Tehran.
According to the Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA), FFIRI has named six candidates for coaching of the youth team. The candidates were selected based on criteria established by the Technical Committee.
The coaches are as follows:
- Muhammad Ahmadzadeh
- Hamid Alidousti
- AmirHossein Peyrovani
- Akbar Mohammadi
- Khodadad Azizi
- Rasool Zafarian
These individuals were selected from an initial list of 40 football coaches.
The requirement for the job included, coaching degree level A, a minimum of 4 years’ experience as a coach at youth teams level , good character reference , good technical knowledge , technical reputation, ethics and management capabilities, etc..
The requirement set is ideally suited for one Akbar Mohammadi , a name that seems to be repeatedly mentioned in any coaching job at youth level. Incumbent Akbar Mohammadi has trained Iran’s youth team but not to a great success. He was severely criticized after several failures and his selection as a head coach for Team Melli youth teams was put under question due to his low experience.
Mohammad Ahmadzadeh the most experienced candidates on the list was contacted by ISNA to comment about the job. The ex-Malavan Anzali coach, who also worked as an assistant coach at Team Melli Youth levels, said that about 20 days ago I was contacted by the Federation on the subject matter, but it was informal and not serious. They did not even ask me for a program or plan!.
On the contrary, Akbar Mohammadi who had the same call from FFIRI was asked to provide a long term plan for the youth team, as Mohammadi personally confirmed to ISNA.
AmirHossein Peyrovani could not be reached as he is presently abroad.
According to ISNA the candidates for the youth team coach, will most likely be given interviews this week, probably on Tuesday to explain and provide their plans to the Federation’s Technical Committee.
It is interesting how Khodadad Azizi, the outspoken critic of the hierarchy of football in Iran and a fiery character whose violence against a journalist was widely publicized a few years back, managed to pass the ethics & good character reference criteria set by the federation.