What's Wrong With Iranian Football?

GOAL - Watching Iran’s U23 lumber past opponents in Doha is at times too painful to bear! This is a team that in the eyes of many Iranian fans is full of potential.

A number of these players, such as strikers Arash Borhani and Mehrdad Oladi, are tagged crown princes of Iranian football.

Rene Simoes, the Brazilian coach in charge of the team, is arguably the most qualified man who has ever coached an Iranian U23 team; and yet they lumber on.

That must beg the question “why”?

Over the years many of us Iranian fans have blamed our disappointments on the coaches, the football federation, refereeing, and even bad food, but never the players themselves.

Historically, the men in the national uniform have been off limits for most parts. The extremely passionate Iranian fans stubbornly refuse to blame their heroes on the pitch as if admitting their imperfection will somehow reflect badly on them, the fans, and their proud traditions.

Perhaps it is time to break with tradition, take an honest look at what happens on the pitch, and try to find out what is wrong. No one can argue that Iran has one of the richest football talent pools in Asia.

The question is why have so many Iranian and foreign coaches have failed to gel the players together and help them reach their potential?

Many like to point to the football federation’s inadequate and at times downright horrible management. Others point at the barely functional and hugely underfinanced national league. But no one seems to be willing to point at the players.

Excluding them from the equation seems to somehow feed the fans’ unreasonably high expectations. And high expectations in turn set them up for even a harder fall. The cycle keeps on going on and on.

Let’s admit that the players are a part of the problem. Since 1998, when Iranian football finally broke out of its shell, dozens of Iranian footballers have taken their trade to Europe, but only a very few have succeeded and stayed long term, and even fewer have made any kind of impact at their clubs.

That by itself suggests that the problem may be more than just inadequate facilities and bad management. Let’s take a very close look at our heroes on the pitch, recognize and acknowledge their short comings, and try to find the common threads that hold them back time after time in Asia and beyond.

Only then we can find the solutions, and build systems that can take our football to the next level.

Afshin Afshar

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