The Iranian national team is without a sponsorship deal since the FIFA World Cup 2018 Russia, as all efforts by the Football Federation to find a jersey sponsor and a commercial partner has failed to attract any interest.

The FIFA World Cup and the AFC Asian Cup are two of the most important official events in football in which the federation has been able to make a huge profit by accepting sponsors for Team Melli and covering the cost of preparation for the team. The last official contract was signed before the start of the World Cup and lasted up to the end of the tournament, although that deal was much criticized due to lack of transparency.

The Federation or the Marketing Department has repeatedly posted ads on the federation’s website and official newspapers inviting various companies and institutions, but no entity was willing to close a sponsorship with the FFIRI. As a result, Iran’s Team Melli had no sponsor for the World Cup 2022 and World Cup 2022 qualifiers.

Continuation of this problem, given the ambiguity on the resumption of World Cup qualifying matches after Corona’s eradication, could damage the national team’s preparation process as the FFIRI cannot financially meet the demands of the technical staff and the preparations required.

Much of this concern by sponsors revolves around the poor reputation of the administrators and managers of the federation. Corruption is endemic in Iran’s football and lack of transparency on the previous sponsorship deals raised many unanswered questions. Organizations prefer to stay away from this unwelcome PR.

Another stumbling block is the unreliability of the FFIRI in terms of respect for the contract. By the unilateral termination of contracts citing violations without proper evidence or legal backing, the FFIRI has set a bad precedent and created difficult situations on several occasions while it has spoiled its own reputation in the process

As such, none of these failures by inept FFIRI leadership is much of the surprise to the observers in Iran’s football. The FFIRI has a terminal lack of competent leadership as long as the extended hand of the government insists on installing puppets rather than competent administrators and inspiring leadership.