Abbasi , the sports minister said that Mohammad Reza Khalatbary is not representative of the government of Iran in any capacity and therefore the government cannot compensate him nor pay any financial penalties if he refuses to honor his contract with the UAE club. The Sport minister was answering question after the testimonial match between the 2014 Team Melli and the 1998.
The question was brought up by a reporter after rumors that Perspolis wants the services of Khalatbary, but cannot afford to pay the penalties and compensations for Ajman Club , and therefore looking for to the government to receive some handouts. Abbasi denied that such arrangement has been discussed and said that the government will not entertain such requests. “Players who sign contracts with professional clubs , do so on personal basis between themselves and the clubs involved. They are the ones who are liable for all what is mentioned in the contract clauses. We have no role to play and cannot force them either way” the Sports minister commented. “ We also cannot compensate them for failure to honor their contract for whatever reasons.”
Apparently , Khalatbary is disillusioned with Ajman Club, and claims that the UAE football federation’s naming their League , Arabian Gulf league, has dampened his enthusiasm to play in that country. Khalatbary was supposed to start training with his club Ajman, but he is still in Iran. The club has given him up to Monday , to join the training camp in Ajman before taking the appropriate actions..
On the subject of a large number of 1998 World Cup veterans failing to turn up for the testimonial match and event, Abbasi responded to the reporters by saying “You have to ask those who were not absent, not me.” He also explained that “We cannot assure the presence of everyone when we arrange such an event. People might have social, personal or professional commitments that prevent them from attending such event. We wanted to pay tribute for the football players, men and woman who achieved honors for the country. This event was for them.”
The poorly attended (estimated 3000 fans in the 100,000 capacity stadium) event saw the unique presence of woman in Azadi albeit in a glass enclosure!. On close scrutiny, it turned out to be the Women Futsal team members who won the Silver medal in the 4th Asian Indoor Games a couple of weeks back. They were supposed to be honored by the sport minister, but only their team manager who got close to the tribune, the rest of th e women were kept away to their utmost disgust..
Several reporters complained about the harassment they received from the security at the Azadi gates. There were also wide spread criticism at the poorly managed functions, and the chaotic scenes during the presentation ceremony. The football match itself also ended prematurely with one half played only. It is not clear why the match was abandoned. All those mishaps, perhaps explains why many top ex-Team Melli player of 1998 team , such as Ali Daei, Mehdi Mahdavikia, Khodadad Azizi, Ahmedreza Abedzadeh . Karim Bagheri , NaderMohammadkhani and Mohammad Khakpour refused to attend this event for one reason or another.