FUTSAL IS ALL THE RAGE IN IRAN

BUKIT JALIL - Nowhere is futsal more popular in the world than it is in Iran, the current Asian champions. To hear the manager of the Iranian team to the KL World 5s reel off the statistical measure of its popularity, the sport is all the rage in the Islamic republic.

During Ramadan, 20,000 teams from the country's 28 provinces take part in a knockout competition. Elite teams get to play in a super league which has 12 teams; the division one league has 10 teams and the division two 30.

There are 10,000 futsal teams in the armed forces, 2,000 teams in the schools, 1,000 in the university and a women's division has 100 teams.

"Iranian people love futsal," chortled Mohamed Sadegh Deroudgar, the head of the futsal section of the Iranian football federation.

Asked the reason for futsal's hold on the Iranian public, Sadegh offered that the high order of skills on display, tactical sophistication, and the fact the sport can be played indoors and out accounted for its vast popularity.

Iran emphasized their superiority as Asian champions when they beat Japan 6-0 enroute to the Asian final in Jakarta in 2001.

Though Iran promised much but delivered little at the world championships in Guatemala (2000) and Seville (1996), Sadegh waxed confident that Iran would be formidable at the worlds next year in Chinese-Taipeh.

For the KL Worlds 5s, Iran are wanting to test out the capability of the team without the services of their best player, the injured Vahid Shamsanee.

Despite nursing an injured knee, Shamsanee was not left behind in Teheran because he is "a great psychological boost to the team", said Sadegh. "He is the best player and the one with the highest enthusiasm and best attitude," he enthused.

Shamsanee will be on the sidelines at Putra Stadium, giving vocal support to Mohamed Reza Heidarian, Siamar Dadashi, Ali Sanee and Mojtaba Ahangran, among the more prominent of the Iranian squad.

"We will be among the top three in Chinee Taipei next year and in 2008, we aim to be world champions," said Sadegh.

Results on a recent European tour suggest that Sadegh's optimism is not vacuous. Iran lost 6-2 to European powerhouses Italy and drew 2-2 with current world champions Spain.

Iran are in Group D of the KL World 5s with Uzbekistan and England.