Perspolis club has signed a 9 years old Iranian kid from Ardabil on a 10 years contract.

Amir Hossein Hajizadeh (b0rn 2004) , who shot to instant fame after a clip of his trickery in football was shown in Navad TV show, and subsequently made YouTube,  is believed to be the youngest ever footballer in Iran to sign a semi-professional contract. The boy will continue his normal childhood growing , attending school and playing football with other kids, however , under the term of the contract, Perspolis will supplement his living with extra education (English language tuition) and appointing of a Perspolis coach.

As such , the young Hajizadeh will be playing for Perspsolis until he is 19 by which time the club assumes that they can sell him to a European team if he maintains and develop his footballing skills.

The boy was introduced to the club by Ali Daei, who is an Ardabili himself. Club CEO was quickly off the mark to take advantage and bring the boy under the Perspolis club umbrella.

Tehran

Perspolis management is on the defensive.

Three major events involving Perspolis football club, forced the management of the club into reaction. By the issue of a communique , Perspolis club is hoping to clear its stance , respond to criticism from various sides against it and finally to defend both the coach Ali Daei and the CEO Mohammad Rouyanian.

The catalyst was the events of Sepahan vs. Perspolis match in the league, a match where Perspolis lost 2-0. The whole fracas started in the first few minutes of the match in Esfahan, when the referee awarded Sepahan a penalty and handed Maysam Hosseini the defender who committed the foul, a red card for kicking a Sepahan player. Apparently before that kicking incident, there was a scuffle with pushing and pulling between Hosseini and Sepahan and Team Melli defender Shojaa Khalilzadeh. Perspolis claim that the foul was initially committed by Khalilzadeh and he should have been yellow carded. Neither the referee nor the linesman did notice the original alleged foul due to the large number of players in the Perspolis box. However, what Ghahremani saw was a clear kick by Hosseini , which was confirmed by the TV camera. Daei hit the roof when he saw his defender being dismissed, but that was nothing compared to his reaction in the post-match press conference. Daei accused the referee of corruption and bias, claiming that he knew that Ghahremani will lean towards Sepahan from the night before. Based on those serious allegations, FFIRI investigated the whole affair demanding evidence and material witness from Perspolis. Yesterday, the verdict was out, at least provisionally. FFIRI disciplinary committee suspended the referee and his two assistants plus two Perspolis personal, but for events that were not directly related to the Sepahan match.

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The second event came during and after Perspolis match against Saba in the city of Qom.  There is no love lost between Saba coach Mohammad Mayeli-Kohan and Perspolis coach Ali Daei. Their long running feud is a well-covered general knowledge in Iran as both take each opportunity to have a go at each other , although the records shows that Mayeli-Kohan more often than not , is the provoker of these tongue slashing .

Before the match, Mayeli-Kohan has expressed his concern about Ali Daei’s tactics and the methods he is employing to influence referees. Without naming Daei, Saba coach said that attacking referees in the media, accusing them of corruption without producing evidence and tarnishing their image will automatically generate fear factor in the referees and as such, they will feel immense pressure and would be very careful not to upset a team that has clout, influence and support.

Like a well written scenario, the fears and concerns of Mayeli-Kohan of Daei’s methods on influencing the referee materialized during the match. Mayeli-Kohan who was sitting on the bench and did operate in the technical area unlike Daei who was constantly standing and guiding his team, suddenly rushed madly towards the touchline. What triggered that was Daei’s protest against one of the referee’s decision which Mayeli-Kohan took an exception to and thought of it as a classical Daei pressure tactics to influence the referee, which he already warned about before the match started. The two coaches nearly clashed and had to be separated with Mayeli-Kohan seemingly quite graphical and enraged while pointing angry fingers at Daei and the referee.

In the post-match conference and the following days, the two coaches exchanged all sort of accusations reaching a level of mediocrity that has been rarely seen in Iran’s football.  Like always, the opinions were divided about whose fault is this one now. Mayeli-Kohan camp also accused Daei of siphoning money and appointing a family member (his brother, Mohammad Daei) without proper football coaching credentials , as an assistant coach  in Perspolis.  That was probably the last straw for Daei who embarked on an unprecedented verbal attack on his longtime foe. The media, especially those who always seek sensationalism in Iran had a field day quoting the two sides in their publications and fueling the fight.

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Then came that famous Carlos Queiroz squad list , when the Portuguese coach of Team Melli included the name of Mehrdad Pooladi in his list, a player who has not played a single game this season and another Perspolis Defender , Hossein Mahini , who has lost his starting place in the team.

Inclusion of these two , not only alienated many players and coaches across the country,  it resulted in noises heard from CEO’s of other clubs, some of whom issued statements against Perspolis and the methods they operate to gain unfair advantage.

With all these affairs backfiring at Perspolis and certainly losing ground and support of many fans including senior ex-players who were perplexed by Perspolis antics, the Club issued the communique  explaining their stance in an attempt to calm the situation and the negative vibes against them.

It was a poor attempt by Perspolis, as much of what was mentioned in the communique was biased one sided opinions rather than facts (like their claim that the referee deprived them of 4 penalty kicks in one match !!!).

The long written press release then went into berating of Mayeli-Kohan for his verbal attacks on the club and its coach. Perspolis refuted Mayeli-Kohan claims that several players are on a one billion toman (Approx. US$ 403,000) contract.  The communique also refused to announce Daei’s contract details and the sum he is receiving and any other players contracts details  claiming that several Iranian clubs have more expensive players than Perspolis .”If these clubs are ready to reveal the figures, then we will do it as well” , mentioned the statement that was not apparently signed by the CEO .

The investigation of allegation of bribery that was initiated by Ali Daei against Mohsen Ghahremani the referee of Perspolis match against Sepahan took a steep diversion and went off track with some alarming and what seems to be strange decisions unrelated to the original accusation.

On Monday evening, the disciplinary committee of FFIRI along with the committee issued a contentious decision in the aftermath of the public prosecution of the referee Mohsen Ghahremani by siding with Daei.  Alipour , whose official title in the federation is the “Secretary of professional misconduct proceedings, interviewed live on Navad program has announced that 3 members of the refereeing team of Sepahan-Perspolis match including the Mohsen Ghahremani are suspended from all football activities until further notice. In addition to the referee the linesman Kermanshahi and Ildrum, were suspended until further notice.

The biggest shock was the announcement of identical suspensions to two Perspolis back office staff , Molaei , the Perspolis physical trainer and Hatam. In what has initially puzzled many observers.

Ghahremani verdict is based on an alleged bribery incident in which Ghahremani has complained that he has not received the full payment for services/favors he provided for Rah Ahan team.   Molaei was alleged to be the intermediately of this and he explicitly declared that he was approached by Ghahremani one day to complain so that he can relay this information to his bosses at Rah Ahan. Molaei stressed that the bribery arrangement happened while he was NOT working at Rah Ahan but failed to provide creditable evidence of his allegations or dates. Moeali declared that he was actually presented to the committee as a material witness; however, he is shocked to ended up as a defendant and a suspension from all football activates was issued against him. Alipour , who was interviewed directly on Navad show with Ferdowsipour  , declared that the committee found Perspolis physical trainer of concealing  fact and hiding information of actual or attempted bribery, which is punishable by law and FIFA ethics and anti-corruption regulations.

The plots get more complicated with various conflicting reports from all parties.

It is evident from what Alipour has said that there was no documented evidence brought against Gharemani and the sentace was based on verbal evidence. During hours of questioning in Navad program , no person could come up with the actual alleged incident dates or detail, including the main witness to this allegation , Molaei, who vehemently denied that he had any role in the bribery incident.

Molaei , who was less than convincing in some of his answers , conveniently forgot crucial details while pleading innocence. “How can a physical trainer be involved and has the authority to conduct such transactions?” he told the judge in the case, Alipour.

Wherever the final truth lies, it is quite evident that Iran’s football is not clean as many fans and insiders have suspected. It is highly unlikely that drastic measures will be taken by this football federation against corruption unless the judicial authorities intervene and start prosecuting offenders and corrupt personnel the way they have dealt with high level corruption and misappropriation of funds in Iranian  banks and Insurance companies. From what was evident in Navad , people fear that the matter will be dealt with in a small scale with victimization of a few while the real culprits will always remain at large and never brought to justice..

The allegation that Rah Ahan, a small club with severely curtailed financed running on a tight budget, can venture into such a bribery affair, is highly suspicious in the first place.

Mehdi Tartar, a former Rah Ahan coach , firmly denied that Ghahremani was never involved in a controversial match while he was the coach of Rah Ahan. Ali Daei followed Tartar in coaching Rah Ahan from 2011-2013.

There was also allegation that some decisions made by the appeal committee of the FFIRI has been favorable to some teams and members of that committee might very well be sentenced.

Mohammad Reza Molaei,  who was pitted against Alipour live on Navad,  claimed that Alipour has said in the meeting when that “I want to keep this within small limited circles.”  Alipour denied he ever said that or meant what Molaei was insinuating, which is basically to cover up the big fish and victimize the small ones. Alipour said that he will never llow himself to be a party to any type of cover up even when influential people are involved.

To complicate matters further , a legal expert who was interview declared that according to FIFA regulation, the FFIRI has recommended that all member federations to create  “ethics committee” with a primary objective of fighting bribery and corruption. FFIRI and Ali Kaffashian , has failed to establish this committees that this the only authority that can investigate , and prosecute offenders. Hence Mr. Alipour is not in a capacity to pass such ruling against the alleged offenders, according to the legal expert. He also said that investigation in such cases requires qualified and professional skills in the organization. He doubted the availability of such skills and qualification in the FFIRI.

Yazdani, an ex-linesman and the head of the Union of Iranian Referees addressing Alipour , said that “Two years ago , we have brought to your attention an attempt to bribery a referee who was given gold coins. The referee immediately reported it and took the case to the football federation disciplinary committee. What was the outcome of that case ? neither yourself nor the federation have done anything towards tat obvious case of bribery where we had actual evidence (the gold coins).”

Alipour did not have a convincing answer to Yazdani. On another note , Yazdani said that even if the linesman (Ildrum) has committed an error which a technical and human error, his maximum penalty would be suspension for something like 3 0r 4 games, so why is being investigated in a bribery case and given an indefinite suspension, same sentence  that has been awarded to the alleged bribery accused referee ?”  Alipour said that these are all temporarily sentences to protect everyone and he assured the public that the linesman will be dealt with properly when the investigation is concluded !

Hojat ul Islam Alipour is a clergy , who has been quietly inducted into the football federation to keep an eye on players conduct and ensure they stick to Islamic principles . He accompanied many Team Melli trips abroad starting from the Asian Cup 2004 in China. Many observers think that his position is comparable to the religious police and has been forced upon FFIRI by the influential Religious hierarchy in the country.

Alipour insisted that the sentences are provisional until full investigation is concluded; Ferdowsipoor thinks that it is a contradiction since issuing of the suspension is equivalent to incrimination the accused.

These events seems to be the tip of the iceberg. It has already attracted massive interest from the fans to the players, clubs and definitely the media.

Many still want to know what the agent provocateur, Ali Daei had against Ghahremani and why the investigation is not transparent about Daei’s evidence that Gahremani has been bribed by Sepahan on that match.

It all boils down to very interesting and hot Paeez (autumn) in Iran’s football.

Hossein Faraki is a very quiet person who does his job with minimal of fuss and does it very well indeed. The coach of current Foolad Khuzestan has been working wonders with his team this season and despite the initial loss at the opening game against Sepahan , they have not looked back since. The Team from Ahvaz has collected more points than any other team in the league to reach the top. Faraki was instrumental in building this solid team with many good and exciting player

Despite the success that he enjoys, the soft-spoken big man has not changed much since his playing days when he used to be a prolific striker terrorizing defenders and goalkeepers and letting his goals do all the talking for him. He was in the squad of the First ever Team Melli participation in the World Cup back in 1978 in Argentina.  Faraki is still media shy after all these years. Beside the obligatory pre and post matches press conferences in the league, he seldom does interviews and prefers to do his work  in the quiet and stay away from controversial issues leaving it to the likes of Mayeli Kohan and Daei to engage the public and entertain or enrage the masses with their feuds and trash talking.

” Team Melli coach has his favorite men and he sticks to them.”

However, there are always exceptions to the rule where an issue tests the resolve of even the coolest and the quietest of people. The issue was the latest list of Team Melli players. When the list was devoid of any Foolad Khuzestan player, Faraki with that quiet demeanor was enraged.

“We worked hard in the league to maintain the top position for long weeks. Everywhere in the world of football, the selection for the national teams is based on the performance and level of player in the league except for Iran. League positions, how good a player is performing or delivering, is simply meaningless. Team Melli coach has his favorite men and he sticks to them , never mind if thy lost form or if other players  perform better than his favorites. It seems the league here is meaningless to the coach of our national team as he is has a mind of his own” Faraki said in response of non-selection of any of his team’s players in the list.

“We have 27 players in our roster. I am not claiming they are all exceptional , but how can a team maintain the top  position of any league if there are not at least 5 or 6 good quality players that deserve recognition in form of selection for Team Melli?”

“We value our Team Melli, we value and respect Team Melli coach, we will always support Team Melli and the coach’s decisions , but let me put this on record. I am very disappointed by Queiroz totally ignoring Foolad players in his selection.”

 

Faraki continued expressing his disappointment  by indicating that his top players will lose their drive and be affected by the fact that no matter how excellent they perform , they will be ignored and preference will be given to a small group of “the favorites” who will always make the national team irrespective of form , performance or merits .

“We have to respect the Team Melli coach decisions, but when it is obvious that he has a tight and closed set of players in his mind, it gives the rest of the league players and coaches a very bad impression. The whole league becomes a farce. Some of my players who have been very confident that they will make the list , will lose their morale which will affect their delivery in the future. Let us not kid ourselves; every player’s ultimate dream is to play for his country. It is a legitimate dream and should be based on merits.”

“ It does not require much intelligence for anyone in Iran’s football to know that the league is not considered very highly in the vision of Team Melli coaches selection criteria. How can I explain that and drive my best players like Bakhtiar Rahmani, Mehrdad Jamaati and Esmael Sharifat to perform to the best of their ability while telling them forget about Team Melli ? What kind of act that would be?”

 

“ They doze off!”

“What is the point of Queiroz and his assistants coming and watching the league matches or visiting the team practice sessions, while the selection list is a closed book and the players list have been pre-determined. Maybe Ferdowspour had a valid point when he showed in Navad program what our Team Melli coaches do when attending league matches. They doze off!”

Faraki closed his statement by saying that every time the Team Melli coach issues the list, there will be debates and complaints from many.” We have refrained from doing that. But this time, it is simply unacceptable for us.”

Foolad Khuzestan is leading the Persian Gulf League  with 25 points after 12 matches played. Sepahan is second with 23 points.

 

 

In the past few weeks, Team Melli’s coach Carlos Queiroz had a few issues and grievances concerning the status and the preparation of Team Melli for the 2014 World Cup. Issues such as Team Melli camps , friendly matches arrangement , the scheduling of the league , differences of opinions with Club coaches among many other niggling and frustrating matters created an unpleasant atmosphere around Team Melli .

The result of all that led to Carlos Queiroz publically expressing his frustration to the extent of  even threatening to quit his job. In an interview, Queiroz said that he is not willing to work under this inauspicious environment or facing the hostility of the people who seem to be working against Team Melli’s interest. Another grim statement came from Carlos Queiroz when he said that it did not bother him one bit if Ali Daei or Amir Ghalenoei replace him as Team Melli coach.

That last statement is the one that really interest us here and right now. Whatever one can think of Queiroz, he is still professional coach who is well aware of his working environment and the atmosphere surrounding it.  Perhaps he has heard that Kaffashian and his men are working on their options if Queiroz decided that he has enough and his demands cannot be met by the federation. Queiroz knows that Daei and Ghalenoei, are the closest candidates to the job of coaching Team Melli, in case he resigns. The nomination of those two does not take much intelligence to figure out as the pair coach the two most popular clubs in Iran by far. In this bi-polar football, everything has to revolve the two.

Can the task of Team Melli be safely handed to Ali Daei or Amir Ghalenoei and expect success and honor in Brazil?

The answer is a big question mark. One match on Friday emphasized the vulnerability of Ali Daei’s character and painted a very dim picture of Iran’s footballing legend as a responsible person who can act gracefully under pressure.  The episode started in the early few minutes of the game between Daei’s  club Perspolis and host Sepahan coached by the Croat Krangcar. The referee, Gharemani , awarded a penalty for Sepahan and then red carded the offending Perspolis  defender for kicking an opponent in the box. Whether the referee’s decision was right or wrong is academic and not a subject of our discussion here, it is Daei’s post match conduct and statements that is the subject of interest in this article. What was said by the World highest Scorer in international matches, and a legend in his own right, is certainly a huge concern and puts a big question mark on the character of the person and his ability to be the mentor of Team Melli in the World Cup, if he ever takes over.

Daei , quite well-known for his outburst and a coach who hardly smiles during matches, which is a good indication of amount of stress he endures, has accused the Referee of Sepahan-Perspolis match of bribery. He claimed that he has evidence of Gharemani received bribes from Sepahan and will produce if asked ! A couple of days later, Daei , who many thought was emotional after his team loss to bring such serious accusations at the end of the match was unrepentant. Two days later when it was thought  that he has cooled down, the Perspolis coach said he does not care about the consequences of his accusations as long as he tells the truth.

Amir Ghalenoei, again no stranger to controversy and clashes with referees and the media, was at it again after the derby match. When everyone was talking about How dour and boring the top clash of the league was between his team Esteghlal and Perspolis which ended in yet another goal-less draw, Ghalenoei opened fire on all fronts. One of the most interesting targets of his wrath was ‘Navad’ TV show. Ghalenoei said that Navad, which is by far the most popular on Iran IRIB network, and its presenter, Adel Ferdowsipour is the reason for Iran’s football ills and misfortunes! He also told the critics to go and analyze Team Melli if they dare a team which has not played a decent football at all since the takeover of Queiroz!, according to the ex-Team Melli coach. Ghalenoei bemoaned the fact that during his days of coaching Team Melli he was scorned and blasted by the media, similar thing happened to Daei , but no one is concerned with the current poor form of Team Melli.

Such rhetoric, outbursts and wild claims by the two of the most popular Iranian coaches, does not augur well for any of the two to be considered for Team Melli coaching job. When a coach and leader needs to maintain dignity, composure and grace under pressure, those two have shown very little of it and in a scene such as the World cup , where the whole world is watching ,  it could be truly embarrassing.

This brings us back to Carlos Queiroz. No one claims that Queiroz is perfect but right now he is the best man for the job. Any differences between him and the federation or the league need to be sorted out for the Portuguese to continue all the way to next summer’s world cup. He is tried and tested and compared to the options available from the domestic scene, he is well versed and has better self-control and composure. For the sake of a presentable and respectable Team Melli in the World Cup, it is vital that FFIRI does everything possible within reason and logic, to maintain Carlos Queiroz.  Whether the Portuguese man will endure the pressure is simply another question.