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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