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Marc Wilmots accuses FFIRI of committing a serious breach of contract”.

The strained relationship between Marc Wilmots and the Iranian football took a sharp turn to the worst as the Belgian coach has tweeted that his employers, FFIRI have committed a serious breach of contract while the FFIRI has secretly approached Branko Ivankovic to replace Wilmots.

The Belgian coach says that unbearable situation has been created for him and his assistants by the Football Federation. Following the defeat of the Iranian national football team against Iraq, criticism of the Belgian national coach has been on the rise, and the rumours of replacing Wilmots with Branko Ivankovic has gained momentum.  However, the Iranian Football Federation in a bizarre statement about the various rumours surrounding Team Melli coaching, including negotiation with Wilmots on the subject of termination of the contract, said that it (FFIRI) does not confirm or deny anything!! Such peculiar denial has given the media the ammunition to speculate more and confirm to a certain extent that what has been rumoured is, in fact, close to reality and truth and not just rumours.

 And the lame statement by FFIRI, who are trying to be clever, will not alleviate those stories.

Now Marc Wilmots has ended his silence on the subject today and posted on his official Twitter page his thoughts on the “rumours” in the Iranian media: “The reality is that the situation is unbearable for me and my assistants due to a serious breach of contract by the Iranian Football Federation. “The case is being processed by my lawyers and I do not intend to comment any further.“

While the breach of contract by FFIRI is quite clear, as Mehdi Taj administration has consistently delayed the payment of the wages of Wilmots and his assistants, which eventually forced the hands of Wilmots to refuse to carry out his duty ( a violation of the contract of its own), the serious concern is hardly about the clauses of the contract but the lacklustre, lethargic , lack of creativity and lack of urgency in the team that is coached by Wilmots and that lead to two consecutive defeats.

Wilmots wages resolved, claims Mehdi Taj.

Mehdi Taj, the President of FFIRI has confirmed that Team Melli’s coach salaries have been paid in full.

During a reception ceremony for Iran’s Beach Soccer team which has just clinched the Intercontinental Cup for the 3rd time, Taj was asked  by a reporter if Marc Wilmots’ wages problem has been resolved or not,”  Mehdi Taj said, “Yes, it has been resolved, and we paid him his dues plus three to four months in advance!”

There is no confirmation on the wages of other foreign coaches.

Marc Wilmots himself never discussed the financial problems publically. It is not clear whether he will comment on what Taj has said to the media.

In the same interview, Taj said that his federation is actively seeking a friendly game in FIFA day right after Iraq’s game. “Nothing is certain, though,” Taj said.

 

World Media in suspense for the Iran-Cambodia match, and it has little to do with game-plans!!

The Public Relations Manager of Ministry of Youth and Sports announced that 21 foreign media outlets from 21 countries have applied for media credentials to cover the match between Iran and Cambodia in Azadi Stadium on 10th October 2019.

The match will be observed by a FIFA delegation to ensure that women are allowed in the stadium as per FIFA regulations. According to the Ministry of Youth and Sports, journalists, photographers and cameramen  from various networks and news agencies are seeking coverage of the Iran-Cambodia World Cup qualifiers,

Iranian female spectators are supposed to be allowed in the stadium for the match which will be subject to FIFA oversight.

It is clear that international media care less about the result of the match and more concerned with the case of Iranian women entry into football stadiums. Although the government and FFIRI have assured FIFA and confirmed that the authorities will have no objections in controlled entry and segrations of women, a recent statement by Iranian Attorney General has put a question mark on the whole affair.

Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, Iran’s chief prosecutor, (Attorney General) spoke at a ceremony in Qom on the issue of women’s entry to the stadiums and criticized FIFA for forcing a country to allow women in the stadium. It is not clear if this person, Montazeri, has the authority to stop the implementation of the government decree.

However, the consequences of FIFA banning Iran and in the process, the elimination of the Team Melli from the World Cup will definitely be having serious conseqiuences in the country. Many fear mass riots and clashes which will be surely met by brute force from the security forces as always against any show of dissent or mass protests in Iran.

 

Concerns are high for Omid Team prospects.

Apart from the Football Federation and in particular, its president Mehdi Taj, everyone that has insight and knowledge of Iranian football believes that the appointment of a rookie as the coach of Omid Team (U23) is a big mistake.

Farhad Majidi has been put into an unenviable position and given the task of qualifying for the Men’s football Olympic tournament after more than 40 years of absence. Coaches much more experienced and qualified than Majidi have failed to take Iran to what looks like an unattainable dream and some kind of a spell.

 While many prominent and experienced domestic coaches turned down the job, Majidi took upon himself to promise success in qualification but without much thought or results in the field.

Omid Team, which is considered the backbone and the near future of Team Melli, under head coach Farhad Majidi has been performing dismally and the result of the recent friendly games (1-0 and 4-1 defeats against Uzbekistan) raises an alarm bell that many have expected and forecasted the minute Majidi was appointed.

Mansour Rashidi, the famous Team Melli goalkeeper is yet another ex-player who raised doubts on the Omid team recently. Rashidi told Mehr sports reporter: “I am not familiar with the Omid Team players except for one or two and admittedly I am not close to the team to know them inside out. I didn’t watch any of the recent friendly games with Uzbekistan either, but the results of those two preparations matches were not serving Iranian football’s reputation. ” The former coach of Iran’s Omid team continued “This team is the backbone of Team Melli and much more efforts are needs to be taken into Temporary Email consideration to develop it.  It seems the level of attention, priority and care for Omid team is low.”

He added: “Farhad Majidi is one of the Iran football upcoming prospects and I am confident that he will have a bright future in coaching. But coaching Omid Team at this stage of his career was far too early for him. This team needs much more experienced and qualified coaches.  The last time Iran qualified to the Olympics was  Montreal Olympics 1976 and I was honoured to be a member of that Olympic team ” our former national footballer said.

“We never imagined at the time that qualifying to the Olympics would be an unattainable dream for Iranian football”. Rashidi said: “Although the results of the preparatory games are a blow and a disappointment for Iranian football, I really hope the team can break the spell of half a century of not qualifying for the Olympics and take Iranian football out of this misery and pity.”

In order to qualify for the Tokyo Olympic games, Iran must achieve one of the top three ranks in the upcoming Asian U23 Championship in Thailand. Iran did not even qualify directly as the achieved qualification as one of the best second teams.

FIFA deadline on allowing females into stadiums

FIFA deadline for Iran, to allow females in the stadiums starting with FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifying matches has expired today, and now the Iranian Football Association is forced to allow families and ladies into the stadiums while hosting Team Melli matches.

In other word, the promise given by President Hassan Rouhani to the FIFA president Infantino needs to be implemented else Iranian football will possibly be sanctioned.

 12 days after Iran and Syria’s friendly match at Azadi Stadium, Gianni Infantino, in a letter to the Iranian Football Federation, praised the presence of women in that match, requesting that the process be continued, and the ban on the presence of women in Iranian stadiums fully lifted.  In this letter, a deadline for Iran’s football was set on the 15th of July, after which women would be free to attend all stadiums hosting all football matches at national and international levels.

This did not occur last time Team Melli played against the Omid team, but in any case, that match was played behind closed doors and was off-limits to the public in Azadi.

The FIFA president mentioned in the letter that Iran’s football should take a lesson from the recent Women’s World Cup in France and free up the presence of families at Iranian stadiums. Infantino has pointed out that FIFA is aware of the cultural challenges and simply wants to make progress in this regard, not only because of the progress of women in the world, but also as a matter of fact, and is one of the fundamental principles of the FIFA Constitution.

On Monday, Mahdi Taj stated that the response letter was sent to FIFA and the federation is allowing women in the national team home games in the 2022 World Cup.

With the end of the FIFA deadline, a big challenge is brewing for the football executives because, despite the promises of authorities in the past, there has not been a definite step in the preparation of women’s presence in the stadium, which still has a lot of legal prohibitions and sensitivities.

The problem, of course, is not the FFIRI which is quite content to allow women in the stadium, but the religious fundamentalist who are determined to force their extremist ideas on the population.

Chaos reigns supreme in Hazfi Cup Final

The final of the Hazfi cup between Persepolis and Damash Gilan had to be abandoned several times after chaotic scenes in Ahvaz threatening to turn into unrest. The match was eventually on after 2 hours and 15 minutes delay!!

This final was between David and Goliath of Iran’s football, Persepolis arguably the most popular team in Iran and Asia and the minnows from second division Damash Gilan from city of Rasht.  Damash was the unlikeliest finalist of the cup, however they had a good run and managed to display some heroics to reach the final ahead of the likes of Esteghlal, Zob Ahan and Sepahan.

Angry fans throwing objects

The full capacity newly built Foolad Arena in neutral city of Ahvaz, was full to capacity hours before the start of the match when it was announced that there will be a 30 minutes delay presumably to ensure the safety of the spectators.

However, despite the referee leading the teams for the start, Damash players refused to join the pre-match lineup and continued warming up. The apparent reason for refusal to play was an order from their Club chairman. About 300 Damash fans were not allowed entry by the match organizers and were stuck behind closed doors leading to strong protests and threats from Damash Chairman.

Despite efforts from players such as Biranvand and Jalal Hosseini pleading with their own fans to give up their seats for Damash fans, their pleas went to deaf ears as no one was interested to do so. Fans made an effort and bought tickets to watch a cup final and there was no reason anyone would want to give up the seat, especially the opposition team. It looked like a ridiculous solution and desperate attempt to start the match.

Damash team insisted that they will not play until they see their supporters in the stands.

There were no official announcements from the speakers on the progress and status of the match leading to unsettle the fans. Unrest started and the situation was becoming volatile.

After nearly two hours and 15 minutes of late kick off, the match was started but not before angry fans pelted Damash players with all sort of objects. Damash team ran for cover under barrage of objects being thrown at them, without any protection from the security forces or riot police!

The final of the cup that is supposed to be the showcase of any football federation’s season. In the last few finals, it has been chaotic, unruly and quite messy at the end of each match. However, this edition started (finally) quite messy and ended in shame nearly resulting in riots with high risk to the fans and the public.

The accountable party must be the FFIRI, who has a track record in incompetence, poor organization and poor management. This was a shameful day for Iran’s football and a warning for outsiders of the risk of playing important tournaments in Iran under the present Federation.

Later in the evening, the Disciplinary Committee of the FFIRI issued an communique regarding the events of the Hazfi Cup final in which it mentioned that “As the result of inadequacies and lack of control in the process of holding the Cup Final between the Persepolis Tehran and Damash Gilan, which lead To disorder, chaos, and damage to the national football credibility and reputation. Mr. Saeed Fattahi [Head of FFIRI League Organization committee] has been suspended from all football activities until further notice.”

It also added that Mr. Heydar Baharvand and Abdol Kazem Taleghani are required to provide explanations regarding the events that took place during the match.

Saeed Fattahi who is notorious in Iran for involving himself in every matter to do with the federation and issuing unsanctioned statements on behalf of the Federation, was supposed to be the chief organizer of the match who has forgotten to allocate tickets for the Damash Team fans.

Mehdi Taj’s masterstroke!

Mehdi Taj and the FFIRI have to be credited for the appointment of Marc Wilmots as head coach of Team Melli replacing Queiroz.

The Iranian federation FFIRI faced many obstacles in their quest to replace Queiroz beginning from the Finances, or lack of it , to political objections, to social issues and the strong local lobbies.

The lack of funds is by now a common knowledge. Despite the lack of transparency by FFIRI including no audited balance sheet that is publically available to answer discrepancies such as the alleged disappearance of large amount of payments awarded to FFIRI during the reign Ali Kaffashian, the federation has been suffering from lack of resources for years.  Transfer of salary through normal banking channels to a foreign coach is also a great challenge thanks to one Donald Trump and his American sanctions.

It is that sanction that prompted many politicians and hardliners to question the appointment of a foreign coach and thus the wasting of rare hard currency on football while large sectors of industry and other services were in dire need of that cash and hard currency. It was certainly a legitimate question particularly that this football has yielded nothing for the country since the revolution particularly the trophy that really matters for the Iranians, the AFC Asian Cup.

Compared to other sports, football has one of the lowest returns of investment  and yields in the country yet the people associated with it are the highest paid of them all, some of whom make astronomical figures comparatively.

Socially speaking, the question foreign coach appointment has always been divisive debate in Iran. A large number of fans question such appointments based on issues such as communication, language, culture, logistics and most importantly, cost.

The other factor in this endless debate is the strong lobbying by influential people in Iran’s football. Ex-players, coaches, administrators and managers who strongly support the appointment of one of their own.

That reservation on foreign coach is responded to by the other camp who believe that Iranian coaches are not suitable or favorable at this time. Ali Daei, a legendary figure in his own right, lost his job in an un-ceremonial fashion after losing to Saudi Arabia at Azadi in a World Cup qualifier match.

Before him, Amir Ghalenoei, who is by far the most successful Iranian league club coach, tried but failed to achieve success in the AFC Asian Cup 2007.

Mansour Ebrahimzadeh was an interim coach but he was a disaster losing all the 3 matches Team Melli played under him. Finally Afshin Ghotbi, who is technically an American citizen, who failed to deliver in AFC Asian Cup 2011

In reality, in this period, there is no good Iranian candidate for Team Melli. From experience to knowledge to discipline to modern football tactics awareness and many more aspects, it is clear that Iranian coaches have a lot to learn.

Taj and his men had to navigate all those hurdles and skillfully managed to come up with the correct decision.

So, without bias, the appointment of Marc Wilmots is a masterstroke carried out under immense pressure. Mehdi Taj deserves much credit for such a move, notwithstanding the shortfalls in his administration and  lack of transparency.  Certainly there remains a lot to be corrected at FFIRI, but credit must be given were credit is due

Wilmots is not another Queiroz, he will work from Tehran.

Marc Wilmots signed a contract with the Iranian federation on Wednesday, The former coach of Belgium and Côte d’Ivoire will arrive in Tehran by coming Wednesday, if not a day or two before, to start working immediately in preparing Team Melli for two friendly matches.

Before the signing of the deal with Wilmots, and on the day that Mahdi Taj was in negotiation with the Belgian coach, the media claimed that Wilmots did not intend to settle in Iran, and would return to Belgium after the end of each Team Melli match. However, Mehdi Taj did not confirm or deny these speculations after the signing of the contract.

According to Abdul Kazem Taleghani, a member of the executive committee of FFIRI, in response to several questions by reporters about Wilmots being a “Suitcase Coach”?  He said that Wilmots being a flying suitcase coach is all false. “This coach will be based in Iran and can bring his family to our country if he wishes to. He continued “Wilmots is an accomplished coach. If we manage to pay his dues on time, he will undoubtedly deliver the goods and will be an asset to the national teams.”

Taleghani, in response to question regarding the subject of regular payments to the coach in hard currency, said “details of this issue should be directed to Mr. Mahdi Taj. Anyway, it must be followed up and the federation’s president has surely has a solution.”

The executive board member stated: “According to the details of contract with Wilmots, he is planning to do great work, whether in the national team or in the age group teams. Our priorities are not only the qualification for the World Cup 2022, but also preparing youthful team and the monitoring of lower age group teams which are under Wilmots supervision.

Taleghani added “Our demands from this coach are far higher than the previous one. With the grace of God, Wilmots will arrive on Monday or Tuesday, and start his work.”

One of the ambiguities of Wilmots initial work is the list of invited players for the two international friendly matches against Syria and South Korea. Taleghani’s answer to the question of whether the next squad will be named by Wilmots, or will they invite other players? He said: “I have no idea about this, and you have to ask Mr. Taj on that.”

Taleghani also denied knowledge on the number and names of the Iranian assistants to Marc Wilmots.

Welmots signs a 3 years contract in Brussels.

The embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Brussels has announced that Marc Welmots has signed a contract with Iran football federation FFIRI.

According to ISNA, Welmots officially signed a three-year contract to lead Team Melli after the meeting with the head of the federation’s Mehdi Taj in Brussels today. Welmots who previously traveled to Tehran to visit the federation’s facilities, will arrive in Tehran in the coming days to start the preparing Team Melli for the two friendly international matches against Syria and South Korea.

Sheikh Ali, adviser to the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Belgium, in an interview with the ISNA correspondent, confirmed the signing of the contract  “The talks were held at the embassy residence in Brussels, which resulted in the signing of the contract, but the embassy had no role whatsoever and has not participated in the negotiations. Sheikh Ali, also rejected any claims that the embassy has assured the Belgium coach of receiving his salary through the Iranian embassy account in Belgium or any other sort of payment to Welmots. He, said: “We have not had any talks on this matter which was purely between the FFIRI and the coach. This issue has nothing to do with the embassy. Consensual negotiations were conducted, and the embassy also did not give Mr. Welmots any guarantee of his salary. We, at the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, provided the logistical for the FFIRI and hosting the venue of negotiation.”

“Any issue regarding the details of the contract must be referred to Mr. Mehdi Taj.”

Earlier, Belgian media reported that the talks between Taj and Welmots have stalled and suspended because of a disagreement over the residing of the Belgian coach in Tehran. Those media news spoke of the possibility of abandoning of the contract.

According to ISNA, Mehdi Taj has left Brussels  heading to Tehran at 15:00 hours.

Technical Committee of FFIRI were kept in the dark on Welmots.

Bijan Zolfagharnasb said in a statement to Mehr News Agency sports correspondent, commented on the selection of Marc Welmots as the new head coach of Team Melli by saying “I heard the news from the media. The federation officials decided to keep the negotiation completely secret.”

The former coach of the Iranian National Team continued: “I will take Mark Welmots selection and appointment as a good omen (..), he can achieve brilliant results with Team Melli if he is properly managed by the federation. Choosing a good coach is only half the challenge. Fifty percent of this is related to how the federation utilizes the coach.”  Zolfagharnasb emphasized the federation’s cooperation with his committee ” the technical committee  of the federation should continuously supervise and monitor the work of the coaching team. This certainly did not happen during Carlos Queiroz tenure. I did not consider Queiroz to be at fault in this matter. It was the contract signed with the federation that lacked clauses of supervision and oversight by a strong technical committee, hence he did what he liked at will”

Zolfagharnasb also supported the speculations that Javad Nekounam will be part of Welmots team.

Basically, Zolfagharnasb has proved that the Technical Committee of the FFIRI, which he is a prominent member of, is toothless and nothing but a rubber stamp for the President of the federation. One of the responsibilities of the Technical committee is the appraisal and approval of Team Melli and other National Teams age group coaches. Obviously this has not happened and the committee was kept in the dark as Zolfagharnasb himself admitted that he read the news from the media.

The fact that Zolfagharnasb approves Javad Nekounam’s appointment, which was an attempted failed move during Queiroz time, says a lot about the so called Technical Committee professionalism and work ethics. In principle, the federation should have a systematic and impartial mechanism of selection. Several candidates from a list of ex-Team Melli players or current coaches, should be considered not jut one person. The Selection process should  pick a competent coach who has the right qualifications, the character, experience and the right motive to be an assistant to a foreign coach. Not only Nekounam does not satisfy all the requirements, it is unfair discrimination to many other potentially good coaches who will never get the chance to serve their country under such a dark and retarded system. The effect of hiring the wrong assistant Iranian coach is significant. especially taking into consideration that he might have a negative effect on his compatriot players.