Tag: Turkey

Kayserispor signs Ali Karimi

Another transfer is concluded in Kayserispor, which wants to make a name for itself this season and enter the 10th league with force. After the yellow-reds reached an agreement with Seyed Majid Hosseini,  another Iranian Ali Karimi will follow suit. The experienced player will arrive in the city in the coming few days.

Having had an ambitious transfer season, Kayserispor strengthened its squad with Onur Bulut, Lionel Carole, Emrah Bahşsan, Majid Hosseini, and Bilal Bayazıt.  In the Central Anatolia team, where the work continues, the Ali Karimi bomb explodes this time. The player whose contract has expired will be signed for 4 years.

Recommended to big teams

Last season team Melli player Ali Karimi, whom Kayserispor agreed in principle to sign and expected in the city soon, was a name on the radar of four big teams in Turkey, especially Trabzonspor. The 27-year-old football player, who was recommended to the teams looking for a trouble-free name in their club, did not get the right offer he was waiting for, so he chose to move to Qatar. He played for Qatar SC and then loaned to Al-Duhail, one of the most important clubs in the country. After his contract has expired at the end of the season, he was released and will have the opportunity to play in Turkey, which he wanted so much before.

Majid Hosseini joins KayseriSpor

Seyed Majid Hosseini joined the Turkish Super League side  Kayserispor after three consecutive years in Trabzonspor. Making a statement to the members of the press before the training at the club facilities, Kayserispor Coach Yalçın Koşukavak said that Bernard Mensah and their new transfers Lionel Carole and Majid Hosseini have joined the squad.

The contract of Iranian defender Seyed Majid Hosseini in Trabzonspor, Turkey was valid until the end of this season and was not extended by the club. Now Yalçın Koşukavak , the head coach of Kayserispor, has confirmed that Majid Hosseini has joined his team.

In recent days, several Qatari and Russian teams have been mentioned as possible destinations for the Team Melli defender. Majid Hosseini’s presence in the KayseriSpor team has been confirmed, and he has conducted his first training session with his new team after passing the club’s medical tests.

Two Mali players switch allegiance

Mali national football team received disappointing news  before the friendly international game against Iran.

According to ISNA and quoting the malijet site, the national football team of Mali and Iran should play in a friendly match.

Prior to this match, the Mali coach hoped to improve the quality of his team by inviting two valuable English Premier League players. Former Barcelona player Adama Traore, who plays for Wolverhampton Wanderers, and new Everton star Abdullah Ducoure, who were called up to the Mali national football team for the first time, both players declined the Mali national team invitation and will not play against Iran.

Traore, who was also invited to the Spanish national football team by Enrique, decided to accept the Spanish invitation and play for this team. Ducoure also chose the French national football team and declined to accept his homeland football team. This was not the only bad news for Mali before the game against Iran. Hoffenheim striker Samasco also suffered an injury and is out of the squad and will miss the match against Iran in Antalya, Turkey.

The Iranian national football team, which appointed Dragan Skocic as head coach several months ago, will now play for the first time under the guidance of the Croatian coach.

Dragan Skočić, to announce the new Team Melli squad.

Team Melli’s Croatian Head coach will announce the players’ list for the upcoming international friendlies against Uzbekistan and Mali after months of inaction. It will be the first time that the team will meet with its new coaching team due to the suspension of football activities as the result;t of the Covid19 pandemic.

he wants to play in the national team after months, and he will end the wait for the football fans to unveil his team. According to ISNA,

Team Melli training which was supposed to start on October 3 in Tehran, will probably start with a day delay. Iranian League Champions, Persepolis is still involved in the AFC Champions League and will play the final match in Doha against Al-Nasr of Sadu Arabi on Saturday afternoon in Doha.  from tomorrow. Instead, the list of players invited to the national team will be published tonight by Dragan Skocic. After about 11 months break Team Melli will gather together to play two friendly matches against Uzbekistan and Mali on 17 and 22 October. However, the most important issue is the unveiling of Skocic team, which has been delayed for more than 8 months due to the corona outbreak.

* Skocic’s -style team

The Croatian coach does not consider himself a follower of Carlos Queiroz’s defensive style, nor is he going to follow the style of Belgian Marc Wilmots. That’s why watching Skocic’s team is so important in a situation where official World Cup qualifiers have been postponed. In the current situation, the presence of some players in this camp is in a state of ambiguity, and it is not yet clear whether Skocic will invite them to the national team or not.

On the other hand, due to the limitations caused by the prevalence of corona, some players in European countries will be facing problems and this issue may make it difficult for them to travel to Uzbekistan and Turkey. But with all these considerations, the most important issue is Skocic’s style and mentality. It remains to be seen what players he will invite to the national team and how he would employ certain players in his line-up.

* What is going on in the Croatian coach’s head?

The list of players invited to the national team always leads to critics; In this bi-polar football nation, not inviting a player from either Persepolis or Esteghlal or inviting a particular player to the team, as well as not inviting some players due to traffic on some lines, are among the things that face criticism from experts and, of course, fans.

The increase in the number of Iranian legionnaires and the shining of several players in one position, as well as the increase in the age of some experienced players, have raised speculation about the new national team roster. In fact, no one is yet familiar with Skocic’s tactical ideas in the national team, and on the other hand, due to the presence of many in-form players in several positions, few can read the mind of the Croatian national team coach before the list is published. For example, there were various ambiguities about the goalkeepers; Especially since Alireza Beiranvand is absent due to injury and several well-known defenders can be seen in this post who has put legitimate claims to wear the national team jersey.

The team’s defense is in the same situation. In fact, with the departure of Queiroz and the retirement of a few players, the defensive line that was desired by the former Portuguese coach will also change. To these must be added the absence of the team’s most consistent defender, Morteza Pouraliganji. The most complicated situation in the midfield and attack is that there is a traffic of in-form players inside and outside Iran waiting to join the team, and they still do not know whether they should pack their bags to attend Tehran and join the national team on Saturday night or stay put.

 

TEAM MELLI CANDIDATES LIST

 

  1. AMIRI, Vahid     
  2. ANSARIFARD, Karim
  3. AZMOUN, Sardar
  4. CHESHMI, Rouzbeh
  5. DEJAGAH, Ashkan
  6. EBRAHIMI, Omid
  7. GHODDOS, Saman
  8. HAJSAFY, Ehsan
  9. HOSSEINI, Majid
  10. JAHANBAKHSH, AliReza 
  11. KANANI-ZADEGAN, Hossein
  12. MOHAMMADI, Milad
  13. MOHEBI, Mohammad
  14. NOUROLLAHI, Ahmad
  15. REZAEI, Kaveh
  16. REZAEIAN, Ramin
  17. TAREMI, Mehdi 
  18. TORABI, Mehdi
  19. GHOLIZADEH, Ali
  20. NEMATI, Siamak
  21. AL KASIR, Isa
  22. LAK, Hamed
  23. GHAYEDI, Mehdi
  24. KARIMI, Ali
  25. HOSSEINI, Hosseini
  26. KHALILZADEH, Shojaa
  27. KAMYABINIA, Kamal
  28. NIAZMAND, Payam
  29. NOORAFKAN, Omid
  30. KHANZADEH, Mohammadreza
  31. SHIKARI, Reza

More friendlies lined up for Team Melli

Mali national football team invited 30 players in preparation for the team’s training camp and to hold two friendly matches against Ghana and Iran.

The Mali Football Federation (FEMAFOOT) has announced the Les Aigles will play two friendly matches next month. Mali team has been inactive since November 2019 when they faced Guinea and Chad in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

 And as part of preparations for the matches against Namibia, Mali will now face Ghana on October 9 in Turkey before facing Iran three days later in Ankara.

Team Melli will meet Uzbekistan in its first friendly match in Tashkent on Thursday, October 8, and then will leave for Turkey to meet the Mali national football team on October 13. Adama Traore, a 24-year-old player who has also played for the Spanish Under-21 team, has not yet played for the national team and has been called up to the Mali national football team for a friendly against Ghana and Iran.

This player is going to choose Mali as his national team. Traore was also called up by Luis Enrique to the Spanish national football team for two games in the League of Nations, but at that time his corona test was positive. Former Mali striker Conte has been sent to persuade him to play for the team. Last season, he was one of the best players in the English Premier League, who dazzled the crowds mostly due to his acceleration, dribbling ability, and physical strength.

He is not the only star who was invited to the Mali national football team for these two matches. Abdullah Ducoure, who plays for Everton under Ancelotti this season and has played for France’s Under-21 side, along with Moosa Marga of Porto (Mehdi Taremi’s teammate) and Southampton’s Musa Dinpo, are players who have been invited to the strong Mali national football team.

Sampdoria, eyes on Majid Hosseini for the defense of Ranieri

Majid Hosseini, Team Melli central defender is the latest name on which Sampdoria is focusing on, looking for reinforcements for Claudio Ranieri’s squad: the Iranian is currently playing for Turkish side Trabzonspor but could leave Turkey soon after his current club announced that Hossein is in the excess list of the club. The player who started his career in Esteghlal has been wearing the Trabzonspor club jersey since 2018. Majidi played in the FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia.

Ahmet Ağaoğlu – president of the Turkish club recently announced that the club has no intention of lowering the asking price for the central defender in case of a transfer deal, which is five million euros.

Rumors of an expanded tournament in Qatar involving Iran and Turkey.

There have been strong rumours from Doha that Qatar intends to invite Iran and Turkey for the upcoming Gulf Football tournament in Doha.

This tournament of Gulf Cup will be the 24th edition of the biennial football competition for the eight members of the Arab Gulf Cup Football Federations.

On 15 July 2019, the Gulf Cup Football Federation announced that it will be held in Qatar from 27 November to 9 December 2019.[1]

Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain have cut all ties with Qatar since 2017 and that included sporting contacts. The action of the three football federations is forced and dictated by their leaders which subsequently resulted in the 3 boycotting countries athletes missing many events in Qatar in defiance to the spirits of the Olympic spirits and the policy of FIFA in that mandates football to be free from governmental interference.

Sports federations in the Persian Gulf Countries have been indirectly managed, manipulated and bankrolled by their governments and ruling families and as such they strictly follow3s the whims of the rulers.

The Gulf Football Tournament, which was first commenced in Bahrain back in 1971 is the most popular footballing events in the sheikhdoms. It started with 4 countries Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and host Bahrain. The tournament, which is not recognized by FIFA as an official event, has changed format several times and expanded to 8 teams. As anticipated, politics played a major role in the running throughout the years from countries withdrawing during the tournaments or before it to strain relations as a result of football matches not to mentions scandals such as bribing referees to fan violence.

 This term, the 24th edition of the tournament is expected to be boycotted by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain, leaving only Kuwait, Iraq, Oman, Yemen and host Qatar taking part.

To save the tournament, Qatar has been secretly negotiating with Turkish and Iranian federations to gauge their interest in taking part in the competition. FFIRI has officially denied any such approaches from the Qatari counterpart while it is extremely unlikely that the Turkish National team will take part, considering Turkey is still involved in the European Cup and their clubs are not only involved in the local league but also European Clubs competitions. The is no space in the Turkish football calendar for a tournament such as this.

For Iran, similar difficulties apply however none of the challenges can be measured as the vehement objection to the naming of the tournament which is fakely called “Arabian Gulf Tournament”

Considering that Qatar will accept to change the only possible scenario for Iran is to send Omid Team to the tournament, provided the clubs accept releasing their important players. This possibility, although the best solution will be hard to come by in the midst of the league.

Saman Ghoddos , a repeat story for Iranian players.

Saman Quddos has been suspended for four months after being sued by Spain’s Huesca club in addition to paying € 5m in damages. The FIFA ruling was due to a preliminary agreement by the Swedish club Ostershunds and Saman Ghoddos for transfer to the Spanish club, but instead of heading to Spain Ghoddos turned up in France to sign for the French side Amiens.

This FIFA rule is reminiscent of the one handed to Mehdi Taremi on September 2017. A Persepolis player at the time , all parties agreed on terms of the contract to transfer to Turkey’s Çaykur Rizespor Club. At that time, Taremi was suspended for four months after unilaterally breaking his contract and returning back to Iran. Taremi’s suspension meant his absence from Team Melli

Persepolis was also banned from two transfer windows. It came at a time when Iran has already qualified for the FIFA World Cup 2018  and its presence at the Russian World Cup was assured. Taremi declined to appeal to CAS for fear of prolonging the proceedings and missing the World Cup all togother.

Carlos Queiroz, the then head coach of Team Melli, commented  “It certainly hurts both Taremi himself and Persepolis club as well as the fans. Even the national team suffers because the player cannot be mentally ready. What we need to do is keep the player mentally and physically fit for the next few months so that he doesn’t have problems with the international games. But what happened in 2017 was a strange and shameful act that is damaging to Iranian football’s reputation and one has to accept responsibility for it.” the Portuguese concluded.

About two years later, Saman Goddos is committing the same act of indiscretion. Ghoddos , of course, has the right to appeal and he might succeed in reducing the ban, although it is quite doubtful. The point that needs emphasis, however, is the lack of professionalism and poor awareness of Iranian players.  It does not take a distinguished person to realize that contracts have to be honored and breaking it is unlawful.  It is not only about the law but also the ethics and integrity of a person involved in a contract.

The lack of success of the many Iranian players in Europe can be summarized in one main phrase, lack of professionalism. That of course entails, ethics, commitments, teamwork, team integration and dedication. Iranian players seemed to be poorly prepared for Europe and the lack of true professional management and advisors has reduced their value and potential to succeed outside Iran. Saman Ghoddos should have known much better as he grew up in the European environment, but!

Marc Wilmots has not yet commented on the Ghoddos suspension.

 

Destination Turkey.

The two mighty neighbors Turkey and Iran have a heavy mutual influence on each other, due to geographical proximity, economic benefits, linguistic and ethnic relations. They were also regional rivals at some stage of history and fought each other for influence and power. In modern times, the relation has been peaceful and friendly.  Football formed part of this peaceful relationship and also created a regional rivalry.

The Turkish association with European football and its membership in UEFA, has immensely benefitted its development. The Turkish national team, despite making it to the World Cup twice only in their history (1954 & 2002), was always considered to be better and stronger than Iran’s Team Melli from the early 50s. Those days, the two countries played a lot of football against each other including a regional tournament called RCD which was a three side annual tournament that also included Pakistan in the 60s.

However, like many things after the 1979 revolution, with Iran’s major change of political ideology, the two countries experienced less than a cozy relationship, football naturally suffered from this cold relation and the two countries cut off their football connection. Neither side showed any interest in playing friendlies against the other, no doubt politics playing a major role in the break of footballing relationship.

Meanwhile, Turkish football, at club level at least, was thriving. The trio, Galatasaray, Fenerbahce, and Besiktas were as good as many first-rate  European clubs. With financial clout and huge fan bases, Turkey became the focus of attention and the destination of many foreign players.  For years, the Turkish clubs employed the services of European, African and Latin American footballers, those included some household names in football. However, the majority of the big name European signings were players at the twilight of their careers who were there for a last-ditch attempt to enrich their bank accounts before hanging their boots rather than seeking glory.  The success of the policy of the Turkish clubs in attracting high profile aging footballers was mixed perhaps moderately successful at best.

What the Turkish club ignored was the abundance of talents on the eastern and southern borders. Iran and to a certain extent, Iraq had a wealth of young talents that were there for the taking. Since the late nineties, European clubs, particularly the German realized that as a number of the best Iranian players were employed by clubs like Bayern Munich , Hamburg, Hertha Berlin, and Arminia Bielefeld While talented Iraqi players headed south to the Persian Gulf states. At no time, the Turks endeavored to attract Iranians and Iraqis to play for their teams, although it would have been a good investment and certainly cheaper for them too.

By the beginning of the second decade of the millennium, The Turkish clubs, at last, looked at Iran. There had to be something special in that country’s football that can generate quality players for Team Melli.  With shoestring budgets, Iranian clubs managed to continuously deliver talented players thus enriching Team Melli and many 0f those young players eventually heading outside Iran to play professional football. In the process, Iran has made 4 appearances in the FIFA World Cup after a break of 20 years since the initial one in 1978, but also steadily climbed in the FIFA World Ranking to approach the elites. Meanwhile, Turkey managed one appearance in 2002.

That made the Turkish clubs think hard and employ scouts to talent hunt in Iran and seek bargains and future investments from the Persians.

For the Iranians, Turkey is the perfect destination for a professional player. The culture, the climate and the proximity of the two countries make it an ideal place to play football, to develop and to make a decent living.  Although the flood gates had hardly opened on the Iranians, the Turkish clubs are beginning to be shrewd as they are constantly on the lookout for talented players even as young as 18 years old. In the case of Allahyar Sayyadmanish, who was hardly a fixed player in his club Esteghlal, such investment could turn out to be a clever an astute move by Fenerbahçe. The giant Turkish club is now seeking the services of the 19 years old Iraqi forward Muhanad Ali Kadhim from Al Shorta Club.

It is a win-win situation for both sides. Iranian Players can develop well in Turkey with training facilities and passionate fans enhancing the league to become one of the best in Europe. It is certainly the right environment for aspiring young Iranian and Iraqi players.

 

Allahyar Sayyadmanesh, is an 11th Iranian footballer in Turkey.

Naser Sadeghi (Galatasaray / Konyaspor)
Mohammad Khakpour (Vanspor)
Reza Shahroudi (Altay)
Sohrab Bakhtiarizadeh (Erzurumspor)
Mohammad Moemeni (Erzurumspor)
Hamed Kavianpour (Kayserispor)
Sajjad Şhahbazzade (Alanyaspor) ♣
Payam Sadeghian (Osmanlıspor) ♣
Vahid Amiri (Trabzonspor) ♣
Majid Hosseini (Trabzonspor) ♣

♣ currently active.

Majid Hosseini to Trabzonspor.

Haber61 – Sports Service –

Trabzonspor is expected to sign Team Melli and Esteghlal defender on Thursday 12th July.

Trabzonspor President Adviser Özkan Sumer, in a brief interview with Haber61, said that his club has been monitoring the 22 years Iranian footballer for a long time. “After proper due diligence , we have progressed to the stage of completion of the Transfer and contract signature formalities. There is no outstanding problem. They will come and we will probably complete the work here on Thursday”.

Trabzonspor continues to make the necessary reinforcements in the team while continuing to prepare for the 2018-2019 season with a training camp in Slovenia.

Part of the plan was strengthening of the defense line by the signing of Esteghlal FC, 22-year-old Iranian player Majid Hosseini, who is expected to arrive in Trabzon tomorrow.

OBSERVATION

Mr. Sumer indicating that the player fits the requirement of the technical team. “We have not only watched the player with naked eyes, We also watched videos of his games. He seemed to be the ideal player in many aspects and the search for the technical staff was over. So we decided so recruit him.”

Adding that transfer studies are continuing, Özkan Sumer emphasized that there is no other transfer that is imminent at this stage but the contacts continues.

Trabzonspor have won seven Süper Lig championship titles in the Turkish League since its establishment in 1967