Sports Program) to change the kick-off time of two matches involving Iran’s two most popular clubs Esteghlal and Persepolis, as IRIB did not want the matches played in the Persian Gulf league to clash with the Euro 2020 live broadcast.

In most countries, such requests are normal and mostly accommodated, because the chunk of football revenue that ends up in the clubs’ coffers are due to the TV broadcast rights. IN Iran, it is unique. IRIB is known to be the biggest debtor of football and does not pay a single Rial for broadcasting football matches on its channels.

Television broadcast rights all over the world are the biggest source of income for professional clubs and can be more than 50% of their total income. This explains how freely the English clubs spend money to buy players or how the 24 Championship clubs participate in the heaviest league in the world to advance to the English Premier League with its riches due to the Broadcast rights. With the large amount of money awarded to the clubs, not only the English Premier League can afford to buy the most expensive players, but a significant portion of their revenue is invested in the development of the young players, training facilities, and stadia. This automatically helps in raising the standards and making English football one of the most competitive. Switch to any TV Sports pay channel, and there is a good chance that it carries the English Premier League, where the TV station has to spend around 350 million pounds for a season for such rights.

The same applies to the Splansh La Liga, The German Bundesliga and the Italin Serie A.

What is happening in Iran regarding football matches broadcasting?

In Iran, the situation is quite different, and not only does the official and the sole broadcaster IRIB has a monopoly on radio and television broadcasts but also does not pay anything to the football federation and the league organization to broadcast domestic football competitions.

It has also been known that IRIB even demands payment from clubs to broadcast their games. These are games other than Persepolis or Esteghlal which IRIB does not think it is viable commercially.  The broadcast organization IRIB (Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting), is directly under the control of Ayatollah Khamenei. Not only it does not pay the domestic football matches broadcasting, but it also refuses to pay for broadcasting international competitions and illegally broadcasts many games on its channels. This practice has been going on for many decades.

Now, however, IRIB, with complete impunity and arrogance, has the audacity to demand changes in the league program to suit itself rather than the Premier League competitions and the FFIRI obliged. The issue begins when the federation announced on Monday in a news item that because of the Channel 3 network requirement to broadcast the Euro 2020 semi-final games, it asked the league organization to change the kick-off time of Esteghlal-Trakctor and Foolad-Persepolis games, which was immediately approved by the league organization.

It was incredible that the Football Federation and the League organization agreed to the demands of IRIB, while IRIB  has not bought the broadcast rights for Euro 2020!!

The audacity of IRIB is beyond belief. Because it does not report to the government and is under the control of Ayatollah Khamenae it makes its own rules, publishes inaccurate and misleading information, while always seemed immune from prosecution under the country’s laws unlike any other media outlet in Iran. Of course, there is no expectation from a broadcaster that does not apologize for any of its big and small mistakes.

While common sense says that the FFIRI should object and turn down these demands because of the refusal of the official broadcaster to pay broadcasting rights, the opposite has happened!!

Azizi Khadem regularly mentions IRIB in good terms and goes as far as thanking the head of the Radio and Television Organization at every opportunity he gets! We still remember how Azizi Khadem, board members of FFIRI, and management of Team Melli paid a courtesy visit to Ali Asgari the President of IRIB four days before the trip to Bahrain to award IRIB the title of the “twelfth man of Team Melli” and gifting him a Team Melli Jersey with No. 12 printed on it!

Amazing how things work in Iran. While IRIB persistently refuses to pay for broadcasting matches of Team Melli and the league, while the same organization makes millions in advertising revenue during the televising of these matches, while for decades the FFIRI management demanded its rights from IRIB and was turned down and even threatened, this Management or Azizi Khadem in particular, is giving IRIB a seal of approval for violating international norms and laws and recognizing Iran’s football biggest debtor as the “twelfth friend”! This indicates how rotten is the system of governance in FFIRI as Az=izi Khadem is looking beyond Presidency of a football federation at the time when he will be kicked out of his office and will be looking for a new job.

Persian Gulf League in action again.

The 15th season of Iran’s premiere league (Persian Gulf Professional League) will start in earnest from tomorrow Thursday 30th July 2015.

16 teams will be battling it out for the ultimate prize of lifting the Championship title and challenging the holder Sepahan Esfahan, the team with the most honors in the history of the league. The Esfahani team has been consistently challenging for the title since the start of the new league system, and has managed to win a record breaking 5 titles with 1 runner up and one third place positions. As such Foolad Mobarekeh Sepahan is the most decorated team of the league.

Sepahan won the league in style

The Defending Champions

No doubt that Sepahan will continue on the same trail this season with nearly same squad that won the title in the previous season under the leadership of Coach Hossein Faraki. The ex-Team Melli striker is building a deservedly good reputation for himself in Iran’s football by winning his second title in a row with two different clubs. The soft spoken coach has kept faith in the title winning squad and refrained from indulging in any business in the transfer market. No doubt that a fit again Navidkia will assist Sepahan further in this edition. The frail and injury prone Captain of the team was absent for many matches last season.

 

Branko Ivankovic ^ Ali Daei 2006
Branko Ivankovic Persepolis Coach

Persepolis

Persepolis, the most popular team in Iran along with Esteghlal, have been having torrid few seasons with changes in personnel occurring on regular basis. This club has so disappointed it millions of fans that the usual crowd of red army that used to paint Azadi in red has virtually disappeared. The Club numerous problems off the field, was further complicated the issue by some on the field transgressions of some players acting unruly and suffering from ill- disciplined. Poor appointments in coaching and administrative staff has furthered deteriorated the team to the extent that it was fighting for survival near the end of the last league season. Branko Ivankovic was recruited to replace the struggling Hamid Derakhshan. The Croat has maintained the league status of Persepolis and avoided the relegation, however, this season, there is little indication that the team will be decidedly better than last season.

Esteghlal goals rush unlikely

The Blues of Esteghlal

Esteghlal, forever a title contender, had a disappointing last season under Amir Ghalenoei who was eventually replaced by Parviz Mazloomi. The club has a tendency to stick to its own and picks coaches from the plethora of ex and retired players rather than seek professional and experienced coaches elsewhere. Mazloomi last stint as Esteghlal coach ended bitterly when bad results and losses against much weaker teams started a semi revolt in the stands by the blues fan who demanded his removal. The squad for this season has not seen major changes however the loss of two Team Melli players in Sadeghi and Beigzadeh to Saba and lack of real fire power in the offensive line could limit the chance of Esteghlal in challenging for the title.

Like Persepolis, Esteghlal is another organization in real administrative, financial and ,management difficulties.


[box title=”

Leauge Stats

” style=”soft” box_color=”#c8c8ba” title_color=”#0d0c0c” radius=”5″]You can follow the Persian Gulf Pro League results and tables in www. teammelli.com all the time. Simply check the “Supplements” menu and select Persian Gulf League , or go to https://www.teammelli.com/the-persian-gulf-league[/box]

The League Committee

Despite gradual improvements in the organization of the league each new season, football in Iran is still behind the overall standard of rival Asian countries and the neighboring Persian Gulf states. Most of the facilities and the stadiums lack the international standards. Mercifully, AFC pressure has forced the Iranian authorities into action. The Asian ruling body plays a major role in forcing the Iranians to improve standards and facilities like the recent ruling by the AFC and insistence to install seats in the stadiums rather than the fans endure the hardship od sitting on scorching cement slabs.

One of the weaknesses of last season was the periodical stoppage of the season for Team Melli training camps which resulted in unanimous outcry by the coaches and teams. Those league stoppages were demanded by Carlos Queiroz as conditional for Team Melli survival in the World Cup. With no World Cup in 2016 , it is hoped that the season will continue without much interruption that hurts team’ momentum.

The blues

 

Attendances

Last season suffered from lack of interest by the fans. Factors that has affected the poor attendances varied amongst the major ones were; shortages of quality games, dearth of exciting players or games to attract the crowds, failure of the two most popular teams to shine which dampened the enthusiasm of their huge number of followers, match organizers lack of respect and appreciation of fans comfort and finally the broadcast of major European leagues matches on TV. Sepahan traditional never matched the fans base of the big two and their remote stadium has played a major role in the paltry attendance figures. The only team that made a difference and kept the league stands alive was Tractorsazi with its phenomenal and passionate crowds. No team has away travelling support either as the team from Tabriz. This season, despite the disappointing finish of last, should see the Azerbaijani fans flocking back once again to the Yadegar Imam stadium. The rest of the stadiums in Iran are a matter of hit and miss.

Celebration Tractorsazi style

Broadcast rights.

 Amongst the peculiarities of football in Iran is the TV and non-payment of broadcast fees.

In Iran, there is one government owned and run organization that has unjustifiably and unfairly taken full advantage of football enjoying a free ride for decades without paying anything in return. IRIB, the TV and Radio monopoly, has flatly refused to entertain any demands for payment to the league clubs or the FFIRI for broadcasting league or Team Melli matches a system that is globally implemented. IRIB, argues that it is providing a free service for fans and clubs alike and not charging the viewers, so it does not find any justification for paying while it is not charging subscription fees. In the in the contrary, IRIB thinks that it has to be paid because it is doing a favor for the clubs!.

IRIB conveniently, opportunistically and deviously ignored the millions of dollars that it has received from TV advertisers when broadcasting football matches.

This stand of arrogance and egotism by IRIB resulted in tension in the league and spilled out in the parliament and the media with various heated debates. IRIB is an organization which is strongly supported and protected by the by the highest of the hierarchy in the regime. It has dodged all attempts by all sides including the Iranian parliament to pay for broadcasting rights that is believed to have earned it coffers millions of dollars in return. Even an attempt to a TV black out and ban of cameras in stadiums, which only lasted for one round, did not dislodge the IRIB from its position. The IRIB simply brushed such a move as a minor inconvenience!

Good news of this season, however, is that IRIB finally agreed to pay for the broadcast of matches. The figures are closely kept secret and many insiders believe that it is nowhere near the true value of the league. In any case, it is a step forward and this might be a beginning of a new era for many clubs with huge financial difficulties (read the majority of the clubs) to get some return from TV broadcast rights.

Team Melli Players

10 out of the 32 players that donned Iran’s Team Melli jersey have changed club so far. There are expected to be a few more changes as several players have not agreed terms with their present clubs while many other countries have not started the season yet..

 

The full list of Team Melli player is as follows:

 

# Players Name Previous Team Current Team
1 AMIRI, Vahid Naft Tehran Naft Tehran
2 ANSARIFARD, Karim Osasuna Rah Ahan
3 AZMOUN, Sardar FC Rostov FC Rostov
4 BEIGZADEH, Hashim Esteghlal Saba Qom
5 BIRANVAND, Alireza Naft Tehran Naft Tehran
6 DEJAGAH, Ashkan Al Arabi Al Arabi
7 EBRAHIMI, Omid Esteghlal Esteghlal
8 EZZATOLLAHI, Saeid Athletico Madrid FC Rostov
9 FOROUZAN, Mohsen Esteghlal Esteghlal
10 GHAFOORI, Vourya Sepahan Esfahan Sepahan Esfahan
11 GHOOCHANNEJAD, Reza Al Wakra Al Wakra
12 HAGHIGHI, Alireza FC Penafiel  FC Penafiel 
13 HAJSAFY, Ehsan Sepahan Esfahan Sepahan Esfahan
14 HASSANZADEH, Masoud Zob Ahan Zob Ahan
15 HEYDARI, Khosrow Esteghlal Esteghlal
16 HOSSEINI, Jalal Al Ahli Naft Tehran
17 JAHANBAKHSH, AliReza NEC NEC
18 KANANI, Mohammad Hossein Malavan Malavan
19 KHANZADEH, Mohammadreza Persepolis Foolad Kuzestan
20 MOHAMMADI, Milad Rah Ahan Rah Ahan
21 MONTAZERI, Pejman Umm Salal Al Ahli
22 NEKOUNAM, Javad Osasuna Saipa
23 POOLADI, Mehrdad Al Shahaniya Al Shahaniya
24 POURALIGANJI, Morteza Tianjin Teda Tianjin Teda
25 RAFIEI, Sourosh Foolad Khuzestan Foolad Khuzestan
26 REZAEIAN, Ramin Rah Ahan Persepolis
27 SADEGHI, AmirHossein Esteghlal Saba Qom
28 SHARIFI, Mehdi Sepahan Esfahan Sepahan Esfahan
29 SHOJAEI, Masoud Al Shahaniya Al Shahaniya
30 TAREMI, Mehdi Persepolis Persepolis
31 TEYMOURIAN, Andranik Tractorsazi Tabriz Umm Salal
32 TORABI, Mehdi Saipa Saipa

The future of Persepolis and Esteghlal clubs in the balance!

After the failure of the government to find buyers for the two major Iranian clubs, Persepolis and Esteghlal, Seyed Jafar Sobhani, the advisor to the head of the privatization committee of the government warned of the possibility of liquidating both clubs!.

The privatization of Persepolis and Esteghlal has been talked about for decades since Hashemi Rafsanjani’s era.  Subsequent governments, due to political reasons, were reluctant to make any serious attempt to release and privatize the clubs. Despite public claims that privatization was to go ahead pending administration and financial issues, each government found some reason not to carry any meaningful work. Nearly 15 years later since the first talk of Persepolis and Esteghlal being handed to private investors or the public, the current government made the most genuine attempt so far to finally offload these two poorly run and financially bankrupt entities from the books of the government.

Forced by economic hardship after the remarkable drop of oil revenue, the government flouted the political reservations of the privatization issues and fast tracked attempts to attract potential investors.

 The Ministry of Finance announced the price for the two clubs in a bid to attract investors, but no one came forward to the great disappointment of the government. A number of reasons were behind the lack of any interest by investors to acquire the clubs. The initial price were set quite high according to many potential investors, however , the most pressing issue remains the outstanding debts, especially by Persepolis whose CEO is in jail due to financial irregularities , and whether the government is willing to release both clubs debt free. The details are still sketchy on the issue although some officials have been quoted that the government will indeed work towards clearing most of the debts, believed to be in millions of US dollars.

Some Persepolis ex-footballers formed a group which demanded that the government should hand the clubs to them for free, to manage and run it just because a few decades ago, they used to play for the team and are fans for life!

To sweeten the deal further, Seyed Jafar Sobhani , the Adviser declared that the government is prepared to offer credit facilities to the buyer and extend the payment period of the deal from 2 years to 4 years from the date of the purchase while lowering the initial payment to 20% of the total price which remains unchanged.

“Legally, these two clubs have a license to operate until 21st July 2015. The government is not willing to continue operating and running the clubs, so if buyers cannot be found beyond that date, both clubs will go into liquidation. This is nothing new and we have faced this situation before.”   Sobhani added.

In private, most of the potential buyers of Persepolis and Esteghlal fear that the government will not truly wipe its hands off the two clubs even after privatization. It will continue meddling and interfering to ensure compliance with the party line. As such , the authorities can always make it difficult for the clubs to be survive and run independently of the government guidelines. Other financiers’ claims that neither of the clubs are commercially sound investments even after the clearing of the debts by the government. The running expenditure, especially the contract and wages of the playing staff and coaches, far exceed the actual and forecasted revenues.  Unless there is a wholesale clearance and contract re-negotiations at much lower rates, it is impossible to balance the books at both clubs. Failure of marketing personnel of both clubs, which was limited to shirts sponsorship deals, have prevented a sizable revenue for the clubs and instead the two clubs administrations built a dependency on government handouts, which was much easier task.

The TV revenue that many investors have been looking at as a potential attraction remains on the balance after the talk failures between FFIRI and the IRIB.  The two sides continue to disagree on the terms with each accusing the other of hindering the closing of a deal.

 

TV blackout continues in Iran.

Ali Kaffashian , the President of FFIRI has warned football fans that there will be no TV coverage of football league matches anytime soon. “Those who want to watch football, need to go to the stadiums because we have not reached any agreement to resolve the dispute between us and IRIB” Kaffashian announced after the meeting with Ezzatollah Zarghami the head of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB).

Zarghami with Seyyed Ahmad Khomeini

When asked by reporters what was the outcome of the meeting between the two parties regarding the TV broadcast, Kaffashian said that they simply exchanged views and no serious discussion on the issue of TV broadcast value was discussed! The meeting was the last one in a series that was supposed to resolve the issue of payment by IRIB for broadcast rights. IRIB strongly disagrees with the FFIRI valuation of the TV rights and described it as unreasonable and beyond the capabilities of the TV and Radio organization. The gap between the IRIB expectation and the FFIRI is quite large while mediators suggested the interference of the government and the parliament.

IRIB is the singular broadcaster in Iran and has complete monopoly on TV and Radio services.   Most of the clubs in Iran are also run, owned or financed by the government directly or indirectly. The situation is quite peculiar in Iran as the government, despite being theological and run according to Islamic principles which translates into free market, in reality the government has direct or indirect in control on every key commercial, business, media , sport  activities  and organizations that have impact on the country’s political or commercial interest. The concept on NGO is hardly applied in Iran while the population is brought up with a mentality of government welfare expectation.

Adel Ferdowsipour , for the first time, tackled the issue on Monday night through the popular Navad TV show. The issue of TV blackout and broadcast rights became a challenge for NAVAD and its anchorman Ferdowsipour who was defied by many reporters to have enough courage and discuss the issue openly on the popular program with tens of millions of viewers every week. It became a question of trust in the program and the impartiality of Ferdowsipour as a person who is looked upon as instigator of many behind the scene issues in Iran’s football politics and the person who has revealed many shortcomings , inadequacies  and even corruption in the most popular sport in Iran.

 Ferdowsipour addressed this challenge and the whole program was nearly dedicated to the issue with the main guest being none other than the opposition in the shape of Mehdi Taj , the head of the football league commission of FFIRI.Adel ferdowsipour

The long debate and exchange of thoughts, ideas and data between the two sides did not result in any practical solution. While IRIB believes that there should be a Broadcast Right for football, it vehemently disagrees with the figures that are demanded by the FFIRI and clearly informed FFIRI that its football standards and values should not be compared to those of Major European luges  like the English EPL or the Spanish La Liga.  A short report in the program highlighted the lack or even the nonexistence of any meaningful marketing activities by many Iranian clubs apart from shirt sponsorships. Instead, the clubs are looking for easy money and the least effort to get that, claimed the report. By receiving financial support from the owners, which are mostly government owned organizations, they are now again extending their hands to the government to receive substantial funds by the way of bloated TV right broadcast demands. “Many clubs live beyond their means. While the incomes of these clubs are negligible in business terms, their expenditure are quite high with millions of dollars payment for players and coaches. When the cash eventually dries out, which is a regular occurrence in Iranian clubs, they naturally resort to government to bail them out.”

The head of IRIB is appointed by the leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khamanei.  Zarghami was appointed for a 5 years period by the leader. His mission and goal is quite clear which is to spread the religious ideas/sermons and implant the regime’s ideology into every Iranian home. The ex- revolutionary guard and an engineer by qualification is closely connected to the religious hierarchy and considered as a fundamentalist. However, despite much criticism by the liberals against his appointment, Zarghami managed to improve the services of the TV in many areas but all that falls short of the standards of the media in the west and the democratic nations. When it comes to sport, Zarghami is an avid sport fan, but the insiders say that his favorite sport is Volleyball not football. Whether his leaning towards Volleyball, which has attracted the attention of the sport world towards Iran’s after the remarkable run of Iran’s volleyball team at global stage, has any influence in the negotiations between IRIB and FFIRI is not known. Despite the lack of reliable sources, it is believed that both the regime Hierarchy and IRIB in the figure of Zarghami,  do not believe that football has brought enough glory to the nation despite the huge influx of resources compared to a sport such as volleyball, to merit huge investments and payout. They simply believe that the return on Investment (ROI) on football is poor and much below expectation.

Effect of TV blackout on Team Melli

With the TV black out of football matches in Iran after the dispute between FFIRI and the official broadcaster IRIB over broadcast rights, no matches was transmitted live last week and it seems that the confrontation between the two parties will prolong even further.

Perhaps many fans will be upset by this blackout, however this could send more of them to watch the matches in the stadium, although only 5000 fans turned out to watch Persepolis in Azadi last game which was blacked out. Amongst the stakeholders who will be hurt by this TV black out is Team Melli coaching staff headed by Carlos Queiroz.

The Portuguese has not been much of a fan of domestic football and does not value the Iranian league much. His appearances in Azadi to watch matches are quite rare and in one or two cases he was even caught off yawing or dozing during the matches. However, Queiroz always claims that his assistants are always collecting videos of the matches for analysis or attend in person to look for new talents.

With the lack of TV coverage, Queiroz assistants need to be hyper active to watch the matches across Iran, something that seems to be out of reach for the coaches in practical terms.

While some critics are alarmed that Queiroz and his team of assistants will be deprived of watching up and coming players for Team Melli, there are others that believe that the TV black out will not affect Team Melli at all as Queiroz will stick to his old guard of tried and trusted players. Those would be the players he took to the World Cup. Inclusion of the new faces for the Portugal camp was just a cosmetic operation as it is hardly improbable that Queiroz will make a major change in his lines up, according to the other camp.

Snobish IRIB disputes FFIRI figures in demands for TV rights.

 

In a letter to the football federation , Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) has dismissed the football federation demands on the TV rights and offered its own figure.

After demanding a fee equivalent to US$ 68 million from IRIB and the threat by Ali Kaffashian that unless the broadcaster pays up , TV cameras and crews will not be allowed in the stadiums, IRIB where unperturbed and ignored Kaffashian’s threat (then again , nobody takes him seriously , it seems)

The head of IRIB responded to the incumbent football boss reminding him of the lawful state and legal obligations.

“IRIB is the sole service provider of the Radio and Television services and stations in Iran. This right is mandated by the country’s constitution. The football federation in no position to disobey such law. We like to remind you that the IRIB through decades of excellent coverage, has played a major role in popularizing the sport of football in the country , without which the sport would have not reached such a stature” IRIB responded.

“However , as to help the football federation , IRIB is willing to pay the equivalent of US$ 8 million as a token of support.”

In reality , IRIB is saying that it needs not to pay anything to broadcast the football matches, as it is the sole provider. There is no other option for TV coverage unless there is a change of law. Understanding this point and making it quite clear to Kaffashian , the IRIB absolute and unequivocal Monopoly means that it can legally refuse to pay the federation and stop broadcasting football matches.

Everyone knows that suspending TV broadcast of football events will be disastrous for football in Iran, which at the moment is not very popular with the Iranians due to multiple negative events news , strong suspicions of wide spread corruption, under the counter payments, discovery of fake “Military release certificates, and other violation of many other laws by clubs and players.

 

The FFIRI demands and claims and the refusal of IRIB to budge is becoming an annual ritual. FFIRI never acted on its threats to ban the camera crew, and IRIB know that fact pretty well. Being the monopoly , IRIB is pretty confident that it , rather than FFIRI will dictate the conditions, the payments and write the rules.

MBC has signed a 10 years agreement to cover the Saudi Arabian football league. The contract is worth US$ 1 Billion for 10 years. According to AFC analysis, the Saudi league has the second best in Asia while Iran is the fifth. However , in attendance figure , Saudi Arabia is way behind Iran.