2019/20 season has been a bad year for Iran’s football so far. Two consecutive defeats against Bahrain and Iraq for Team Melli which is unprecedented for decades, the flight of the Belgian coach, postponing of the World Cup qualifiers and the suspension of the league due to Coronavirus have been the highlight of the season. But the possibility of FFIRI being suspended by FIFA or even kicked out of the World Football remains the most serious threat to Iran’s football.
The issue is simply about government control and influence or as the rest call it, interference, in football affairs against all international rules and statutes. Iran is a repeat offender in this sense. It has already been suspended in 2006 for exactly the same reasons but what remains pretty clear is that the regime in Iran staunchly believes that football is their property and as a sovereign state, the government directly or through their agencies or ministries may, control, direct or govern football while the federation operates as administrators. The oversight authority including the authority to appoint directors and issues such as the appointment of the Team Melli coach remains the right of the government!
Unlike 2006 however, Iranians this time are more aware of this indiscretion by their government and are not ready to victimize their beloved sport, hence quite a few are outspoken and call for reform and compliance with international laws.
“Corruption in our football has deep-rooted. we have to adhere to FIFA rules” The former Foolad Khuzestan CEO says.
Massoud Rezaian, in an interview with semi-official ISNA, says that changing the FFIRI statute is not very difficult at all and that we should not procrastinate. A few clauses of the statute needs to be changed to conform with FIFA’s. What is certain is that rules of football are ultimately not governed and regulated by us, and if we want to be a part of this system (global community) then we need to apply international laws in full detail. We must incorporate the changes and the federation must comply with FIFA regulations. We have to comply and accept issues such as the Statute, gender segregation, and other issues. Otherwise, if we don’t our football activities will be limited to the domestic league and play with countries who are not FIFA members, and that is disastrous for us”
“We shouldn’t waste time,” he continued. “It is not difficult to change the statute. Right now, not only we do not obey FIFA laws but also we do not even adhere to our own laws. Part of this is our own fault. Failure to comply with FIFA rules is a threat to our football. Everyone is hiding behind coronavirus disease today. We need reform, we need to think about improvements.”
Former Foolad Khuzestan CEO continued called for a competent committee to be appointed to solve this problem, saying “ Let them sit to produce a proposal for the current deficiency in a short period of time. It will not take long to solve this problem, as governance clauses are the only ones that are problematic. FIFA has only demanded those that need to be changed, not the entire statute.”
Regarding the postponement of the Football Federation elections “I do not consider the issue of the election to be related to the statute,” he said . “the newly elected president has quite a task ahead as he must solve the problems of the age-level teams, competitions hosting and the corruption that is within our football. However, corruption is deeply rooted in our football and cannot be easily resolved. But they have to try and hopefully work so well and systematically that everything goes well and orderly.”