Tag: Al Shahaniya

Masoud Shojaei scores a rare hat trick.

Doha

Masoud Shojaei , playing for Al Shahaniya in Qatar Star League QSL scored a rare career hat trick to help his team defeat the 10 man Al Sadd and current league  leader 3 – 1.

Team Melli winger Shojaei who was unable to find a Spanish club after his last club Las Palmas did not renew his contract following a poor season, eventually ended up in Qatar with the newly promoted team from the second division. Up to Sunday’s match against Al Sadd, Shojaei has managed to score one goal only in 12 matches. He has now 4 goals in total.

Masoud Shojaei has been one of the weaker performers in Team Melli matches. However; despite his lackluster displays , Shojaei has always been favored by Queiroz who has a much higher regards and respect for players who play outside Iran, especially Europe. Shojaei has been booed regularly at Azadi when playing for Team Melli due to his marginal form.   His lack of goals in Al Shahaniya has prompted the lowly team to look for an alternative striker from North Africa and Brazil to join the team in the January window. It is not known if this hat trick has changed the AL Shahaniya managements’ mind.

Masoud Shojaei seemed to have a found new lease of life just about the right time for himself and Team Melli with about a month to go for the AFC Asian Cup 2015. Shojaei’s compatriot Mehrdad Pooladi , currently not able to play for Iran , is also playing for the QSL team. Al Shahaniya is still near the bottom of the league and in danger of a quick return to the second division of Qatar league after one season only in top flight. Al Shahaniya has 12 points from 14 matches in the 13th position of the 14 team league.

Mehrdad Pooladi is declared a free agent.

Team Melli left back and ex-Persepolis player, Mehrdad Pooladi has been declared as a free agent.

Pooladi was involved in a long dispute after the conclusion of the FIFA World Cup 2014 with Persepolis. While the players has repeatedly said that he is a “Free Agent” as his contract with the club has expired by the end of last season, Persepolis insisted that Pooladi is contract bound and must report back to duty and training else they will take disciplinary measures against him. In the meantime, Pooladi was seeking a new club.

Although there has been some interest from Europe, Mehrdad Pooladi , who was the best performing Iranian player in the World Cup , failed to conclude any deal in Europe. The next destination was closer to home. Al Shahaniya club of the Qatar Star League promptly showed interest and began verbal negotiation on the knowledge that Pooladi is available. The two sides were close to agreeing terms except that Al Shahaniya demanded a release in form of ITC from Persepolis as a condition for recruiting the Iranian defender.

Persepolis refused to release the player or cooperate with the Qatari club. With time running out to the closing of the transfer windows, Al Shahniya withdrew their offer to Pooladi due to lack of progress and documentations issues and instead the newly promoted team to the QSL , signed Pooladi’s compatriot and Team Melli teammate , Masoud Shojaei. 

Pooladi took his case to the Board of Arbitration of the FFIRI. Today the board issued a statement declaring him as Free Agent. The Board also declared that Pooladi’s financial settlement with Persepolis club is still unresolved and not settled. According to the contract, Pooladi is still to receive a substantial payment from the club outstanding from last season.

On a side note, The newly appointed Persepolis coach , Hamid Derakhshan was asked yesterday by a reporter about  the whereabouts of Mehrdad Pooladi and the reason for his absence from the team’s training session. Instead of speaking facts and truth, Derakhshan attributed Pooladi’s absence to the problems he has with the Military Service Release Form (…) ! 

Masoud Shojaei joins QSL club Al-Shahaniya SC

Masoud Shojaei signed with Al Shahaniya club the newest member of Qatar Star League for one season. The ceremony was held in the club’s HQ in Doha on Thursday.

After claiming that he has offers from several Spanish and Greek clubs, Shaojae , turned up in Doha to sign for the newly promoted club. AL Shahaniya formerly know as Al Nasr, has spent the majority of its existence in the second division in Qatar. Las Palmas , in the segunda Division of the Spanish league was the last team that Masoud played for after his contract with Osasuna expired.