After the league opening match of Perspolis  against Tractrorsazi ,  the Chief Executive Mohammad Rouyanian boasted about how his club has not paid four of his Team Melli players a penny since the beginning of the season’s preparation two months ago! In an post match interview , Rouyanian  mentioned that Jalal Hosseini , Hossein Mahini , Gholamreza Rezaei and Mohammad Khanzadeh , the four Team Melli players of Perspolis, in addition to Mehrdad Kafshgari , Amir Abedzadeh and Omid Alishah have not received anything from the club. Rouyanian expressed his admiration for those players for not demanding their wages!

The chief executive of the club claimed that the delay of payment to these players was due to the uncertainty surrounding the managerial posts of Perspolis in the last few months including the move to oust him from his position and the possibility of his departure from the club. “Luckily for all, I have maintained my position and we managed to gather a solid squad for the season in the process.” Rouyanian  said. However , he did not mention that since he has secured his own job, when are these players going to get paid and why should his appointment or not be related to player’s wages that should be respected regardless to who is his holding a position in the club?

Overdue payment, sometimes for months, is a regular and common occurrence in Iranian clubs, especially Perspolis and Esteghlal.  Many players have complained about clubs not respecting the terms of the contracts and delayed and sometime non payments. Some players dared to air their grievances publicly to the dislike of the club managers.