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.