Tag: Majlis

Concerns raised on Team Melli sponsorship deal.

A sub-committee of the Iranian parliament, investigating the financial dealings and expenditure of government-owned entities and also the subsidies that the government provided to the various sport federations, has unveiled yet another possible corruption case in football federation FFIRI.

The sub-committee of the Majlis , which like the Ministry of Youth and Sports , has been highly critical of the financial irregularities of the football federation and lack of transparency, is targeting the sponsorship deal awarded to a private sector organization for the sponsorship of Team Melli.

The sub-committee has been receiving a lot of complaints from people claiming that the rebates, giveaways and gifts that they were promised by the joining Team Melli support campaign backed by the sponsors have not been forthcoming.

The culprit is a mobile communication company in Iran that has a huge advertising campaign using Team Melli name. The company has alleged to have promised several gifts including CD’s , rebates on phone calls and other services for a mere 5000 toman to Team Melli fans club.

During the last general assembly of the FFIRI, there was very little mention of the sponsorship deal with the company in the financial report. The sub-committee stated that the top brass at the federation could not provide them with the details of the sponsorship contract and how much the federation is getting out of the deal with this particular sponsor.

The sub-committee believes that this company and football federation have created an atmosphere of mistrust and used the popularity of Team Melli to gain money unethically and amounting to an embezzlement.

Kaffashian “We will not be able to afford Queiroz!”

Ali Kaffashian has announced that after the Minster of Youth & Sports briefing yesterday, we are definitely not going to be able to afford extending Carlos Queiroz contract beyond the current one which expires after the World Cup 2014.

Kaffashian said  “Queiroz is demanding US$2.8 million , however , after yesterday’s talk by the minister, it is clear to us that we have to look for coaches who will cost us much less than what is demanded by Queiroz. We were told in no uncertain terms, to lower our expenses. Obviously, if we do not have enough backing by the Ministry, then we will not be able to afford Queiroz.”

Kaffashian acknowledged that without the support of the Ministry of Youth & Sport , their option are limited and would not be able to employ high profile coaches.

After the recent weeks event when several clubs , including the two top clubs , Persepolis and Esteghlal , revealed their balance sheets to the public, there is an outcry in Iran against footballer income.  For the first time in history of the league, huge and relatively gigantic figure in relation to Iranian economical scales , were exposed. The extremely high wages of the players and coaches shocked the public.

Some individual players’ of Esteghlal and Persepolis contracts cost as much as a whole Persian Gulf league team’s budget. The published figures prompted the parliament to come down heavily on the government and the Ministry of Sport while some MP’s accused the government of corruption, wasting public money, poor oversight on the government owned clubs, incompetent management and ineffectual financial control. The public also showed its discontent with the players salaries when a telephone poll in Navad program showed that 91% of the public support lowering expenditure on football and limiting player’s wages.

[quote]”the government also spends millions on TV series for the public entertainment, why football is targeted for such expenditure?[/quote]

In the meeting between Mahmoud Goudarzi, the Minister of Youth & Sport and the head of Iranian sport federations, under heavy pressure from Majlis (the Parliament), the minster criticized some federations’ expenditure and lack of financial control. He specifically and directly mentioned football and targeted the federation for an unyielding criticism while condemning it for lack of strategy, long term plans by its failure to set up proper programs and infra-structure to develop the youth talents.In defense of his policies, the incumbent Ali Kaffashian said ”the government also spends millions on TV series for the public entertainment, why football is targeted for such expenditure?“

Since the revolution, Iran’s football have failed to stand on its own feet and generate enough money to sustain its operation. The Football Federation and the clubs have been depending on government handouts and with a tiny percentage of the money coming from private investors or entrepreneurs. Most of the clubs, particularly the top ones, live beyond their means and have accumulated debts in millions of dollars while there is no way they can repay these debts without government handout.

The government failure to privatize the top clubs is also one of the major reasons for this financial chaos and disorder. Despite years of promise, the government has failed to deliver on its promise to privatize Esteghlal and Persepolis citing failure to find the right owners and operators for these clubs. The government fears is somehow justified as many individuals and particularly old and retired players od these two clubs, commonly referred to as “Pishkesvatan” in Iran, unjustifiably lay claim to the clubs and want to own it with legal basis and little organizational skills and financial capabilities.