Former Team Melli coach, Marc Wilmots confirmed that he was not paid for 5 months by FFIRI while he was still working for the football federation.
Wilmots mistakenly thought that the country was running out of money and that is the reason he left Iran. He did not mention anything about the really poor results and the two defeats against Bahrain and Iran.
Of course, Wilmots had every right to break his contract if he was not paid and in fact, he should be applauded for waiting that long in the job. What is surprising is how will the FFIRI which is reportedly bankrupt, is going to pay the new coach Dragan Skocic?? Will the poor guy suffer the same as Wilmots and Queiroz before him?
For what its worth, here is what Wilmots said about his Iranian experience.
Marc Wilmots is currently in Slovenia watching his two sons play in the league. In an interview with a Slovanian website, Wilmots was asked about his coaching job and his plans for the future.
“I have been active as a player and coach in Europe for 30 years. In 2017, I received an offer from Africa. I ended up as the head coach of Côte d’Ivoire national team, which for me is the B team of France. The memories of that assignment are beautiful, but after the defeat in Morocco, we were eliminated from the World Cup and our paths broke.”
“An offer came from Iran last year. I thought of it as a great project for the next three years until the next World Cup. But at the end of last year, we broke up. Things did not go right as we have not been paid for five months. Besides me, there are four other coaches who came with me. I’m sorry. Iran has a huge number of players who are physically strong and have advanced football skills. Their National football Center is one of the most modern and the finest in the World. The offer did not interest me in the beginning, but thinking about Carlos Queiroz working there for eight years, I decided it is worth a go. I thought that means that you can work long term and establish a system.”
“When I started, The Iranian national team was more defensive-minded and I started to introduce more offensive tactics. The start was great. We beat Syria 5-0 in a friendly, then played South Korea and drew 1-1, we beat Cambodia 14-0 in the World Cup qualifiers. With more sanctions, political disputes and isolation of Iran by the US, the atmosphere in the country was getting worse and worse, and above all, it was running out of funds.”
“Now I have time. There are offers, but I have time to decide. I am Quite calm, no hassle. I want to study the offers before deciding the best offer. out of funds. It will be clear in the next three months. I don’t care if I work at a club or a national team.”