Tag: Tractor

Tractor Snatches Up Skocic as New Head Coach

In a move aimed at bolstering the team for the upcoming season, Tractor Club of Tabriz has appointed Dragan Skocic, the former Iranian national team coach, as their new head coach. The announcement follows successful negotiations led by Tractor’s acting CEO, Saeed Mozafarizadeh.

Skocic emerged as the favored candidate after the club considered a number of options for the head coach position. This experienced Croatian manager boasts a distinguished resume, including stints with Croatia’s U-21 national team, clubs across the Middle East and Iran, and most notably, Iran’s senior national team (Team Melli). His trophy cabinet includes two championship titles from Slovenia and Croatia.

Skocic’s tenure with Team Melli was particularly impressive. He compiled a remarkable record of 15 wins, 1 draw, and only 2 losses – a testament to his tactical prowess. However, his successful World Cup qualification campaign with Iran was unfortunately cut short due to reported internal politics within the Iranian Football Federation (FFIRI), who opted for the return of Carlos Queiroz despite Skocic’s achievements.

Skocis was a victim of backstabbing by several senior Team Melli members who were pushing the FFIRI for a return of Carlos Queiroz even though Skocic led Iran to the FIFA World Cup 2022 with relative ease and with three matches to spare.

Cultural and Social Anomalies in Iranian Football

Introduction

Cultural anomalies and social misdemeanor tensions in Iranian football have long posed significant challenges for cultural and social experts and activists. Various committees within the football federation have been tasked with addressing these issues and reducing tensions.

The Role of Committees

  1. Ethical Committee: Responsible for defining regulations related to ethical, and cultural issues, and fair play, as well as overseeing their implementation and addressing non-compliance cases.
  2. Fair Play and Social Responsibility Committee: Focuses on establishing regulations related to cultural issues, fair play, and supervising their implementation within the football federation structure.

Cultural Integration in Clubs

Many Iranian clubs have incorporated cultural aspects alongside sports, often appointing a “Cultural Deputy” to manage cultural and social affairs within the clubs.

Challenges and Questions

Despite the existence of these committees and roles, questions arise regarding the effectiveness of their measures in recent years:

  • What fundamental measures have been taken to address cultural and social issues within Iranian football?
  • How successful have these committees and administrators been in curbing misbehavior and enhancing the image of domestic football?

Recent Incidents

Recent events involving players and coaches in prominent Iranian teams have highlighted ongoing challenges:

  • Danial Esmaili-Far and Javad Nekonam’s incidents raised concerns about player conduct and its impact on fans and the football community.

Impact and Reflection

The behavior of players and coaches on the field often mirrors the conduct of spectators, emphasizing the need for positive role modeling and cultural awareness within football.

Repeat Offenders

There are too many footballers and coaches who misbehave regularly with the fear of being punished, however, two of them have to be singled out as a prime example :

Javad Nekounam, a prominent figure known for his record as the most capped player for Team Melli and a former Captain, has consistently attracted media attention since transitioning to coaching after retiring as a player. His tenure, starting from Foolad Khuzestan, has been marred by frequent involvement in contentious incidents, including instances of unprofessional behavior, indiscretion, and verbal altercations.


Shoja’a Khalilzadeh: A player known for his misconduct both on and off the field. Recently, he has engaged in altercations with the press, hurling insults during interviews and displaying tantrums. His behavior has escalated to the point where he openly challenged the disciplinary committee of the federation to impose a ban on him.

Calls for Action

  1. Behavior Management: Emphasizes the importance of managing emotions and behaviors through expert guidance and club interventions.
  2. Club Responsibility: Urges clubs to take proactive measures in addressing misconduct before federation intervention becomes necessary.

The Need for Transparency

There is a call for greater transparency regarding the cultural initiatives and their impact:

  • Clubs and federations should clarify the measures taken in cultural fields and assess their effectiveness in fostering positive change.

Conclusion

While acknowledging challenges and weaknesses in disciplinary rules, there is an expectation for clubs and federations to prioritize cultural integration and responsibility to set positive examples within the football community.
Ever changing CEO’s of the clubs, financial instabilities, poor administrators and weak management of FFIRI has made the task of improving the culture of football so much more difficult, if not impossible.

Milad Kor suspended for 1 year due to crtisicm of FFIRI and U20 team coach

Milkad Kor, one of the pillars of the Iran U20 team that has failed to qualify beyond the quarter-final after losing to the finalist Iraq, has been given a heavy-handed suspension by the FFIRI for daring to speak out against the Federation and lack of support for the U20 team in AFC Asian Cup U20 that was held in Uzbekistan.

MIlad Kor , Tractor’s defender was suspended from all football activities by the Disciplinary Committee of FFIRI. He was also handed a heft fine payable to the federation.

Interestingly, unlike the rest of the world, this federation did NOT mention why the player, one of Iran’s better future prospects, has been given such a heavy sentence and whether he was allowed to defend himself against any supposed allegations. The tyrannical sentence is in line with the regime’s complete intolerance of its system including expression of thought that is published in a publication under government control. There is no independent journalism in Iran. Amazingly not one of the Iranian news and sports publications that published the news of Kor’s ban attempted to seek an explanation or question the FFIRI. All of them just copied and pasted the FFIRI disciplinary committee’s notice which was published on the federation’s own website!!

In the longish interview with ‘Hamshahri; newspaper, Kor’s main criticism was directed at Samad Marfavi, the team’s coach, and the lack of support by the federation. There were no bonuses paid to the players, he claims. Kor was also critical for the team’s management’s refusal to use the swimming pool for recovery like the rest of the teams because the pool was mixed and there could be girls swimming too!  While the defender had some praise for Mirshad Majedi, he was quite scathing of Marfavi’s behavior and discriminatory acts among the players in the squad.

Meanwhile, Kor and for the first time said that the players were just about to go on strike and refuse to take part in training before the Iraq game because of the indifference of the management towards their demands.  ” In the Vietnam game, we were determined to do our best to prove ourselves and we got what we wanted, but in the Iraq game, we had no motivation. Some players did not have money to buy shoes and took loans to buy them. Some players did not have a club to play for as such they had no income. The whole situation transpired into a toxic atmosphere. We were mentally in a terrible state plus we really never had proper recovery exercise before the match with Iraq” Milad Kor said in the interview.

Hamshari reporter asked Kor “What was the story of not going to the swimming pool?” to which Kor replied ” They didn’t allow us the use of the swimming pool because there were girls in there! Well,  if this is the case, why bother forming a team when basic requirements cannot be entertained? Our bodies were fatigued half destroyed and yet we were deprived of cool water. Excuse me, but this is no back alley team that does not have such facilities and if there are ones, you are not allowed to use them.”

“In Tehran, Marfavi was not in a good mood at all since he had not received his money from the federation, he did not even come to the airport to see us off. Later, after he got his money, he joined the team. But he did not lend support to the demands of players’ bonuses. If a head coach wants the good of a player, he needs to stand by him, but this gentleman was selfish. We finished first in the group of death and had an easy quarter-final draw. Iraq also plays like us and its style of play was like ours. But we had no motivation, we were empty from the beginning of the game. I used to say that I wish we were in Iran and called several people and told them to at least bring supplements. “

“A whole generation was wasted. Our generation was golden and by the grace of my mother, we could have won the Asian championship and won the World Cup or at least advanced from the group, but they wasted our generation, with their incompetent hands. We beat Vietnam and became the group leader, but…”

The 19 years old player who is born in Bandar Torkaman, is fully supported by his club Tractor which intends to file a strong appeal against the harsh suspension.

Latest call ups to Team Melli

Team Melli’s second technical evaluation camp was held this evening while 17 players were called up to the camp by Carlos Queiroz. In addition to the previous 16 players, the Portuguese coach called up Tractor goalkeeper Mohammad Reza Akhbari to join the squad.

The amended list of the camp is as follows:

Goalkeeper:
Alireza Beiranvand (Persepolis), Seyed Hossein Hosseini (Esteghlal), Payam Niazmand (Sepahan), Mohammad Reza Akhbari (Tractor),

Defenders:
Ramin Rezaian (Sepahan), Omid Nourafken ( Sepahan), Morteza Pouraliganji (Persepolis), Saman Fallah (Peykan), Abolfazl Jalali (Esteghlal), Armin Sohrabian (Gol gohar)

Midfield:
Mehdi Mahdipour (Esteghlal), Rozbe Cheshmi (Esteghlal), Milad Sarlak (Persepolis), Vahid Amiri ( Persepolis), Mohammad Khodabandelou (Gol gohar)

Forwards:
Mohammad Mohebi (Esteghlal), Mehdi Torabi (Persepolis)

The Iranian national football players introduced themselves to Carlos Queiroz and the management staff of the team at noon today to participate in three training sessions this week.  Today’s list of selected players in the domestic Premier League means that some of the former players such as Mehdi Ghayedi, Danial Esmailifar, Soroush Rafiei, and Shahriar Mughanlou, hopes of taking part in the world Cup have ended.

Iran’s national football team will face England, Wales, and the USA in Group B of the 2022 World Cup.