Tag: Sepahan Esfahan

26/02/2023

Hossein Faraki seems to be the lead candidate for Team Melli job.

With the withdrawal of Amir Ghalenoei and Mehdi Tarter, the exclusion of Yahya Golmohammadi from the initial list, and the outright rejection of the offer to coach Team Melli by Ali Daei, Hossein Faraki seems to be the leading candidate for the job.

Notwithstanding the two other candidates (Majidi & Nekounam) both of whom have discipline and stability issues in addition to lack of proper international experience required for the job, Faraki seems to tick all the boxes of FFIRI and most importantly to the authorities, being politically acceptable and loyal.

In an interview with ISNA, Hossein Faraki acknowledged that his name was amongst several for the post of Team Melli head coach and said ” I was offered the chance for the job in a call made by FFIRI leadership. They sent me an invitation and asked me for a roadmap and plan for participating in the AFC Asian Cup 2023. Of course, there are other options and they specified a deadline for me to respond.”

He continued: “Anyway, it is the national team and it is where I played for many years and had coaching experience too. In the last one or two years, I have had proposals from several clubs, which I have not yet decided on. One of the reasons was the Corona issue, and after that, I realized that the place I want to go to, must have the right conditions and atmosphere to conduct my job. Maybe some clubs have problems and lack facilities, and I also wanted to be in a place where the conditions are available so that I can have an impact. I would like to do something for the national team if I can,”

The former coach of the national team added: “If I feel that something can be done, I will think about it. Many people would love to see me take the post and would love for this to happen to me and for me to get what I deserve. There are different opinions in this regard. Some agree and some disagree, but everyone is entitled to his opinions are it should be respected “

” So far I have not sent my program but I am in the process and will soon submit it to the federation. It will be sent by tomorrow and whatever the outcome will be, it will happen.”

“I don’t like to talk about speculation,” Farraki said about the selection of an Iranian or foreign coach for Team Melli. “Anyway, the decision maker is the Football Federation. Many of our coaches have potential and the desire of every coach is to lead the national team. We also need to motivate the Iranian coach. Foreign coaches have their own values, but under the current circumstances, it is better to give the Iranians the opportunity.

Faraki was born in Tehran on 22nd March 1957 and started his playing career with PAS Tehran from 1976 to 1992), He played for Team Melli (22 caps/11 goals for Iran), and his coaching career included Esteghlal Tehran, Sepahan Isfahan, Persepolis Tehran

Hossein Faraki played for Team Melli in the first Iranian qualification for the World Cup in 1978. He also won third place in the AFC Asian Cup 1980 in Kuwait with the national team. Faraki served as assistant coach to Branko Ivankovic for three years. Faraki also has the experience of being the head coach of Iran’s Omid national team in 2004. He led Foolad Khuzestan to the League Title in 2012-2013. He also led the Sepahan Isfahan team to the title in 2013-2014, so within 2 years, he has led two different clubs to the championship titles in the Iran Premier Football League.

25/08/2021

22 Domestic League players invited to Team Melli camp.

Dragan Skocic announced the list of 22 players playing in the domestic League to attend the national team camp.

The 22 players will be in Team Melli’s mini-camp for five days to August 30th. With the announcement of the final list of the team for the games against Syria and Iraq in FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Qualifiers, most of the players on this list will be eliminated. Seven players from Esteghlal, five players from Persepolis, and Sepahan, three players from Gol Gohar, one player from Traktorsazi and Foolad are forming the squad invited, which will realistically probably end up with not more than three of the original squad.

Zubair Niknafs, Mohammad Karimi, Mehdi Abdi, Saleh Hardani, Mohammad Hossein Moradmand, Ahmad Zandeh Rouh, Yasin Salmani are the players who will participate in the national team camp for the first time.

Individuals such as Arsalan Motahari, Shahriyar Moghanloo, Farshid Ismaili, Saeed Aghaei, Seyed Hossein Hosseini, Farshad Ahmadzadeh, Siavash Yazdani, had been invited to the national team for one or two camps in recent years. Also, one of the interesting points in this list is the return of Seyed Hossein Hosseini, who has replaced Rashid Mazaheri. Hosseini had a steady presence in the national camps for a while, but with a relative performance decline in the 19th and early 20th leagues, he was completely eliminated from the national team, but now he has taken the place of his rival in Esteghlal.

Esteghlal: (7) Hossein Hosseini, Aref Aghasi, Mohammad Hossein Moradmand, Farshid Ismaili, Amir Arsalan Motahhari, Zubair Nikonfas and Siavash Yazdani

Persepolis: (5) Saeed Aghaei, Vahid Amiri, Mehdi Torabi, Mehdi Abdi, and Milad Sarlak.

Sepahan Esfahan: (5) Omid Nourafkan, Yasin Salmani, Shahriyar Moghanloo,, Farshad Ahmadzadeh and Mohammad Karimi

Golgohar Sirjan: (3) Mehdi Tikdari, Armin Sohrabian, Ahmad Zenderooh.

TractorSazi: (1) Mohammad Reza Akhbari

Foolad Khuzestan: (1) Saleh Hardani

02/08/202102/08/2021

Official: Ehsan Hajsafi signs with AEK Athens.

Team Melli Captain Ehsan Hajsafy joined the Greek club AEK Athens. HajSafi who traveled to Athens after finishing his season with Sepahan in the 20th edition of the Persian Gulf League, officially signed a contract with the Greek side this evening. The contract of the captain of the Iranian national team with this club is until the end of the summer of 2023.

Hajsafi will be joining Karim Ansarifard in AEK Athens.

Hajsafi (31 years) previously played for Panionios in the 2017–2018 season and played 14 matches scoring 1 goal before moving briefly to 2018 Olympiacos where he played 6 times and scored 1 goal. AEK is one of the three most successful teams in Greek football (including Olympiacos and Panathinaikos), winning 30 national titles. The team is coached by the Serbian Vladan Milojević.

Hajsafi has played 113 games for Team Melli since his debut against Zambia in a friendly in May 2008. He scored 6 goals for Team Melli.

17/07/2021

Payam Niazmand to Portuguese club Portimonense.

Seyed Payam Niazmand, 26-year-old goalkeeper, who is playing for Sepahan Esfahan will join the Portuguese club Portimonense until June 2024, with a 10 million euros termination clause.

In Portugal, several clubs competed for the signature of Team Melli goalkeeper, with some notable foreign teams in the race, however, Payam Niazmand opted for the Algarve team, which has managed to secure his signature.

The Iranian international who played the AFC Asian Cup in 2019, represented the teams of Paykan FC and Sepahan, before arriving at Portimonense.

The club issued a statement confirming the arrival of Niazmand with a welcome message that said “the administration of Portimonense Futebol SAD, thanks Payam Niazmand for having faith in the project that was presented to him and wishes him the greatest personal and sporting successes in defending the alvinegra goal.”

Niazmand joins Ali Alipour in Portimonense.

27/02/2020

Coronavirus threatens all Asian football activities!

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Asian soccer leaders on Wednesday postponed two key meetings because of the spread of the Coronavirus.

The Asian Football Confederation was due to hold an executive committee meeting in Bahrain on March 14 ahead of a congress of member nations on April 16 in Kuala Lumpur. The AFC told The Associated Press that both gatherings had been postponed, with no new dates for the meetings given.

Governments have announced more than 20 cases of the virus in both Malaysia and Bahrain.

The virus has already impacted soccer matches on the continent with Asian Champions League games involving Chinese clubs Guangzhou Evergrande, Shanghai Shenhua and Shanghai SIPG postponed to April-May.

All group and playoff matches in the east zone of the AFC Cup have been delayed until April 7.

Iran is one of the worst-hit countries in West Asia with many countries suspending flight to and from Iran while most have closed the borders. Several league matches were held with spectators while many clubs advocate the postponement of the league until the situation stabilizes and the threat of the virus is minimized.

Sepahan Esfahan, Esteghlal, Persepolis and Shar Khodro are representing Iran in this season’s AFC Champions League.

Team Melli is scheduled to meet Hong Kong in Azadi Stadium on 26th March in the FIFA World Cup 2022 Asian Zone qualifiers.

26/02/2020

FFIRI offenses triggers AFC and FIFA actions.

Iran’s Football Federation has been given serious warnings from the two governing bodies.

The disciplinary committee of the AFC has found FFIRI guilty of serious violations and slapped it with a heavy fine of US$130,000. The breach of the Law which amount to cheating in issuing the Professional License to Iranian clubs despite the fact that those clubs did not meet the standards and the bylaws of professional football clubs as specified by AFC and FIFA.

FFIRI has renewed the licenses of Esteghlal, Persepolis, Shahr Khodro and Sepahan Esfahan to enable them to compete in this season’s AFC Champions League, however, those clubs have not met all the requirements. FFIRI failed to apply the law and issued Professional Licences knowingly that there were many areas of shortfall and violations of the international charter of professional clubs.

The fine is suspended for two years by the AFC, however, a repeat of such breach of the law will mean that FFIRI has to pay the full amount in addition to another punitive measure which normally means expulsion of the club from Asian Competitions.

While AFC has been firm against FFIRI, FIFA was in no mood either with its warning to the Iranians that the bylaws of its football federation are in violation of the international standards set by FIFA and no election will be recognized until an amendment to the laws is incorporated.

In a letter to FFIRI, the International Football Federation, while expressing objections to the FFIRI’s statute, called for the postponement of the election of its President. The election of FFIRI president, vice-Presidents, and executive board members, was supposed to be held on March 5, The International Football Federation, which has long been examining the status of the Iranian Federation, has emphasized in its letter that the Statute of the Iranian Football Federation has not been approved and should be amended. By sending this letter to the Iranian Football Federation, the March 6 election will be canceled and postponed to another time.

Despite the so-called independence of the FFIRI in Iran, the fact remains that the Government through the ministry of Youth and Sports is the de-facto controlling authority of all sports in Iran particularly football. From appointing of Chairmen to CEO’s and selecting the Coaches of Team Melli, The government has ensured a tight and full control of the sports.

Meanwhile, many observers believe that FFIRI election hardly qualifies to be called that as it is all selection and appointment cleverly disguised as free elections.

Mehdi Taj has resigned his post as President of FFIRI due to ill health.

23/10/2019

Payam Niazmand approaching a record.

Two seasons ago, the 17th season of the Persian Gulf Premier League, Esteghlal Goalkeeper Seyed Hossein Hosseini reached a milestone with his club by keeping a clean sheet fo 872 minutes., the longest any goalkeeper has managed in the history of the league competition.

This season, the 19th edition, Payam Niazmand (Sepahan Esfahan) and Mohammad Rashid Mazaheri’s (Tractorsazi Tabriz) are rapidly challenging that record by their excellent performances for their clubs.

The two Team Melli goalkeepers are in close competition with each other to break that record and also for the title of the best goalkeeper of the season. The two goalkeepers have kept their doors closed for 630 minutes (7 consecutive matches) minutes this season, however, Niazmand also kept a clean sheet from last season final game, while he kept 80 minutes from the previous match so his tally of clean sheet stands at 802 minutes.

in order to break Seyed Hossein Hosseini’s record, the 24 years old Niazmand needs to keep one more clean sheet for more than 70 minutes of the next match against Saipa at home.

On the other hand, while Naizmand and Mazaheri have been exceptionally good this season in the league, the regular Team Melli custodian, Alireza Beiranvand has not been so fortunate as his rivals. Beiranvand has conceded 5 goals and his team Persepolis has dropped to the 5th position. The goalkeeper who was instantly a hit after saving Cristiano Ronaldo’s spot-kick and a penalty against Cambodia failed to repeat the same against Bahrain.

Persian Gulf Pro League Table & Standings

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	+/-	PTS	Form
1	Sepahan	7	5	2	0	10	0	+10	17	W W W D D
2	Tractor	7	5	2	0	8	0	+8	17	W W W W D
3	Shahr Khodrou	7	5	1	1	8	3	+5	16	W W D L W
4	Foolad	7	3	3	1	6	4	+2	12	W W D W D
5	Sanat Naft	7	3	3	1	5	3	+2	12	D W W D L
6	Persepolis	7	4	0	3	5	5	0	12	W L L W W
7	Naft MIS	7	2	5	0	7	5	+2	11	W W D D D
8	Esteghlal	7	2	3	2	10	7	+3	9	W W D L D
9	Nassaji	7	2	3	2	12	14	-2	9	L D D W L
10	Pars Jam	7	1	4	2	6	7	-1	7	D L D W D
11	Machine Sazi	7	2	1	4	9	13	-4	7	L D W L L
12	Saipa	7	2	1	4	9	14	-5	7	L L L L W
13	Paykan	7	1	2	4	13	14	-1	5	L L D W D
14	Zob Ahan	7	0	4	3	5	9	-4	4	L L D D D
15	Gol Gohar	7	0	3	4	3	8	-5	3	L L L L D
16	Shahin	7	0	1	6	4	14	-10	1	L L L L D

Last updated: 23 October 2019

08/06/2019

Zlatko Krancjar ” I left Iran because of sanctions”

The former head of the Iran Omid (U23) team believes the sanctions imposed on Iran were the reason for his departure from the team, something that has caused other Iranian teams to face difficulties.

The Croatian coach Zlatko Krancjar ended his partnership with Iran’s Omid team and is now back in his own country, according to ISNA. The coach who held several coaching posts in Iran including leading Persepolis and Sepahan in Iranian football league, in discussion about his departure from the Iran team said “I could not continue to work in Iran because of the sanctions. Everything is determined by money, and because of sanctions, Iran’s sport, especially football, is in suffering severely.”

“The administration of the national teams at all age group levels is dependent on the on the government and the state of which it is willing to support, so it is not possible to improve the situation,” he continued. “In any case, I have been in Iran for 6 years and I thoroughly enjoy that period and enjoyed Iran. In Sepahan, I was able to win two trophies. In the Omid team of Iran, I also got good results in the Olympic qualifiers were we qualified for the finals. I’d better rest now. Also notice that , Winfred Schaefer also left Iran. Branco Ivankovic , who has won three championships in a row and has been in the AFC Champions League final, is facing some financial problems.”

17/05/2015

Tabrizi fans victim of the biggest prank!

If that was not the world’s biggest prank , then I don’t know what it.

It all happened early Friday evening in Yadegar Imam Stadium in Tabriz, the home of Tractorsazi team which was playing for the Championship title for the first time in its history. The Tabrizi team needed to win the match against arch rival Naft , themselves needing the 3 points to win the title.

The stadium was over filled to the rim. As usual in Iranian stadiums, there was little regards for safety and regulation. Eyewitnesses in the stadium have mentioned hundreds or thousands of seats that were occupied by two persons. All emergency exits and pathways were occupied by the passionate Tabrizi fans that were ready to enjoy the mother of all celebrations at the end of the game. That would be Tractorsazi’s Persian Gulf League title season 2014/15.

There was a third team involved in the last day title race, and that was Sepahan Esfahan playing at home against Saipa. Sepahan, needed to win but also needed the match in Tabriz between Tractorsazi and Naft Tehran to end in a draw for Sepahan to win the title.

All was going well for Tractorsazi and they were 3-1 up in the second half and well on the way for the celebration of the century. Sepahan two goal advantage against Saipa was meaningless. But then disaster struck.

Team Melli veteran midfielder Andranik Teymourian , the assist provider for the first goal and scorer of 2^nd for Tractorsazi was sent off a couple of minutes after his team’s 3^rd goal. The rest was all downhill for the Tabrizi team. Naft scored twice to equalize and make it 3-3 and that was the result after Alireza Faghani blew his whistle at the end of the game.

Millions of TV audiences were astonished by the celebrations that ensued. It was so unreal, illusionary, bordering a joke. Nowhere in the world, have fans celebrated their team becoming second like these fans were doing in Tabriz. A pitch invasion that threatened the safety of the players, huge chanting and celebration for those in the stands who could not join the mass on the pitch , waving flags, scenes of frenzy captured by the Iranian TV was part of this incredible event.

To top it all , the local TV commentator, who had no idea why the fans are behaving like that but acted and reasoned that the fans in Tabriz are unique in the world , and even celebrate their team losing the style in style !!

There was something that was definitely not right……Surreal , false and comical in all that.

And then the truth was revealed. Someone has played the biggest prank of them all on the unsuspecting Tabrizi fans.

It all started when a few minutes before the end of the match, the Public Address announcement urged the fans to be ready for the celebration. When the match finished, someone has informed the bench of Tractorsazi that the match in Esfahan ended 2-2 while the fact was Sepahan have won it 2-0.

The euphoria began, the celebrations, while truly incredible and exuberant was all the result of one of the biggest pranks in the history.

The follow up to this incredibly heart breaking episode for the Tabrizi fans, while their rivals had the biggest laugh, was even sillier than the event itself. It goes beyond saying that lying, rumor mongering and fabrication of news is institutional and a way of life in Iran. At least 80,000 people were in the stadium, many carrying radios and smartphones that have all the information they needed about the match in Esfahan and elsewhere in Iran. How on earth this mass was cheated into believing the lies is itself quite incredible.

One Azerbaijani official claimed that there was a total loss of communication in the stadium, a seriously retarded claim, while others demanded that people responsible for this are put to trial and severely punished.

Ando Teymourian , in the aftermath of this prank said that Friday was one of his darkest days in football. “Not only the result itself and the loss of the title in the last quarter of the match was heart breaking but the false news that lead the masses in wild celebration and then realizing it was all false, just added a huge insult to the injury. I am really sorry for the fans. I do apologize to every warm blooded Tabrizi fan. This is all I can say.”

15/12/2014

Sajjadi “We will pursue Queiroz, if evidence is presented!”

Deputy Minister of Youth Sports said “if evidence is presented against Carlos Queiroz violating our values, we will deal with him as we did with others!”

The veiled threat to the Portuguese coach came in the aftermath of the public prosecution of Zlatko Kranjcar, in which the ministry of youth & Sport has accused the Croat coach of consuming alcohol in players’ dressing room!

Nassrollah Sajjadi, like his boss Goudarzi , who has not made any great attempts to conceal his contempt towards football , starting from Kaffashian and his administration to the footballers and coaches in club and Team Melli, has once again wielded the sword of threat. Not only this ministry has said little to praise anyone related to football, it has consistently been hostile and hardly screened their disapproval of Carlos Queirroz and Zlatko Kranjcar.

Sepahan CEO Merhrzad Khalilian with Zlatko Krajncar

The Ministry of Youth & Sports has been widely criticized and ridiculed for their narrow-minded and immoral way they dealt with Kranjcar in which the most basic of human rights has been disregarded by a Ministry. One of the sharpest reaction was that of the Sepahan CEO Mehrzad Khalilian who called the accusation that Kranjcar consumed alcohol in his team’s dressing room as fabricated , fraudulent and uncivilized. Even the government supporting media has been vocal in their criticism of a Ministry that has installed itself as the judge, the jury and executioner of morality cases thereby over-stepping its authority that is the function and responsibility of the Judiciary of the Islamic Republic.

After that episode with Kranjcar, while being reminded about the cultural differences of foreign coaches , the Ministry to be seen as applying their own version of law on everyone, now is in pursuit of Carlos Queiroz for the same reasons as Kranjcar!

As if the never ending problems with Team Melli ahead of the Asian Cup are not enough, now Queiroz has to deal with this side issue and this lot!