Tag: Marc Wilmots

Wilmots is not another Queiroz, he will work from Tehran.

Marc Wilmots signed a contract with the Iranian federation on Wednesday, The former coach of Belgium and Côte d’Ivoire will arrive in Tehran by coming Wednesday, if not a day or two before, to start working immediately in preparing Team Melli for two friendly matches.

Before the signing of the deal with Wilmots, and on the day that Mahdi Taj was in negotiation with the Belgian coach, the media claimed that Wilmots did not intend to settle in Iran, and would return to Belgium after the end of each Team Melli match. However, Mehdi Taj did not confirm or deny these speculations after the signing of the contract.

According to Abdul Kazem Taleghani, a member of the executive committee of FFIRI, in response to several questions by reporters about Wilmots being a “Suitcase Coach”?  He said that Wilmots being a flying suitcase coach is all false. “This coach will be based in Iran and can bring his family to our country if he wishes to. He continued “Wilmots is an accomplished coach. If we manage to pay his dues on time, he will undoubtedly deliver the goods and will be an asset to the national teams.”

Taleghani, in response to question regarding the subject of regular payments to the coach in hard currency, said “details of this issue should be directed to Mr. Mahdi Taj. Anyway, it must be followed up and the federation’s president has surely has a solution.”

The executive board member stated: “According to the details of contract with Wilmots, he is planning to do great work, whether in the national team or in the age group teams. Our priorities are not only the qualification for the World Cup 2022, but also preparing youthful team and the monitoring of lower age group teams which are under Wilmots supervision.

Taleghani added “Our demands from this coach are far higher than the previous one. With the grace of God, Wilmots will arrive on Monday or Tuesday, and start his work.”

One of the ambiguities of Wilmots initial work is the list of invited players for the two international friendly matches against Syria and South Korea. Taleghani’s answer to the question of whether the next squad will be named by Wilmots, or will they invite other players? He said: “I have no idea about this, and you have to ask Mr. Taj on that.”

Taleghani also denied knowledge on the number and names of the Iranian assistants to Marc Wilmots.

Technical Committee of FFIRI were kept in the dark on Welmots.

Bijan Zolfagharnasb said in a statement to Mehr News Agency sports correspondent, commented on the selection of Marc Welmots as the new head coach of Team Melli by saying “I heard the news from the media. The federation officials decided to keep the negotiation completely secret.”

The former coach of the Iranian National Team continued: “I will take Mark Welmots selection and appointment as a good omen (..), he can achieve brilliant results with Team Melli if he is properly managed by the federation. Choosing a good coach is only half the challenge. Fifty percent of this is related to how the federation utilizes the coach.”  Zolfagharnasb emphasized the federation’s cooperation with his committee ” the technical committee  of the federation should continuously supervise and monitor the work of the coaching team. This certainly did not happen during Carlos Queiroz tenure. I did not consider Queiroz to be at fault in this matter. It was the contract signed with the federation that lacked clauses of supervision and oversight by a strong technical committee, hence he did what he liked at will”

Zolfagharnasb also supported the speculations that Javad Nekounam will be part of Welmots team.

Basically, Zolfagharnasb has proved that the Technical Committee of the FFIRI, which he is a prominent member of, is toothless and nothing but a rubber stamp for the President of the federation. One of the responsibilities of the Technical committee is the appraisal and approval of Team Melli and other National Teams age group coaches. Obviously this has not happened and the committee was kept in the dark as Zolfagharnasb himself admitted that he read the news from the media.

The fact that Zolfagharnasb approves Javad Nekounam’s appointment, which was an attempted failed move during Queiroz time, says a lot about the so called Technical Committee professionalism and work ethics. In principle, the federation should have a systematic and impartial mechanism of selection. Several candidates from a list of ex-Team Melli players or current coaches, should be considered not jut one person. The Selection process should  pick a competent coach who has the right qualifications, the character, experience and the right motive to be an assistant to a foreign coach. Not only Nekounam does not satisfy all the requirements, it is unfair discrimination to many other potentially good coaches who will never get the chance to serve their country under such a dark and retarded system. The effect of hiring the wrong assistant Iranian coach is significant. especially taking into consideration that he might have a negative effect on his compatriot players.

Marc Wilmots to arrive in Tehran on Wednesday

TEHRAN – An unnamed source in the Iranian football federation FFIRI has mentioned that ex-Belgium coach Marc Wilmots will arrive in Tehran on Wednesday to finalize his deal.

FFIRI will reportedly pay the 50-year-old coach and his two Belgian assistants $1,500,000 per year.

The Iranian federation also wants former Team Melli captain Javad Nekounam to be a member of the coaching staff.

Parliament Member Mohammad Reza Tabesh has also said Wilmots will most likely pen a contract with the Iranian federation. His source of information is unverified.

The Belgian led his homeland to the 2014 World Cup and Euro 2016, but was sacked after that tournament in France.

Wilmots, who is also on the Scotland’s list of candidates, is set to replace Carlos Querioz in Team Melli.

He has been without a team after leaving the Ivory Coast coaching position in November 2017.

Wilmots will start his work as Iran coach in two friendly matches against Syria and South Korea, scheduled for June 6 and 11.