The former Team Melli and Esteghlal player further noted: “The next president of the Iranian football federation will have many problems and must be able to overcome these problems.”

He added: “Assembly members must choose the right person for football. As a footballer, I ask those who are in fact our representatives in the Assembly to steer football in the right direction with a proper choice in order to progress and develop. Rest assured that a good outcome will be achieved if the government does not interfere in the elections.”

Fariba, who has also played for   Pas club, continued in an interview with Mehr news: “I do not believe that the Ministry of Sports will remain idle and not interfere in the elections, I wish it would not interfere. I wish the government would not influence the proceedings of the election and running of football affair, but it is wishful thinking. Despite their public stance that  they (the government) would remain neutral and would not interfere, do not believe it.“

The Iranian football veteran pointed out ” Be rest assured that the Ministry of Sports has its own agenda and preferred candidate(s) and all efforts will be made to get their own candidate to win the presidency of the federation. This is modus operandi of the ministry that has a solid track record of appointing chairmen and board members of Esteghlal and Persepolis in order to manage and control these two most popular clubs of the nation and beyond.  The chaos and poor management style of the appointees of the Ministry are vividly visible to all. Now, do you think that the Ministry of Sports will neglect to exert influence in a place like the Football Federation? highly unlikely, in my opinion”

Mohammad Ali Karimi , is one of the candidates and has the broad support of footballers. His nominated deputy is another Iranian legend, Mehdi Mahdavikia.