Tag: Mahmoud Goudarzi

Dr. Mohammad Dadkan, is a leading candidate for Minister of Sports.

Following the resignation of Goudarzi , the Minister of Youth and Sports in President Hassan Rouhani’s cabinet , the former Head of FFIRI  Mohammad Dadkan’s name is being put forward as a replacement.

President Rouhani has reshuffled his cabinet by replacing 3 controversial ministers including Mahmoud Goudarzi. The Youth and Sports Minister has failed to improve the level of government support for sports with lack of proper infrastructure and facilities marring the progress of Iranian athletes. Football in particular has suffered from this minister with his continual interference in the administration of the federation. His attempt to implant his own men in the federation and his strong views in Team Melli affairs did not go down well with the critics.  However, in his core business and responsibilities , he failed to improve the facilities provided for sportsmen and women of Iran. He also failed to release the strong government grip on the clubs such as Persepolis and Esteghlal while he failed to honor the long promise of privatization of these clubs. Team Melli , on the verge of qualifying for the FIFA World Cup has been suffering from lack of a proper practise field for many months. Iran was embarrassed when FIFA banned the use of the upper tier of Azadi stadium , rendering the iconic stadium being halved in capacity, due to its cement slab being used for seating the fans.

Mahmoud Goudarzi, like the other two ministers have submitted their resignations , which was a face saving act.

 According to an Oct. 19 report in the moderate publication Entekhab, possible candidates to replace Goudarzi include Amiri; Ali Asghar Mounesan, the managing director of the Kish Free-Trade Zone; Mohammad Dadkan, the former head of the Soccer Federation; and Masoud Soltanifar, the vice president and head of the Cultural Heritage, Handcrafts and Tourism Organization.  

Dr. Mohammad Hossein Dadkan (63 years) was Team Melli player,  having spent most of his playing career in Persepolis. He served as President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Football Federation from April 2002 until April 2006. His controversial removal from his post by the government after the FIFA World Cup 2006 Germany , lead to sanctions against the federation and suspension from international football by FIFA on 22 November 2006

Post 2006 ,  Dadkan has always been an outspoken critic of football politics and administration in Iran.  He refused several appointments in the federation and Persepolis management.  Dadkan has his own critics though, plenty of them in fact. He was accused of nepotism and interference in Branko ivankovic’s job when he was the head of FFIRI. His background as a player lead him to enforce his views on the Team Melli’s coach and his constant appearance in Team Melli practise sessions and accompanying all Team Melli trips, enforced this opinion by the critics.

The nomination for the post will be announced within two weeks by the President, Hassan Rounhani.

Azadi stadium is becoming a full seater.

The Minister of Youth and Sport inspected the ongoing work in Azadi stadium to convert the jewel of Iranian crown into a full seater venue.

FIFA has put a partial ban on the stadium due to the fact that the higher level section was consisting of concrete slab and spectators had to suffer being seated on such a rough surface. That ban reduced the capacity of Azadi stadium to less than half.

The Sport Ministry managed to fork out a budget to upgrade the stadium especially since Iran is involved in the FIFA World Cup 2018 qualifiers starting next September. 

Mr. Mahmoud Goudarzi spoke to the media after concluding his inspection tour and assured the public that the seats will be ready before the match against Qatar on September 1st. “We have been promised the delivery of the stadium 10 days before the match. I am confident that we will have all the seats ready by then”. “The stadium capacity will be reduced to 78,116 all seated.” the minister declared.

Asked about the request by Carlos Queiroz to move the Team Melli practise sessions to Azadi Stadium , the Minister declined such request and said that “Azadi is a venue for matches and not a practise ground. The football federation must find a suitable place for Team Melli to practise”. Responding to another question from a reporter on whether this Stadium will be handed over to Esteghlal and Persepolis, Mr. Goudarzi rediculed such claims “This is meaningless. This stadium belongs to the people of Iran, it makes no sense at all to hand it over  such a grand venue to two clubs only”

 Goudarzi said that by the instruction of the President, a technical team has been inspecting the stadium to check the safety level and problems of water seepage and accumulation. This team has already carried out the inspection and are in the process of finalizing its recommendations and report.

 

Mehdi Taj wins the election as the new President of FFIRI

Mehdi Taj , has won the FFIRI election as the head of the federation after a prolonged and complicated path to the General Assembly marred by off and on dates.

To make sure that the delegates remain in control and not deviate from the path , The Minister of Youth and Sport was present at the election and took the tribune as honorary guest!

Mehdi Taj (56 years) , the industrialist and veteran sport administrator has been the front-runner and favorite ahead of his main rival Mostafa Ajerloo. He managed to secure majority votes on Satarday’s election.  An Esfahani who previously was the Managing Director of both Sepahan and Zob Ahan, took these two clubs to remarkable successes. His last position  was the head of the football League in the federation. He was a long time associate of Ali Kaffashian.

Taj is one of the few current football administrators who have a good record in organization and management. His managerial and excutive skills iare evident in the way he ran the Football league under the most difficult of sitiuations and under pressure from the ever demanding clubs. His handling of crises and  problems had mostly been professional.

A man with vast knowledge and competent organizer, Mehdi Taj has a tough time cleaning up so much mess created by his predecessor and even tougher time seeking the approval of the Ministry of Youth and Sport whose meddling into football has never ceased. The approval of Minster of Youth and Sport remains a priority in Taj’s agenda despite his public denial and taking a distance from the Minister’s policies.

Most probably, the best and most experienced man won the FFIRI election. Taj has several major immidiate hurdles ahead and the most critical seems to be the case of Team Melli head coach. Carlos Queiroz has submitted his resignation again and announced that he is no longer interested to work in Iran with meagre facilities and poor resources given to him. Taj has not worked directly with Queiroz in his various capacities in FFIRI and it is unclear how much influence the Portuguese coach will have on him. Kaffashian, who did not contest the election, was the only strong supporter of Queiroz and a staunch backer.

Recently asked by a reporter if he (Taj) will be influenced by Queiroz’s demands and his war of attrition with other federation members, Taj diplomatically refrained from answering directly and prefered to handle the siyiuation privately.

 

Goudarzi :No Iranian team will play with the Saudi’s on Neutral grounds

The Minister of Youth and Sport of the Iranian government , Mr. Mahmoud  Goudarzi announced that Iranian team playing against Saudi teams in a neutral country as demanded by the Saudi government and approved by AFC, is out of question. This statement , by the highest authority in sport in the Iranian government  will create an unenviable situation for the Asian Federation.

Goudarzi criticized the AFC for bowing to the Saudi political pressure. In a short statement to the press said “Everyone knows by now that politics must not interfere with sports. Football governing bodies have been particularly very strict in this matter. FIFA has sanctioned and suspended many countries for violating the political interference rules . AFC has very obviously ignored the rules that they have created themselves by  bowing to political pressure from the Saudis. We will not play in any other country but ours, We have no issues with playing in Saudi Arabia either.”

This short statement will put the AFC in a real dilemma. The Asian Federation has not provided any solid grounds for accepting the Saudi demands. In its feeble statement , it reasoned that the break in relationship between the two countries was behind such decision!!!. There is no secret that such demand by the Oil Rich Arab country is nothing to do with the security or safety of the players as claimed by their FA but very much to do with the political situation between the two countries. By accepting the Saudi demands , AFC has registered a precedent that it will regret in future and could open a floodgate of such requests in Asia in the future.

Mr Goudarzi like most of other Iranian officials have emphasized that Iran will take legal action against AFC and will seek compensations as the result of this ruling.

Three Iranian clubs are involved in this edition of the AFC Champions League. Sepahan, Zob Ahan  (Esfahan)and Tractorsazi (Tabriz). ALl stand a good chance of qualifying to the next round after half of tha matches have been played. Tractorsazi is leading its group C with 6 points from 3 matches., Zob Ahan is second in the Group B with 5 points (same points as Al Nasr of KSA on top with better goal difference) , and Finally Sepahan on third in group A with 3 points.

 

Kaffashian will not run in the latest FFIRI elections.

Ali Kaffashian the incumbent President of the Iranian football federation FFIRI has announced that he will not run for re-election due in a few weeks.

7 candidates have announced their candidacy for replacing Ali Kaffashian amongst them are Mehdi Taj , the current head of the Football League in FFIRI , General Mostafa Ajerloo famous for his succesful days as Pas Tehran club chairman and Azizollah Mohammadi , the former  head of the Football League . The trio have the highest chances of winning the election as the new President of FFIRI.

Kaffashian has been put under pressure by his Nemesis the Minister of Sport Goudarzi to quit. The two never had an amicable relation mainly due to the constant interference by the Ministry in football affairs thus risking a ban by FIFA. Kaffashian has publicly denied any rift but admitted that the FFIRI and the Ministry of Sport have conflicting interests and opinions that could harm the sport. 

Despite Kaffashian’s withdrawal , he noted that if he feels that there is enough backing and support from the general assembly , he will reenter the election for another 4 years.

The impact of Kaffashian leaving the administration will be directly felt at Team Melli. Carlos Queiroz , the head coach has been receiving full support from Kaffashian while on the other hand, creating a plethora of enemies around him. It is a forgone conclusion that Queiroz will not survive without Kaffashian at the helm. No one in the current administration cares much for him being the head coach except for Kaffashian. None of the other candidates expressed public support for the Portuguese coach either. However , in Iran changes can happen and shifts in support has turned situations before. 

Queiroz in Minsitry of Youth & Sport
Queiroz in Minsitry of Youth & Sport

The Minister who insists on running football.

In yet another turn of events of Iran2s football, the Minister of Youth and Sport Goudarzi has indicated that he will come down hard on football referees and those who want to hurt the Tehrani teams.

This is another blatant and direct interference in football affairs by the government minister  who has warned the football league referees that they will have to answer for their mistakes and errors in matches. Such function is the responsibility of the Football federation and its referees committee.

According to Sports reporter of Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), Mahmoud Goudarzi, commenting on the of protests in recent weeks about football refereeing , mainly from the defeated teams Persepolis and Esteghlal, ” I have been given a report about these  abuses and complaints in form of wrong calls against teams from Tehran, which I am investigating all the cases.”

“In addition there are 3 other teams that have complained to me but it seems that the case for Persepolis is much more clearer than the rest. I will be reviewing all those with the football experts (…) If it is proven to us that there has been wrongdoings and intent to hurt these teams , then we will come down heavily on the culprits.”

The minister who has always acted as the policeman and executioner of football in Iran is clearly violating the FIFA rules which prohibits political and politician interferences in football. Iran has already been suspended once by FIFA in 2006 for the same reason but Mr. Goudarzi is probably testing the waters and defying FIFA , an organization that itself is embroiled in corruption charges.

Persepolis and Esteghlal , the two teams that have complained the most are owned and run by the Iranian government, giving Mr. Goudarzi’s statements and interest in their affairs , another meaning to the term “conflict of interest”.

Alireza Mansourian , Naft Tehran and ex-Team Melli coach and player, expressed his surprise by the interference of the government minster.

source : ISNA

Truce prevails between Kaffashian and Queiroz.

The anticipated meeting between Ali Kaffashian and Carlos Queiroz on Saturday in which the former has announced that it will be about the future of the latter in Team Melli was completed uneventful.

 The details of the meeting remains a secret with neither of the parties willing to disclose what has been discussed and what agreement , if any , was made following what sounded like and emergency discussion perhaps initiated by Queiroz , in the aftermath of the Minister of Youth and Sports scathing verbal attack of Kaffashian and Queiroz.

Speaking to the reporters on Saturday, Quieroz limited his statements to Team Melli’s immediate training schedule and plans and the announcement of the Uzbekistan friendly match.  The Portuguese coach refused to comment on the questions about his views on Goudarzi’s statements condemning him and his employer, The FFIRI. “I have nothing to say on that subject. You can direct your questions to the President of the federation”  Queiroz’s responded against the persistent questioning on the subject.

Training program

Carlos Queiroz, however, went on in fine details on the Team Melli training schedules and plans.

“We will be starting the training schedule as soon as the league is over. Teams involved in the Hazfi Cup finals or Asian Competitions will be allowed to keep their players and join us at a later stage”

“We will set up two mini camps in Tehran and another one in Istanbul as part of the program to meet Turkmenistan. The squad will include the best players include young players who had made their presence felt in the league. We will also have a few surprises for you as far as new players’ selections.”

 A reporter asked him , what surprises does he have up his sleeve if he is not even watching the Football league to check the suitability of players ? Carlos Queiroz  said “I have a capable team of technical assistance who continually monitor the league and report to me. I trust their work. I also have a good analyst .”

Nekounam’s role. 

 Queiroz also reiterated his desire to include Javad Nekounam as a member of the coaching staff while insisting that Markar Aghajanian will remain as is and the ex Team Melli Captain will not be replacing the long serving Aghajanian in the coaching team.  The Portuguese coach did not specify in which capacity Nekounam will join his team. The recently retired Captain is actively playing professional football with Osasuna and is under contract with the Spanish Segunda Division side. 

A previous attempt to include a marquee name in Team Melli coaching staff , ended in bitter failure.  Ali Karimi , was included in the coaching team , without a specific role and with no coaching experience . After a few months, Karimi jumped ship and refused to fly to Australia with the Asian Cup 2015 squad without providing any reasons or submitting his resignation. He left Team Melli unceremoniously leaving Queiroz quite upset and disappointed. 

Queiroz also mentioned a proposal for a friendly international against Japan in October 2015 but the match date is not finalized yet.

Goudarzi scathing attack of football affairs in Iran

 Tehran.

The Minister of Youth and Sports has once again criticized the status of football and its administration in the country and took an exception for being labeled as anti-football person.

In an informal gathering with senior former footballers, which the Minister called as a special and memorial occasion, Mahmoud Goudarzi said “I am not an anti-football minister of sport, I am anti-corruption and anti-mismanagement. There are quite a few indiscretions occurring in our football that requires attention. We cannot leave it to the hands of some scrupulous people to do whatever they like with the public funds.”

As an example , Goudarzi added that his ministry has asked for the football federation’s balance sheet and budget allocation on several occasions. As yet, nothing has been received from the FFIRI management except promises. “This is the age of transparency; we need all the people to know where the money is being spent. If there was a transparent system in the federation, there would be no need for scrutiny by the ministry because everyone would be aware of all the facts and figures. As it is , there is no transparency.” Goudarzi said. Goudarzi-&-Queiroz

Goudarzi singled out Carlos Queiroz for embellished criticism without naming him.” When we bring a foreign coach to work into the country, we are the bosses and he is the employee. We dictate what we want, we dictate our objectives and he should follow and deliver. What we currently see in football  is the exact opposite. The employee is acting like the boss and the boss is obliging and giving to the demand of his employee. It seems that the coach dictates whatever he wants ”

“We have a sense of pride in this country and do not enjoy being targeted for insults and bad mouthing from strangers. We have some degree of tolerance but do not accept insults to our system, way of life and   our traditions.” Goudarzi said in a veiled threat to Queiroz who has been outspoken critic of management and Iranian government lack of financial support to the football federation. “We do need to be told how to run our affairs by people who have no clue what is happening” Goudarzi said.

The informal meeting with the footballers most of whom are retired or working outside of football was a genuine attempt to gain knowledge and learn from the experience former masters, according to the minister who promised better treatment of the ex-footballers who have been marginalized by the present system.

Kranjčar ultimatum to FFIRI  

The Croat coach has given Ali Kaffashian and the football federation up to this weekend to decide on his  approval and appointment as the head coach of Omid Team (U23) else he will be responding to other offers. Peykan is the prime candidate for the services of the Zlatko Kranjčar and has been quite active in pursuing him following the sacking of their coach, Mansour Ebrahimzadeh last week.

Kranjčar was all set to join the FFIRI as a coach with approvals granted internally with in the federation administrations including the president himself. However, a telephone call from the Ministry of Youth and Sport put a halt to all that. A day after Kaffashian confirmed to the press that Kranjcar is appointed he retreated and changed his wording by claiming that there are a few pending issues!

It is not clear what objection the Ministry has against Kranjcar appointment. Although the international football laws of FIFA prohibits government interference in football and has already sanctioned Iran for doing so right after the World Cup 2006, such meddling and imposition is quite common under the table and behind closed doors. With a submissive and compliant management at the helm of FFIRI, the decision making process of the federation must seek the blessing and approval of the Minister before implementation, else the wrath of the Ministry.

Mahmoud Goudarzai , the Minister of Youth and Sports.

Despite the on-going denials of the Ministry and its legal arm, it is a common knowledge that Minister , Mahmoud Goudarzi was instrumental in delaying the finalization of Queiroz contact until the 11th hours. The Minster of Youth and Sports has been quite active in manipulating managerial and coaching position in its two prize assets, Persepolis and Esteghlal which are authoritatively, wholly owned by the government.

Mahmoud Goudarzi , a former wrestler, was the fourth candidate that was suggested by President Hassan Rouhani to the Parliament for approval as Minister of Youth and Sport. 3 previous candidates of  the President were rejected by the parliament. Iran is the only Middle East country that has such a democratic system.  Mahmoud Goudarzi won the approval by a small margin.

 

The saga of Queiroz contract extension, to be or not to be.

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D-Day

Monday 25th August , set by the two parties , was the D-Day in Team Melli coaching circle.

Carlos Queiroz has been quite clear about his intentions. It is either a final agreement on all of the Portuguese coach demands and clauses of the contract , or Lisbon is the next destination of Señor Querioz and this time there will be no turning back.

On the weekend, and after initially declaring that the contract has been all but sorted out, Querioz come out of negotiation the happier man , despite his statement that in this contract , the Winner is Kaffashian. However , apparently there was some supposedly minor disagreement (5% according to Kaffashian) between the two parties that have developed into a major issue.

The Minster of Sport added another twist to the plot by stating that his Ministry does not think that Queiroz is the best choice for Team Melli.

 

The final decision.

We have lost count on the number of the final decisions that has been announced by both parties, but another final decision is now set for Tuesday 26th August 2014. (Tomorrow)

After today’s negotiation between Kaffashian and Queiroz which lasted for 90 minutes and finished by the end of business day at 1500 local time , and for the umpteen times it was reported that everything (…) has been sorted out and the contract signature will be adjourned to Tuesday to allow the Minister of Sport to view the contents and presumably give his approval as it seems that the Ministry will be the de-facto paymasters .

That is quite an interesting development and the saga continues in a merry-g-round fashion.

 Goudarzi-&-QueirozThe Minister of sport blamed the media for exerting undue pressure on FFIRI.

In yesterday’s meeting with the press , Mahmoud Goudarzi , the Minister of Youth and Sport in the Iranian cabinet of President Hassan Rouhani, blamed the Iranian sport media for putting undue pressure on the Football federation to re-sign Queiroz while other better or more appropriate options were available!.

Goudarzi said that the media has an influential role in the society but it is not always operate to the interest of the majority or the nation. The minister re-emphasized that he is not interfering in the work of the federation but simply providing advice, like hundreds of the critics who do the same on regular basis. The Minister lamented the result of Team Melli in the World Cup and expressed his surprise why some circles in Iran rave about the team’s result consider the feeble performance as honorable defeats!.

The news conference came a day before Carlos Queiroz’s ultimatum to the federation, that Monday will be the limit of his tolerance.

The turn of events has been very interesting in the last few weeks with many controversial backstage events popping up here and there. Except for the Minister’s objection or reservation on Queiroz contract, which was a common knowledge in the football community but not made public until yesterday, there are several controversial issues that is going around affecting Queiroz’s future in Iran. Of course, providing material evidence on the authenticities of most of the stories and claims are next to impossible. [/column]
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Lobbying.

By definition, a lobby is an organized group of people who work together to influence government or organizations decisions. Lobbying is a recognized and a wide spread practice in Iran’s football.

Players and coaches have known to have paid journalist and reporters to back them in their newspapers and magazines. Players have paid agents and reporters to get the big clubs to sign them. Club Chairmen paid under the table money to Sport papers Chief Editors to support the club programs and lobby the government for financial aid and assistance. Club Chairmen have engaged Member of the Parliament to lobbying on the clubs behalf in the Parliament. Even the help of Imam Joma ( the Imam of Friday prayers) have been sought to back up certain players or teams causes!

Whether such practice in ethical or even legal, is not the subject of discussion here. We are just reporting this lobbying that is quite common in Iran’s football.

Accusations , although is a small circle , has been rife that Queiroz, through his Attorney team and his local assistants who are well versed in Iranian football politics, have used some of this lobbying to pressurize the FFIRI into agreeing on many forced clauses on the contract. Goudarzi made a veiled reference to such claims by stating that the reporters and the media are exerting undue pressure on the FFIRI.

Queiroz-news-conference The stumbling blocks

There is no way for this federation to regularly secure foreign currency to pay Queiroz according to the contract without the approval or assistance of the government. If the government, through the Ministry of youth and Sport has reservations about Querioz, then the contract will practically be as good as dead.

The way Queiroz has turned the whole contract into a one sided self-serving one according to many critics, has not endeared him to many, especially those influential persons who can make his life easy or difficult as they wish. The differences between the objective and aspirations of Iranian football bureaucrats and Carlos Queiroz was quite evident in the World Cup, while the formers were thinking of qualifying for the next round in a group which many thought would be possible and achievable, Queiroz’s priority was to not concede goals or park the bus.

Finally, the final nail in the coffin may very well be was the preposterous relegation and marginalization of Iran’s competing in the AFC Asian Cup 2015. The biggest prize of the continent has eluded Iran for 40 years. Instead of working towards winning the title when Iran is one of the two top teams in the continent, the duo Kaffashian and Queiroz decided amongst themselves that Asian Cup takes second priority to qualification for the next World Cup in 2018!!

Team Melli coach Queiroz with FFIRI President Ali Kaffashian
Team Melli coach Queiroz with FFIRI President Ali Kaffashian

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