The Minister of Youth and Sport inspected the ongoing work in Azadi stadium to convert the jewel of Iranian crown into a full seater venue.

FIFA has put a partial ban on the stadium due to the fact that the higher level section was consisting of concrete slab and spectators had to suffer being seated on such a rough surface. That ban reduced the capacity of Azadi stadium to less than half.

The Sport Ministry managed to fork out a budget to upgrade the stadium especially since Iran is involved in the FIFA World Cup 2018 qualifiers starting next September. 

Mr. Mahmoud Goudarzi spoke to the media after concluding his inspection tour and assured the public that the seats will be ready before the match against Qatar on September 1st. “We have been promised the delivery of the stadium 10 days before the match. I am confident that we will have all the seats ready by then”. “The stadium capacity will be reduced to 78,116 all seated.” the minister declared.

Asked about the request by Carlos Queiroz to move the Team Melli practise sessions to Azadi Stadium , the Minister declined such request and said that “Azadi is a venue for matches and not a practise ground. The football federation must find a suitable place for Team Melli to practise”. Responding to another question from a reporter on whether this Stadium will be handed over to Esteghlal and Persepolis, Mr. Goudarzi rediculed such claims “This is meaningless. This stadium belongs to the people of Iran, it makes no sense at all to hand it over  such a grand venue to two clubs only”

 Goudarzi said that by the instruction of the President, a technical team has been inspecting the stadium to check the safety level and problems of water seepage and accumulation. This team has already carried out the inspection and are in the process of finalizing its recommendations and report.