The Iranian national U23 football team (Omid), barely managed to qualify for the final rounds of AFC U23 Championship which is also the qualifiers for the 2020 Olympic Games. Despite having the advantage of being the host, Iraq won the group on goal difference, while Iran had to wait until late to find out if they have qualified as one of the 4 best second ranked team.

The cesarean qualification has led to many discussions and different views on the status of the team and mainly on whether Krancjar should continue with the team after such modest performance. Some experts believe Krancjar should remain at the helm while others are opposed to the Croat continuing to work with Omid team.

In the midst of such arguments , the views of Massoud Eghbali, the official Asian Football Confederation coaching master is quite interesting. Eqhbali spoke to Mehrnews sports reporter.

“The main problems of our football has always been the deep-rooted management and administration of football at its highest level. Football does not have a healthy atmosphere and strong foundation in general. Our organization and conditions suffer from numerous problems, and like cancer it keeps spreading. One of the biggest and most important problems in this football is the management problem. Mismanagement in Iran’s football is a long-standing problem that has existed in these 30-40 years. Management problems have never been eliminated, in fact it has been spreading and getting worst. With each management personnel changes, the problems that existed is passed on to the new managers who are incompetent or unable to improve them.”

“It is uunfortunate that these pperennial pproblems have not only not disappeared, they have in fact have increased and become more severe and deliberate. All national teams have suffered from these identical problems. The difficulties in groundwork, resources, programs, logistics and training facilities are facing all national teams in all age groups. “

“Look at our senior Team Melli. It is without a coach since January, and there is no solution in sight, just the official propaganda of the FFIRI repeating the same old statements or on the other hand a bunch of speculations and rumors. There are no coaches in other national teams too. The criterion for choosing coaches by the football federation is not right at all. Coaches are appointed, mostly based on nepotism rather than competency or suitability. At age group teams where it is very vital to have quality coaches, there are appointmentS based on anything but merit, subsequently they fail and then leave quietly. There is no appraisal process, no investigation, no inquiry to why the team failed!

There is no board member in the football federation assigned to justify these failures, no one who can explain why these coaches come and go without being investigated. No one is ready to explain the whole process of selections and appointment of coaches. The Omid team of Iran is one of those teams that is immersed in these problems.

Political influences in choosing a coach In the Omid team,

At Omid team we finally choose a perfectly competent coach like Zlatko Krancjar, but we do not facilitate his job and deprive him of the resources. One of the most important tools of any boss is a very strong technical staff with background and experience, involvement in high level competition at club or national team levels. What is happening in reality in our Omid Team is that people with connections to the federation management get the job to sit on the bench with Krancjar. They choose young assistants or inexperienced coaches while ensuring to equally divide the bench appointments between Esteghlal and Persepolis!!

While we were hosting the qualifiers, we failed to win the group but qualified to the final by luck, and if we are realistic, we have to say that there is little hope for Omid Team to make it to the Olympics as one of the 3 top teams of Asia. The team, called Omid Iran in Asia, does not have the quality to be among the top three Asian teams that qualify for the Olympic Games. Most players in this team do not have what it takes to make the grade to the Senior Team Melli. The problem is not Krancjar, he is a quality coach with experience and has coached national teams. Now there are whispers that they are supposed to dismiss him.

Krancjar is a professional coach, tried and tested .If we are to sack him and replace him with the world’s leading coach, with the same problems at hand such as lack of facilities and this lack of cooperation with by the clubs in releasing their players, the same thing will be repeated again and again.

Clubs dilemmas

Among the major problems in Iran’s football is the unwillingness or disinterest of the clubs in grassroots football. For one reason or another, there is no strong urge or commitment to build and form strong academy level teams. Success and ranking in the league table is the utmost priority of almost all the clubs especially those at he top like Persepolis and Esteghlal, which makes it hard for them to focus or have serious interest in promoting the youth

This policy has become a cycle and it turned into a defective cycle, the effect of it is felt at Team Melli level and also in the ranks of the clubs themselves who have to go into the international transfer market and import cheap players, not necessarily good players.

There is a long-term damage in following such policy, and the results are so obvious. Iran has hardly won anything of worth in the last forty years. The Asian cup have eluded them, no Iranian club has won the AFC Champions League so far, Last time Iran was in the Olympic football competition was in 1976 (qualified for 1980 Olympics but subsequently boycotted it) and at youth level, success has been rare.

That is the reality of our football. More serious damage in imminent the future if this pathetic direction and administration of football in Iran continues.”