Seyed Reza Eftekhari , The head of Iran’s Futsal Committee of IRIFF confirmed that the AFC has rejected Iran’s request to increase its quota in the next AFC Asian Clubs Futsal championship. Iran and the rest of the member states have been allocated one team only in the championship since its onset in 2009. The Iranian federation, considering the status of futsal and its standard it has attained in the World and Asia, has requested a second club participation and a letter has been sent to Kuala Lumpur in this regard. After a long procrastination, the controlling body of Asian Football rejected the request citing the vast difference in standard of Iran’s futsal to the rest of the Asian member states! It seems quite odd to provide such justification, as usually in this sport and football, countries with better standard are awarded more seats in completions. AFC’s own Asian Champions league is a glorious example on that. How is this ignored in Futsal, is really an enigma that AFC alone can answer.

Seyed Reza Eftekhari, in an interview with ISNA, said that Iran is the powerhouse of Asian Futsal with a record of achievements that cannot be matched by any nation in the continent for a long time to come both at club and national team’s levels. Such a standard deserves to be reinforced and prized by allowing another club to participate in the championship. “We have 100 registered clubs operating in Iran in Futsal some of which more than I team in different age group. In countries like Qatar , Kuwait or UAE, they barely have 30 clubs put together, it is simply not fair to look at these different countries and treating them the same.” Eftekhari said.

Eftekhari also referred to another justification of the AFC in which they claimed that agreeing with IRIFF request and awarding them another spot will enhance the standard of the game in Iran! In which he said.” So , why not? What is the matter with that?”

The head of Iran’s Futsal Committee will be in South Korea for the Asian Indoor Games, which Iran will be taking part, added that he will confront the AFC officials responsible for this decision. Eftekhari complained by the way his federation is treated. “The hard work of a nation to reach such standard in futsal is rewarded in such an appalling manner by the AFC. We are the pride of Asia, we won the AFC Confederation of the year and that is what we get for our efforts.”