1n 2009 , Saudi Arabia beat Iran 2-1 in Azadi during the FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifying group match. It was the only defeat by Ali Daei since he took over as the head coach of Team Melli. Surprisingly , and shockingly for some, Ali Daei was sacked the next day , although Iran still stood a chance for qualifying and by far not out of the qualifyers.
Despite the poor record of Daei’s team in the qualifiers, it was not the policy and method of Iranian federations to sack coaches on the spot like what their Arabs neigbors do on regular basis and as a matter of policy whenever a team loses an important match. Daei’s sacking immidiately initiated rumors much of them indicating that the orders came from right at the top!
At the Team Melli camp preparing for tomorrows match against Thailand, Kaffashian talked to the press and said that the President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did not talk to him directly about firing Ali Daei from his post after the defeat against Saudi Arabia. Earlier on Aliabadi who was the head of “Sazman Tarbiyat Badani” , the equivalent of Ministry of sport , has admitted to the media that it was Ahmadinejad who ordered the ousted of Daei as the head coach of Team Melli.
On this regard Kaffashian said today “It could be that President Ahmadinejad had this feeling and believed that Daei should be fired, but he did not talk to me directly about that. It was our own management committee who decided to do that, although I personally backed Daei at the time”
It was a vague statement, Kaffashian , fell short of admitting that interference from outside. The executive committee would have received the order and did what the president desired , without requiring Kaffashian’s approval. As such, the meddling in the affairs of the Football Federation would look have looked inconspicuous by Ahmadijejad who should have been focusing on his job running the government , which he did not do it well either.
The revelation by Aliabadi , has confirmed strong suspicions at the time that the government was behind the sacking of Daei with the order coming directly from Ahmadinejad himself. The ex-President was an avid football fan and particularly Team Melli. Despite his moral backing and support, he failed to deliver on many of his promises towards football in his two terms as the head of the government. The most important of them all, the privatization of Perspolis and Esteghlal clubs.
On the other hand, the flagrant interference by politicians and government in Iran’s football continues unabated. Like the rest of the Middle East countries, as football is so popular , these politician uses it to serve their own purposes. The governments are also hyper sensitive towards large crowd gathering and would prefer full control of the masses. These countries have developed various methods of deception to cover the requirement by FIFA in regards to governments’ interference in the affairs of football. The Middle Eastern countries, in particular the Persian Gulf States, pay a lip service to the FIFA requirement cleverly disguising every step to make their football federation complete NGO independent of politics and governments. The reality is something entirely different.
FIFA which is quick to react to other countries when there is a hint of government interference, seems to be reluctant to act with this part of the world !