Tag: Azadi Stadium

Demand for Cambodia match by females overtakes male fans.

While Team Melli will face Cambodia at Azadi Stadium on Thursday evening, women have bought more tickets than men up to this Wednesday morning according to the latest figures on electronic ticket sales.

حضور بانوان در ورزشگاه

 

Team Melli is playing its second match in the group and the first home game at  Azadi Stadium as part of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022  Group Qualifier.

Out of a total of about 75,000 seats available for sale, only 2500 eTickets were bought by male spectators. E-ticketing started on Thursday, October 5th at 9 pm, from the moment the e-ticketing began females purchased 3500 tickets. It is clear that females were eager to grab the tickets fearing high demand on the limited number of seats available to them.

In the one week that had passed since the launch of the electronic ticketing system. 6,000 seats were sold, however, the actual attendance is expected to be much higher with last-minute purchases.

The 100,000 capacity Azadi Stadium is limited to 75,000 spectators. This restriction is due to safety concerns and the number of seats installed.

The foreign press has wrongly reported that Iran-Cambodia match on Thursday is the first time that females will be allowed to attend a football match in Iran since the revolution. The fact is, females have attended many games before after the authorities have eased that restriction on several occasions without dispensing of the official restrictions which were still practised until recently. There is no clear cut laws in Iran that prevent women from attending matches. Volleyball has the highest number of female attendance in all sports in Iran.

 aورزشگاه آزادی Meanwhile, horde of foreign media is attending the match as Iran has been under scrutiny for banning women from stadiums. The bans are not a football federation or government mandate but powerful clerics have been publically calling for such ban arguing that females must be shielded from masculine atmosphere and sight of semi-clad men. Iranian females have always been actively participating in social activities without any restrictions including the right to drive, working in a mixed environment and travelling on their own. The Islamic revolution has put many restrictions on women one of which is the forceful wearing of headscarves and full-body cladding.

For this match, with the world and particularly FIFA the governing body watching closely, the authorities seem to have prepared quite well for the female entrance to Azadi with even special parking reserved for female drivers.  There also special washrooms and facilities for females only. The parking in  Azadi, one of the more difficult parts of attending a match there, in itself would have encouraged more female attendance.

World Media in suspense for the Iran-Cambodia match, and it has little to do with game-plans!!

The Public Relations Manager of Ministry of Youth and Sports announced that 21 foreign media outlets from 21 countries have applied for media credentials to cover the match between Iran and Cambodia in Azadi Stadium on 10th October 2019.

The match will be observed by a FIFA delegation to ensure that women are allowed in the stadium as per FIFA regulations. According to the Ministry of Youth and Sports, journalists, photographers and cameramen  from various networks and news agencies are seeking coverage of the Iran-Cambodia World Cup qualifiers,

Iranian female spectators are supposed to be allowed in the stadium for the match which will be subject to FIFA oversight.

It is clear that international media care less about the result of the match and more concerned with the case of Iranian women entry into football stadiums. Although the government and FFIRI have assured FIFA and confirmed that the authorities will have no objections in controlled entry and segrations of women, a recent statement by Iranian Attorney General has put a question mark on the whole affair.

Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, Iran’s chief prosecutor, (Attorney General) spoke at a ceremony in Qom on the issue of women’s entry to the stadiums and criticized FIFA for forcing a country to allow women in the stadium. It is not clear if this person, Montazeri, has the authority to stop the implementation of the government decree.

However, the consequences of FIFA banning Iran and in the process, the elimination of the Team Melli from the World Cup will definitely be having serious conseqiuences in the country. Many fear mass riots and clashes which will be surely met by brute force from the security forces as always against any show of dissent or mass protests in Iran.

 

An ill-tempered derby sells Iran football short!

Bizan Zolfaghar Nasab, the former Team Melli player and current Media expert says the standard of the Iranian football is always exhibited in the big Tehran derby between Persepolis and Esteghlal.

In the match played on Sunday, Persepolis defeated Esteghlal in the packed Azadi stadium by one goal to nil in a dour and ill-tempered match with frequent clashes between players and stoppages duration of the match.

Zolfaghar Nasab in an interview with ISNA, commented on the derby: “It was the weakest derby in terms of quality in the last two seasons. Neither team was able to reproduce its form. Both teams had a lot of changes this season, the players were not comfortable with the prevailing conditions and were not mentally fit.”

He continued: “Overwhelming errors and aggressive fouls diminished the quality of play and prevented the referee from doing his job too. Overall it wasn’t a good game. To say that, it is just the fourth round and the teams aren’t ready yet, is just an excuse. It is regrettable that we played such a sham game at this level in the league, a match that has millions of overseas viewers too. In addition to football standards,  the performance and the attitude of the players has put a serious question mark on our culture, morals and behaviour.”

Zolfaghar Nasab added. “This is not just a problem limited to the two teams. Of course, these two clubs have gone through many changes, from the change of board and CEO to the coaching staff and players.”  He added, “The lack of quality in this derby is not exclusive fault of the coach and the players but it is the combination of many factors which lowers the technical level of the teams.”

“European second-class clubs have stable management structures that remains at the helm for at least seven years. Bayern Munich has changed only two directors in five years, but here three CEOs change has occurred in one year. We do not expect Iranian clubs to be like Bayern Munich or meet the standards of the top European teams, but a country claiming to be a World Cup contender every tournament must have more structured and systematic clubs. In here, chaos is the rule rather than the4 exception”

Zolfaghar Nasabsaid at the end: “The Derby showed the true face of Iranian football. We are tense, chaotic, disorderly, undisciplined and seemed to be in a real hurry. To address this chaotic football system from the highest levels, we need proper and professional management, which we don’t at the moment.”

The overwhelming verdict by many critics and pundits that this derby between the two most popular team in Iran’s bipartisan Iranian football was a bad advertisement for Iran.  Nasser Mohammadkhani, ex Perspolis player and a member of Team Melli in the 1998 World Cup went as far as saying the at ” We have really seen 10 minutes of real football in the whole match, the rest was skirmishes, protests, clashes and everything but football”

Allowing women into football stadiums under the current environment isn’t desirable.

After the conclusion of the weekly Council of Ministers meeting, Mahmoud Vaezi, the Director of the Iranian President’s Office stated in a press briefing, indicates that the government has not given the green light for women attendance in stadiums and the matter is still under review. This comes after what is believed was an assurance by FFIRA to FIFA that women will be allowed in Team Melli matches in the near future.

With the latest development, it seems that Iran’s football federation FFIRI which in practice has no control or authority in the decision making about the issue of women attending, and FIFA the world governing body , will reach a flashpoint. It is feared that FIFA will sanction Iran and Team Melli will be victimized.

Mahmoud Vaezi, said in his briefing “In the last few months, we have been having a lot of discussions in the council about the subject of allowing women in stadiums. We firmly believe that if the stadiums were safe and suitable for women, we don’t mind their presence, however with the current situation and atmosphere where that fans trade insults, use profanities, engage in fighting and throw dangerous articles at each other, the presence of women in the stadium is not practical and also dangerous. The Director of the President’s office said minister concerned was instructed to speak to the leaders of the teams to facilitate the creation of a clean environment and space for women to be present, as well as a suitable exclusive area for women to enter without being subjected to hardship. If the atmosphere at the stadium is ethical and appropriate, in our opinion, the presence of women in the stadiums will not be an issue.

Mahmoud Vaezi is the de facto spokesperson of President Hassan Rouhani. It is safe to assume that he is speaking on behalf of the President. Although his statement to the press sounded rational what he failed to mention was that the onus is on the government to provide the right atmosphere for women and not for Minister of Sport to ask the Leaders of Esteghlal and Persepolis to do that. This sounds quite comical and superficial.

The issue of women entering stadiums is not even in the full control of the government as the final decision on such matters is in the hand of the Grand Ayatollah who views women mixing with men in public places as a great sin.

There is no guarantee that Rouhani’s government decision will not be reversed by Khamenaei in this matter.

It is true that the atmosphere in the Iranian stadiums is toxic. Attending a football match in Azadi is a challenge for every human being especially in big games. It is a combination of chaos, disorganization, safety risks such as accident, stampede, flying objects, fireworks and stones throwing not to mention the logistics. Interestingly enough, carrying a genuine match ticket does not guarantee you getting your seat or even entering the stadium in the first place!.

Although much of these issues are due to the behaviour of the fans and lack of respect for the law, the organizers have a lion share of the blame too. Responsibilities seemed to be vague at times, exercising authority ultimately seem to be the domain of security forces rather than administrators or organizers.

Nothing seems to work flawlessly in Azadi as incompetence is rife.  Iran is probably the only country in the world and member of FIFA that never actually publishes an official attendance figure, for the simple reason of lack of control. They simply cannot count how many people pass through the turnstiles, or maybe they do not publish attendance figures on purpose to hide the number of unlawful entries.

As a person who experienced such hardships in Azadi Stadium, I can very much empathize with the government view and its objective to protect women from some beasts and possible catastrophe. The government concern is genuine and it is not based on religious ideologue.   The government, however, cannot escape responsibilities as it needs to sort its own house. It is the government responsibility to provide safe and sound space for women.

The social and cultural issues in the stadiums cannot be different than what exists in the streets or the bazar where men and women mix all the time and there is no restriction

Iran – Iraq Friendly international!

The Iranian Mehr news has reported that Iran will play a friendly match against Iraq in Basra in November of this year, according to a statement by Mehdi Taj.

On the occasion of the courtesy visit by Iraq’s Youth & Sports Minister to the National Teams Football training centre, accompanied by the president of the Iranian football federation, Mahdi Taj, confirmed that part of the bilateral agreement with the Iraqi side was arranging of friendly international matches hosted by both countries.

What seems to be quite odd with this news is that Iraq and Iran will be meeting in the AFC Asian Cup China 2023 second-round qualifiers in Basra on 14th Nov. It is not known if this supposedly friendly match is going to be played before or after the official AFC qualifier. It is highly unusual, in fact not even heard of, for two teams to arrange friendlies matches before meeting in an official competition.

It is unlikely for Team Melli under Marc Wilmots to attempt such endeavour. Mehdi Taj might have been referring to other national teams such as the U23 Omid team or U19.

Apart from the game against Iraq in November 2019, Team Melli’s last match in the second round of the AFC Asian qualifiers 2023 is on 09th Jun 2020 against Iraq in Azadi Stadium.

FIFA deadline on allowing females into stadiums

FIFA deadline for Iran, to allow females in the stadiums starting with FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifying matches has expired today, and now the Iranian Football Association is forced to allow families and ladies into the stadiums while hosting Team Melli matches.

In other word, the promise given by President Hassan Rouhani to the FIFA president Infantino needs to be implemented else Iranian football will possibly be sanctioned.

 12 days after Iran and Syria’s friendly match at Azadi Stadium, Gianni Infantino, in a letter to the Iranian Football Federation, praised the presence of women in that match, requesting that the process be continued, and the ban on the presence of women in Iranian stadiums fully lifted.  In this letter, a deadline for Iran’s football was set on the 15th of July, after which women would be free to attend all stadiums hosting all football matches at national and international levels.

This did not occur last time Team Melli played against the Omid team, but in any case, that match was played behind closed doors and was off-limits to the public in Azadi.

The FIFA president mentioned in the letter that Iran’s football should take a lesson from the recent Women’s World Cup in France and free up the presence of families at Iranian stadiums. Infantino has pointed out that FIFA is aware of the cultural challenges and simply wants to make progress in this regard, not only because of the progress of women in the world, but also as a matter of fact, and is one of the fundamental principles of the FIFA Constitution.

On Monday, Mahdi Taj stated that the response letter was sent to FIFA and the federation is allowing women in the national team home games in the 2022 World Cup.

With the end of the FIFA deadline, a big challenge is brewing for the football executives because, despite the promises of authorities in the past, there has not been a definite step in the preparation of women’s presence in the stadium, which still has a lot of legal prohibitions and sensitivities.

The problem, of course, is not the FFIRI which is quite content to allow women in the stadium, but the religious fundamentalist who are determined to force their extremist ideas on the population.

Wilmot’s Press conference

In his pre-match press conference, the newly appointed head coach of Team Melli said: “The two friendly games are good opportunities for me to asses my players.”

Marc Wilmots, said on Wednesday prior to the game against Syria “I wish to start by mentioning two things. First, I always had a lot of respect for national customs and respect for senior players. I like to convey my condolences to one of the valued former Team Melli players, Naeem Saadavi, who lost his wife. There are things in life that are more important than football. Like family especially in Iranian society. I also congratulate you all on the end of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr.”

“We have two friendly games in which I can test my players,” he said. “As for players’ fitness, I have to say some of the players have not played competitively since the end of the Persian Gulf League. Games against Syria and South Korea are great opportunities. Although our players are not in their ideal forms, I and the players like to play with full potential.”

Wilmots pointed out: “I am the coach who loves to have the possession of the ball, but at the same time I have always had a regular organized type of play where having the possession of the ball is to create scoring opportunities and mostly have that possession in the in the opponent’s area. I applied that style both in Belgium and Ivory Coast.”

He also explained about the mechanism of selecting players in his first Team Melli squad : “When you are new in the job and do not know a country, it’s best to refer to recent back records. So, that is how I did it until I familiarize myself and know the style of each squad member, and then I choose from them as deemed necessary. After these two games, I try to look for new players and invite potential talents to the squad. Youth should be added to Team Melli.”

Asked about the game plan and his style, Wilmots responded “It depends on the type of players we have. We do not have Saman Ghoddos and Sardar Azmoun in the team. I have to create a balanced style between defensive and offensive game plan. I do not have anything to do with what have been implemented before me and shall follow my own style. If in the last 8 years the team has concentrated on defensive style, he may want to continue to play that way, but I’m the coach who would like to play an offensive game and push the opponent’s team to the limit. We have 3 years to the next World Cup.”

 

Wilmots also said about the future plan for Iranian football during his tenure “It’s not important to for me to seek FIFA Ranking (…) but it’s important to qualify to the World Cup for the third consecutive time. We try to provide a balanced game style. Of course, that depends on the opponent as well. If you play against Brazil, you will not be able to have the possession of the ball as much. We will try to use Team Melli players in their same post that they play in their clubs. We cannot change players in three training sessions. I did this in the Belgian national team and it was successful. We will closely view and monitor Iran games.”

Team Melli will play its first game under Wilmots on Thursday 6th June In Azadi Stadium.

Biranvand flying high.

He might not be every fan’s cup of tea, but Biarnvand is certainly flying high these days and was the man of the match in Persepolis AFC Champions League semifinal victory against Al Sadd of Qatar.

Persepolis has secured a 0-1 away win against Al Sadd in Doha. A draw in the jammed packed Azadi would have taken the most popular club in Iran to the finals of the AFC Champions League for the first time in its illustrious history.

Al Sadd star-studded team included two famous Spanish midfielders. The legendary ex-Barcelona star Xavier Hernández Creus or better known to the world as “Xavi“, and ex Ateltico Madrid Gabriel Fernández Arenas or “Gabi”in addition to the competition top scorer the Algerian Baghdad Bounedjah and South Korean national team midfielder Jung Woo-Young

The crowd, estimated to be over 120,000 fans in Azadi , despite the official viewpoint of 78,000 , were stunned when the Algerian Bounedjah scored passed Biranvand in the 17th minute.

Persepolis scored the equalizer early in the second half when Siamak Nemati scored in the similar fashion to Al Sadd goal.

Minutes from the final whistle with the match finally in balance and the 1-1 draw result taking Persepolis to the final of the AFC Champions League. Xavi, with his immense wealth of experience in World football and Barcelona, escaped all the Persepolis defense to be on the receiving end of a fine cross which he headed powerfully towards the far end of Persepolis goal. The trajectory of the header seemed to be certain to end up in the goal and a definite winner for Al Sadd.

Alireza Biranvand , stunned by the freedom given to Xavi to freely head the ball was off guard. However, Team Melli guardian flew like an eagle and brilliantly deflected the ball over the bar to save his team from certain elimination.

This type of saves are written in the records book for its brilliance but more for its significance on the result and the fate of the teams. It was a huge and spectacular save that needs to be written in the records book which Alireza Biranvand has a claim on another one, which was his World Cup Penalty save against no other than Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal.

Biranvand has saved a Xavi header and a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty. Not many keepers can claim such feat.

Saying that, Birnavand remains an enigma. He can be world-class one day, and a villain the next. He concedes goals that even the weakest keepers can save. He is also a bit of nuisance cum showman in the matches with his running and shouting at his defenders act. Add this to his time-wasting tactics that are far from clever and has brought him several yellow cards.

The Team Melli fans across the world would be much gladder to see the positive side of Biranvand in the UAE. He is undoubtedly flying high now and we all hope to see that continues for the next 3 months.

Esteghlal and Pas Tehran are the only Iranian clubs who have won the Asian Clubs top prize before.

Sepahan, Zob Ahan and Esteghlal have also been finalists.

Persepolis will play Kashima Antlers of Japan in the final of AFC Champions League 2017/18 season.

Ladies allowed into Azadi Stadium.

Last night, the Team Melli met Bolivia in a friendly international match at Azadi Stadium, the result of which was a narrow win by two goal to one for Iran.

Apart from the satisfactory result, a more significant and important thing in Azadi Stadium was the surprise presence of women after 40 years. Since the Islamic revolution, females were banned by the fundamentalist government from attending men football matches at all the stadiums in Iran.

Although the presence of women watching the match was selective and limited, and ordinary people could not watch the match, nevertheless allowing such limited numbers to enter the stadium for the first time after 40 years, even in a controlled manner, could be a good omen and might even be the beginning of equal opportunity for men and women to be able to attend football match at all Iranian stadiums.

This particular ban by the religious authorities is second most despised and unpopular of all the freedom restrictions that the Islamists have forced upon Iranians after that hated forced Hijab wearing for females.

Under the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran in accordance with the concept of the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist, the powers of government are vested in the legislature, the judiciary, and the executive powers, functioning under the supervision of the Absolute Guardianship and the Leadership of the Ummah , which is in reference to the Supreme Leader. Ayatollah Ali Khamnaei.

Iranians and Persians in general, have always taken pride in the role of women not just at home but in a greater scope in their society. Iran was a leading country in literacy of females and their involvement in civil activities and sport

During the Shah’s regime, women ministers served in the government. Dr. Farrokhroo Parsa was Minster of Education from 27th August 1968  to 2nd January 1971. Parse was a physician, educator and parliamentarian. Her mother, Fakhr-e Āfāgh, was the editor of the women’s magazine Jahān-e Zan (“The World of Woman”). After the Islamic revolution and after 8 years out of office, Parsa was callously executed after a summary trial.

Another female Minister was Mahnaz Afkhami, who manged to escape to USA but remained an outspoken campaigner for women’s rights in Iran.

Women Rights did not appeal to the Islamic Republic’s more conservative elements especially at the beginning of the revolution when many radical and extremists where in power.

“The women who participated in the revolution, and they did in large numbers, many of them were actually pushing for more rights, they were pushing for more freedoms, pushing for more equality,” Mahnaz Afkhami, currently living in US explained to BBC in an interview.

“That was why the disappointment was so great when the revolution ended up taking away the rights that they had already gained.”

After the Iranian revolution in 1979, many of the secular rights that women had being afforded under the Shah were abolished or rolled back. An order was passed that laws that were in contravention of religious (or sharia) rules had to be revoked.

Islamic polygamy was instituted and, most visibly, the hijab head covering became mandatory in all public spaces.

For 40 years Iranian women resisted and protested the government’s harsh treatment of women and for that, they were victimized. Thousands were dragged to police station and jailed for simply what they label as bad hijab.

Change was coming however.

The authorities eased the rules that mandated the strict wearing of hijab which even Presidents such as Rouhani criticized

Allowing women in Stadium, which must have been approved by the supreme leader, is seen as one  further step towards easing of the nation suffering which is experiencing hardships and economical decline partially due to American sanctions.

Restrictions on activities such music concerts and mixing of men and women in public have started being relaxed although not totally abandoned by the government.

No doubt that the Saudi Arabia allowing women to drive and also allowing them into stadiums to watch  football matches in what was forever an autocratic ultra conservative regime, has enticed the Iranians  to respond and not be left behind.

Sarah Ghumi, Iran’s women’s National Team player , fan who watched the game closely as a fan, said in an interview with ISNA about her experience: “Last night, there was a lot of excitement among spectators, and we were all happy when we were going to the stadium for the first time. As a fan I always wanted to go to the stadium and watch my favorite teams playing closely. Thanks God that this time the ladies entered the stadium to watch the match of our national team. We were so glad that it was really worth it.”

About the continual entry of women to the stadiums, she added “: I’m optimistic about this. I think there have been talks that families will be allowed entry to watch games from now on. I’m sure this will happen, and I hope the entry will be free for all women.”

Question of indiscretion!

One thing that not even the strongest critic of Carlos Queiroz can deny, is the fact the Portuguese head coach of Team Melli has introduced and implemented a strict discipline code and a no nonsense policy towards his Iranian players, that has helped Team Melli to develop. Queiroz demands discipline, hard work , commitment from his players. Any indiscipline or insubordination would result in the culprit being thrown out of the squad for good. There is no appeal committee with Queiroz. Many players have experienced that too.

Queiroz always claims that he does his work in a systematic manner using advance tools in player’s analysis and not based on affiliations or issues that are not performance or character related.

Yet, the Portuguese master has a habit of paradoxical behaviors that defeats his preaching and practices.  Ramin Rezaeian is one such case.

Rezaeian was not invited by Queiroz to the Team Melli squad for the last match against Bolivia. Rightly so, since he is out of competitive match practice as he did not join any team after the World Cup after his contract with the Belgian club K.V. Oostende has ran out.

However, after a few months without training, the player turned up in the Team Melli training camp that he was not invited to, and joined the training sessions, presumably with the approval of Carlos Queiroz. Although that is odd, there have been cases of former players training with their previous clubs to get in shape and gain some valuable practice for the next/future team.

Perhaps, that was the good intention of Carlos Queiroz with Rezaeian.

But the strangest decision and a kind of shock for the observers was when Rezaeian, the uninvited player, was seen on the Azadi bench on Tuesday during Bolivia game!! No matter how one likes the player, when he is not part of the team sheet, it means exactly that in professional football, he simply cannot occupy a seat on the team bench as that is reserved for the substitutes and coaching staff.

The Portuguese is very quick to criticize and denounce anything out of order or thing he does not like. He is very vocal too. Yet, he does not seem to explain what was Rezaeian doing on the bench?. Of course, no matter what justification, the laws and practices of football are very clear about the occupation of the bench which Queiroz in his own wisdom, decided to ignore!

In professional football, the one that Queiroz always rants about being part of it for decades, players who are not listed on the match sheet, normally are granted special seats in the stands but certainly NOT on the bench which was so over-crowded on Tuesday it resembled a crowded Tehran Bus.

Naturally, the question that begs itself to be asked is if that coach was Daei or Ghalenoei or any Iranian national, what would have been the reaction of the media and Critics towards such a decision? Would he not be accused of being unprofessional and bias?

Food for thought