Tag: Persepolis

10/07/2015

Team Melli players transfer market 2015/16.

The transfer window has opened in most of the leagues round the world and our focus , as usual has been the Team Melli players past and present.

It is safe to say that the movement of the Team Melli players was not exactly an earth shattering activity. Domestically, there has been very few transfers to talk about with most of the Team Melli players renewing their contracts with their current clubs.

In essence, Team Melli players fall in three categories, The Young promising including rising stars, the established players, the twilight zone players.

Young prospects: Most clubs hunt for bargains while pursuing young players. Iran is a big country and find the right talent in the right place is not something that can be considered a routine or easy task. Competition amongst the clubs can be become rough and messy at times each side pulling all the tricks up their sleeves. Players also take full advantage when faced with situation where there are multiple suitors. It is not uncommon to hear that a player has signed for two clubs or more in Iran!

The favorite destination of most of the young players is Esteghlal or Persepolis. The popularity of these two teams and the bi-partisan nature of football in Iran, puts these two teams at an unfair advantage. The two most popular clubs in Iran contribute very little if any in developing or producing young players themselves. However, they are at a vantage point when players, particularly young ones, come to them and consider it an honor to don the jerseys of the big two clubs.

However , now that Persepolis and Esteghlal have been facing dire cash shortage and are technically bankrupt , the attraction of these two teams is dwindling. Young aspiring players are more careful and vigilant although the appeal of these two names is still there.

Unfortunately, this season the number of players in this category is not too pleasing. Most would be staying put in their club like Mehdi Sharifi and Ali Karimi of Sepahan and Mehdi Torabi of Saipa. Ramin Rezaeian is the only one who has joined Persepolis from Rah Ahan , otherwise the lack of promising players is becoming of some concern amongst the coaches and experts.

Established players: most of the Team Melli players in this category have opted to stay with their clubs despite some of the clubs not honoring timely wage payments. The odd ones who made the change include the Captain Ando Teymourian (Tractosazi to Umm Salal (QAT)) , Pejman Montazeri (Umm Salal (QAT) to Al Ahli (QAT)) , Daniel Davari (Grasshoppers to Arminia Bielefeld) , Mohammad Nouri (Persepolis to Al Mesaimer (QAT).

This category is also lacks exciting transfers or prospects of major changes.

The Twilight zone : Unfortunately , a number of current Team Melli squad fall in this category including Teymourian (32 years) whom we gave the benefit of the doubt as he is the Captain of the team. Jalal Hosseini (33 years), the Solid and always present central defender , did not renew his contract with Al Ahali of Qatar but surprisingly he was rejected by his first choice and favorite destination , Persepolis. Eventually he was recruited by Naft Tehran, but there were not many suitors chasing him either.

Masoud Shojaei (31 years), the perennial ever-present midfielder who has been struggling for many seasons with clubs of lower divisions, once again flopped but this time in Qatar not Spain. His team Al Shahaniya was relegated last season and as expected the Qatari’s found him to be a surplus to their requirement this coming season. Shojaei is currently negotiating with Persepolis. It is rumored that he will accept a huge pay cut in order to join the reds with no sign on fees demanded by the player.

So, it looks like 2015/2016 season will start with relative calm in the Team Melli squad, which could be a hidden advantage for Carlos Queiroz if not for the fans or the transfer market.

There are tough roads ahead. Guam , Oman and India will be ready to challenge Iran in the qualifying rounds of the FIFA World Cup 2018. As Team Melli players found out against Turkmenistan , it is not a forgone conclusion to win against such oppositions. Guam , in particular has made a tremendous progress and will be testing Iran, while Oman will always remain a tough nut to crack for Team Melli.

Minimum disturbance of the players may be just what the doctored ordered for Team Melli squad.

27/06/2015

Payam Sadeghian “I will return to Team Melli”

The controversial midfielder, who was sacked by Persepolis, says he is determined to return to the top and back to Team Melli.

Payam Sadeghian , who is arguably one of the most talented Iranian young Players of the last few years but unfortunately notoriously indiscipline as well, said that he is looking forward to playing in Europe and then coming back to claim his rightful place in Team Melli.

Branko Ivankovic , Persepolis Croat coach has categorically refused to have Sadeghian in his team and informed the management that under no circumstances he will give this player a place in his team even if Persepolis extended Sadeghian’s contract. Sadeghian was a bench warmer in Persepolis during the time Hamid Derakhshan was the coach and continued the same after Ivankovic took over, mainly due to disciplinary reasons.

Disreputably famous for his transgressing and aggressive behavior, Payam Sadeghian looks liked he ruined a golden opportunity to enhance his career after joining Persepolis. His on and off filed antics, lack of commitment and misconduct overshadowed his talent sometimes so sublime that many critics regretted the failure of those at the helm to properly address, guide and console this talented player. Sadeghian had a lot of potential and was a promising player who represented Iran at several age level teams. Now without a club and with very few in Iran wishing to recruit him due to his troublesome record, he has to pick up the pieces to revive a tattered career outside the country.

Sadeghian refused to name the European club that he claims is interested in him. “They have watched me and they contacted me to express their interest. I also have several offers from China, Japan, Qatar and Slovakia but I am not interested to play in those leagues. If it all fails, I am hopeful that I can join Naft Tehran to play for my old boss Alireza Mansourian.” The 23 years old player said in an interview with Iran Varzeshi newspaper.

Naft Tehran has not publically expressed any interest in Sadeghian who has been consistently making the headlines for the wrong reasons. If Sadeghian is to succeed in his career, there is no doubt that he has to attend anger management classes and be counselled by experts; else he will be biting the dust.

Sadeghian has played 5 times for Team Melli in 2012 & 2014.

24/05/2015

Solutions for the goalkeeping calamity in Iran.

It is no shame to admit that the recently concluded league season, was one of the worst for the goalkeepers in Iranian teams. Some, like Dariush Esfandiari, even call it a tragedy.

Every single team in the Persian Gulf League suffered goalkeeping headaches, some worse than others. Persepolis lowly rank in the table which is one of its worst in the history is attributed to several factors but it was on the field that the team performed poorly especially at the defense and goalkeepers’ end. Sousha Makani has proven that he is inconsistent, unreliable and a keeper who cannot be trusted when called upon to deliver. On top of those erratic performances Makani is also quite poor in discipline, a player who has created numbers of incidents at the club. He was sacked from the team only to return back after a few kisses. His last match in the league, the Tehran Derby , resulted in 3 match suspension for his role in skirmishes at the end of the game.

Whether it is fair or otherwise, many experts in Iran attribute Tractorsazi’s failure to win the league and poor performance in the AFC Asian Champions league to their goalkeeper Hamed Lak. Frankly, the keeper was dreadful in many crucial games and definitely cost his team some precious points. Putting all the blame on him is open to debate.

Alireza Biranvand, young, so promising and so confident when he came through the ranks, was as another huge disappointment for his side, Naft Tehran. Rahman Ahmadi was the no.1 Keeper for Team Melli after the dismissal of Seyed Mehdi Rahmati , but he soon flopped and lost his place in Team Melli while his repeated mistakes with his club Sepahan relegated him to reserve and the bench. Mohsen Frouzan had a torrid time in Esteghlal goal. Many hailed his arrival with the blues but he has shown little to raise the fans’ trust and confidence.

Dariush Esfandiari , the goalkeeping coach of Gostarish concurs to the fact that it was a “disastrous “ season for Iranian goalkeepers. His own team suffered quite badly like the rest. Esfandiari has some interesting thoughts on the reasons behind such failures by Iranian keepers.

“Much of the problem with goalkeepers stems from their demeanor, their personality and what is their mindset. Goalkeeper need to act professionally and be trained by dedicated experts because they are the last wall of defense. If Keepers concede easy goals, the chances of the team winning would be minimized. No team can challenge for honors without a competent keeper.” Dariush Esfandiari commented.

“There is obvious weakness at foundations level. Professional trainers need to be available for these keepers. Goalkeeper coaches must not be marginalized and not considered as peripherals in the team. I urge the federation to establish a program for the clubs to increase the level of competency and standards of Goalkeepers coaches in Iran. It is as important to do that at foundations levels, all the way to the seniors. I dare to say that it is even more important at foundations. This program has to be run with the aid of qualified professionals”

“We must utilize this opportunity to correct the situation else Iran will be facing a real disaster in this important post in the near future. This season was the alarm bell, it was loud and clear. The federation and clubs have to act to establish a competence program for goalkeepers. We can send Iranian coaches for specialized Goalkeepers coaching workshops. Turkey is a good place to start as they have some advance set ups there.”

01/05/2015

Another Iranian young star bites the dust.

In the last few years of Iranian football, a few promising talents emerged from the land that has abundant talented young kids. Amongst this group, a unique skilled player who seemed to possess a multiple of skills made the headlines and the media was quick to declare the emergence of the next Ali Karimi and even the Iranian Maradona.

A star is born

His name is Payam Sadeghian, and to be plainly truthful, the kid had talent, plenty of it, in fact.

From the youth teams in Zob Ahan until he ended up in Persepolis, Sadeghian consistently showed his skills, his courage, passion and zest. He can dribble all right but also has a venomous shoot. His dead ball skills are second to none. There isn’t much that Sadeghian cannot excel in while on the pitch. For such talent, Sadeghian was selected for every national team age group that existed, from the U14 in 2005 all the way to the senior Team Melli in 2012.

But the kid had one major shortfall. With the praises bestowed upon him, left , right and center, he developed an unwelcome ego and lack of discipline bordering delinquency. Time and again, on and off the field, Sadeghian was involved in unruly, disruptive and troublemaking scenes. He had several disputes with coaches and managers.

NAVAD V show interview

In an interview with TV Show Navad, Ferdowsipour asked him about this side of his “ugly” football and why does he seem to be in the news for the wrong reasons? Payam Sadeghian’s answer was evident of a young man is living in denial and has no real clue how his misbehavior is slowly destroying what looks like a promising career , regardless to his inherit and undeniable talents . Sadeghian accused some people of exaggeration and said that he is not the evil person that some of his enemies portray him! Obviously, Payam Sadeghian believed that he is doing fine and there is no sense in addressing his character or behavior.

However, the biggest failure in Sadeghian case is the fact that his club managers and coaches have failed to truly address his trouble case and deal with it by providing the proper solution. His poor disciplinary record was even defended by some of his peers. Even Ali Daei, who always portrays himself as a strict disciplinarian and law abiding person, miserably failed in tackling Sadeghian while he was the head coach of Persepolis. Daei is famous for being very quick in finding faults in others!

Daei was sacked , then Derakhshan came and gone and now one Branko Ivankovic , a household name in Iranian football, has taken the helm at the most popular club in Asia. Ivankovic, a disciplinarian but one of the most approachable and likable characters, has had enough of Payam Sadeghian only few weeks of working with him. The Croat head coach of Persepolis announced that he will not allow Sadeghian in his team. Asked if Sadeghian will be in Persepolis team next year, he simply said “NO.”

Bleak future

Payam Sadeghian is a regretful case of a young footballer failure. Of course, there is a long road to recovery if he wishes, but the signs are there to assume that he has not repented. It is a personal failure and the responsibility is upon his own shoulder. He went astray and off-course somewhere along the line regardless to the reasons. It is also another failure for Iranian football management which consistently fails to handle indiscipline players. This Persepolis team alone has half a dozen players or more in the same category, but Sadeghian is the most regrettable because the kid has talents that might never materialize and blossom the way it deserves to.

One think is taken for granted. Carlos Queiroz has no time for such delinquency. The chances of Sadeghian ever making one of Queiroz squads is quite remote knowing the Portuguese coach strict requirement by his player for disciplinary compliance.

28/04/201528/04/2015

Khanzadeh suspended for 9 months!

FFIRI Disciplinary Committee (DC) has slapped Persepolis and Team Melli defender with a nine month suspension from all official football activities as a result of his altercation with a Persepolis fan in Doha after the clubs game against Lekhawiya in the AFC Champions League. Khanzadeh used extremely foul language, heavily swearing at the fan(s) who were protesting Persepolis weak performance and defeat. All efforts to calm the player by his embarrassed teammates were fruitless.

Earlier and before the issue of this ruling, Persepolis have decided to suspend the player temporarily pending the full report from the incident in Doha. Branko Ivankovic is reported to be appalled by Khanzadeh’s behavior.

Khanzadeh was one of the Team Melli squad players in the FIFA 2014 World Cup but did not play in any matches. He was also a member of the Olympic team in the Asian Games 2014 and his ugly attack on the Vietnamese player in the last minutes of the match lead to his dismissal and further suspension by the AFC.

Khanzadeh has a track record of insubordination with a pretty wicked disciplinary behavior.

Meanwhile , Sousha Makani, another notoriously undisciplined player was given a 3 matches suspended sentence by the Disciplinary Committee and 5 million Toman fine for his part in the incident. Mahomoud Khordbin will also have to answer to the committee for his failure to assume his role and responsibilities as the Team Manager. Khordbin was absent from the scene and did not act on hearing about the incident. On a bright note, Karim Bagheri , the assistant coach was commended for his role in ending the profanities mayhem.

This ruling by the FFIRI Disciplinary Committee (DC) is one of the strongest of its kind in such cases, however , it is a safe bet to assume that at some stage everything will be changed and all is forgotten due to someone’s intervention and advise.

23/04/201523/04/2015

Aziz Asli passes away.

Aziz ASLI , the legendary team Melli goalkeeper has passed away in Düsseldorf , Germany today after a long illness . Aziz Asli Manish , who was 78 years old was born on 4th April 1937 in Tabriz was a star of Persepolis team in the sixties.

Asli started his senior football career with Daraei club from 1949 to 1955. From then on he played for Persepolis until his retirement in 1968. His career with Team Melli started in 1962 with a debut match against Iraq and lasted until his retirement in 1968 after he lifted the Asian Cup in the final match against Israel.

Aziz Asli was the first goalkeeper that represented Iran in a major world tournament when he kept goal for Team Melli in the Olympic games Tokyo. Asli played 24 times for Team Melli.

Several generations of Iranian goalkeepers L2R: Movadat, Niknafas, Asli, Tavoosi and Hejazi

Asli was the goalkeeper of Team Melli that lifted the Asian Cup for the first time in Tehran.,

Aziz Asli had a short stint in training and was the assistant coach of Zob Ahan club for two seasons before being appointed in 1970 as head coach. He was out of Zob Ahan a year later.

Asli also played various roles in several movies.

07/04/201507/04/2015

Branko Ivankovic appointed as Persepolis head coach

The former Team Melli coach Branko Ivankovic has been appointed as the Head Coach of Persepolis club following the resignation of Hamid Derakhshan.

The Croat who coached Team Melli in two different terms has been sought by the club for some times now however the worsening results of the team under Derekhshan and the appointment of a new CEO , albeit in acting capacity , expedited the negotiations until Derkhshan was forced out by default.

The beleaguered Persepolis coach has announced his resignation following the match in which his team drew 2-2 with bottom of the table club Rah Ahan , prompting the fans in Azadi to chant against him and demanded his ousted. Hamid Derekhshan was appointed as head coach of Persepolis on 10th September 2014 following the sacking of Ali Daei.

Ivankovic will be starting his job with immediate effect. The 61 years old Croat whose last match as coach of Team Melli was against Angola in the FIFA World Cup 2006 will have an immense task taking Persepolis out of the current turmoil. Despite the good showing in the AFC Champions League, Persepolis has been struggling in the league lying 10th in the table and dangerously getting close to the relegation zone.

Ivankovic has to deal with unstable management with ever changing personnel, club instability , undisciplined squad and acute funds shortage. His unenviable task will start with the AFC Champions League match in which Persepolis has a good chance in qualifying for the next round but a long shot to win the title.

01/03/2015

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 21^st 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.

17/02/201517/02/2015

Branko Ivankovic in the run for Persepolis coaching job.

The Former Team Melli coach, Branko Ivankovic, is being considered to take over from Hamid Derekhshan as the head coach of Persepolis club.

The Croat was one of the most successful foreign coaches of Team Melli. His achievements in the 4 years stint included winning the Asian Games Gold Medal in 2002, third place title in the AFC Asian Cup 2004 in China and leading Iran to the FIFA World Cup 2006 in Germany.

Ivankovic was considered for several key jobs in Iran in the last few years but he has an outstanding issue with the tax authorities from his last time employment in Iran. His tax arrears have not been paid and unless he clears the issues, he would be in trouble with the law.

Persepolis on the other hand , has been an organization in real turmoil. Under a coach with less that modest abilities, the club has been struggling in form and results. Derekhshan , himself an ex-Persepolis player and Captain , has never coached at high level clubs and his attempts at coaching for lessor clubs has not yielded good results. His modest CV is reflected in the weak result of Persepolis. Derekshan took over afer Ali Daei was sacked from his post.

Currently Persepolis is lying 10^th among 16 clubs, a position that has led to mass exodus of fans. The most popular club in Asia, and for the first time in its history, can hardly attract 5000 fans at home games in the great Azadi stadium.

Persepolis’s problems are not only technical, as the club is deep in red financially. There are virtually untold number of cases against them in Iranian courts and FIFA. Their chairman has been in jail for a few months now, and the club is running in handicapped mode since. Yesterday, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the official owner of the club , has appointed an acting chairman Mohammad Hossein FalahNejad to run the club affairs. The new chairman did not waste much time in acting to revive the club’s fortunes.

It was FalahNejad who broke the news of Ivankovic deal. The acting chairman has also said that he met with Derekhshan and his assistants today and explained to them the intention of the club to recruit Branko Ivankovic. Up to that time the deal is finalized with the Croat coach , pending the settlement of the tax issues, Derakhshan can keep his job, according to FalahNejad.

27/12/2014

No Persepolis players for Team Melli

For the first time in Iran’s football history, no player from Persepolis has been selected for Team, Melli squad participating in a major championship or tournament.

Persepolis is arguably the most popular team in Iran and has the biggest fan base in all of Asia. After the success of the revolution in 1979, the club was nationalized and taken over by the government. The idea was to return the club back to private ownership after the cleansing and rectification of the club. 36 years later, and after packs of promises from several Presidents, including the football mad, Mahmoud AhmadiNejad, nothing has changed. During this current government, Persepolis affairs have taken a sharp turn to the worse.

Years of mismanagement including financial irregularities have resulted in a huge buildup of debts with hundreds of footballers and athletes not receiving their wages. Suppliers have also faced the same fate and experienced nonpayment of bills for services rendered or goods supplied , although practically speaking , the club is a government entity. Tens and some say, hundreds of legal cases are lying in the courts of law in Tehran and elsewhere in Iran claiming unpaid bills by Persepolis. The current CEO Siyasi is in jail for undisclosed reasons.

Several management changes in the recent years have failed to improve the conditions and the financial health of the popular club. Naturally, off the field conditions deterioration has caught up with the players and coaches of the team resulting in some of the poorest performances in the proud club’s history. The decline of the team also saw a marked decline in match attendances in Azadi.

The warning bills about the demise of the club have been ringing for the last few years. The government does not seem to be willing to pay the huge debts left by the unscrupulous past managers and CEO’s and considering shutting down the club for good if no feasible buyers who is politically acceptable to the regime, comes forward to bail out the ailing club.

Persepolis is currently in the 8^th position in the League table with 17 matches played. The Club has qualified for the Asian Champions league courtesy of Ali Daei success in giving Persepolis one of its highest ranking in the past few years last season. Daei was sacked early this season and replaced by Hamid Derakhshan. An ex-Persepolis player and coach himself, Derakhshan has failed to leave his mark at the club and he is in serious trouble himself and could end up being sacked soon.