The Magnificent Tailspin Of Iranian Football

GOAL - The last eight months have arguably been some of the toughest Iranian football has faced since the Iran-Iraq war that disrupted and set it back for years during the 1980's.

After Iran’s less than ceremonious exit from Germany the floodgates opened. Iranian clubs crashed out of the Asian Champions League. Former Iranian PL champions Foolad and Pas fell on hard times, as did Tehran giants Perspolis.

However, worse was to follow.

Late in 2006, FIFA threw down the gauntlet by threatening to ban all Iranian football teams from international tournaments unless Iranian Football Federation’s bylaws and reporting structure changed such that it would guarantee no government interference in football matters as outlined in Article 17 of the FIFA Statutes.

In response to FIFA, Iranian football and sports authorities immediately proceeded to do their usual three step routine; denial, admission and rationalization, and reluctant move towards recovery - a process that is still ongoing.

The latest of these disappointing episodes came at the weekend as the Asian Football Confederation moved to toss Iranian champions Esteghlal of Tehran out of the Champions League for failure to submit their roster before the deadline; one that the other Iranian representatives Sepahan of Isfahan had no problems meeting.

Immediately after the AFC announcement, Esteghlal officials started doing their version of the three-step.

First, the news was dismissed as a mere rumor. Then came the admission that Esteghlal was indeed out, and suggesting that a slow mail delivery may have been the cause of all of this. Finally, the reluctant and almost hopeless attempts at fixing a problem that would not be there had club officials performed their duties as they should.

Amazingly, in a step to get Esteghlal re-admitted, the club and federation officials have approached Mr. Safaei-Farahani who is the chair of the transitional committee appointed by FIFA to fix the problem of political interference.

That may be have been fine, had it not been for Team Melli coach and Esteghlal technical director/manager/president/self-appointed spokesman Amir Ghalehnoei telling IRNA that the case is also being looked after by Iran’s Foreign Ministry, which may suggest FIFA had a good reason behind their political interference suspicions.

Meanwhile, newly appointed Iran U23 coach Vingo Begovic is struggling to prepare his team for the upcoming Olympics qualifying match against Australia. He has to work with an almost entirely new squad because most of the players who participated in Iran’s bronze winning campaign in Asian Cup last year are now over the age-limit set for Olympic Games.

Begovic is also having a hard time getting his squad together because clubs are refusing to release them. A couple of weeks ago he conducted a practice session with not enough players to field a full squad. This after Iran U16 and U19 failed to impress in recent competitions.

Although Iran’s senior side has fared better than the junior sides, many are worried that the distractions of performing of a coach who is performing a Team Melli and Esteghlal double duty.

Coach Ghalehnoei may spell looming disaster in the upcoming Asian Cup. If Iranian football doomsday forecasters (including yours truly) are correct, FIFA and AFC may not have much to worry about in the future.

This is because all Iranian teams will be out of all major competitions thanks to incompetent Iranian football officials and managers who have repeatedly failed to address football problems that have been there for decades.

Unfortunately, the biggest losers in all of this are the faithful, patient, and passionate Iranian football fans.

Afshin Afshar

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