Tehran
Following much criticisms towards the Iranian football federation’s failure to effectively prepare Team Melli and use the FIFA day for friendly matches, Mohammad Nabi , the Secretary General of Football Federation , announced that a training camp will be held for Team Melli from 6th to 10th of September in Lisbon , Portugal.
The camp will include two friendly matches, and as usual, it is not known which teams Iran will be facing in those matches.
MohammadNabi was speaking on Friday’s sport show on the Iranian TV and took this opportunity to appeal to the new government for funds, not for the federation itself but to support Team Melli’s program, as he claimed.
Faced with the customary question about the failure of the federation to utilize the FIFA day in arranging quality friendly matches, the Secretary General complained about the lack of funds and programming conflicts . He was then asked by the TV show presenter, “what was Queiroz reaction to this cancelation?” , MohammadNabi said that he was unaware about the reaction of the Portuguese coach, but stressed the point that the Federation has many tasks to cater for beside Team Melli and that includes the professional leagues, Youth level competitions and many other activities and expenses. “If we have any aspiration to be amongst the best in Asia , we require the budgets of the top federations of the continent. South Korea , for example, who were second in our group has a budget of US$ 260 to US$ 270 million, while Japan football association budget is US$300 Million. We, on the other hand, have a problem funding a short training camp for our national team.”
MohammadNabi said “In some countries a quarter of the Federations budget is allocated to their national teams, in our case we have to do with a $2.44 Million budget for Team Melli against a country with US$300 million football budget. Although we had lots of financial problems, we have succeeded in many of our programs and plans. We have met with government officials last week to seek their backing and we are hopeful for a positive response.”
“Brazil requested US$ 2 million for a match in Azadi. Wes simply cannot afford such a fee , which is by the way , the going current rate for top class teams. We all aspire to play strong and famous teams, but we are not prepared to spend a quarter of our annual budget for a single match.”
MohammadNabi like all the other Football Federation administrators failed to mention if there are any plans to generate revenues from their activities or engage in marketing or sponsorship deals, favoring the easy mean of government and public funds handouts.
According to TeamMelli.com studies, the football federations of Asian countries have the following budgets. All figures are approximate in US Dollars.
Japan = $264 million
China = $180 million
Indonesia= $112.5 million
Korea Rep. = $95 million
Australia = $60 million
Vietnam = $60 million
Thailand = $52 million
Malaysia = $35 million
Singapore = $9.7 million
Iran = $8.0 million