Ali Kaffashian, the former president of the Football Federation says he has lied to FIFA in defining the nature of this federation in the 2007 constitution.

It is one of the most direct and vivid confessions that the Iranian Government controls the Football Federation, in spite of the common knowledge that such governance means the suspension of the federation and sanctions against FFIRI.

According to Kaffashian, the nature of the Football Federation and the government’s oversight of this organization has always been a topic of debate in the country’s football circles, because if the federation is considered an independent non-governmental organization (NGO), the Ministry of Sports and government departments cannot impose or force regulations such as prohibiting government retirees from occupying a post in NGOs.

“A retired person should be able to hold any post in independent organizations and that includes private companies, but if an organization is defined as a “Public non-governmental entity”, the government enforces its authority upon it.

In response to a question of whether the federation is an “Independent NGO” or a “Non-Governmental Public Body”  Ali Kaffashian said, “When I joined football federation, I was retired from government services.  At the time it was explained to me that the federation is an independent organization or NGO and as a non-governmental body, I have no problem with the law that prohibits government retirees from working while receiving a pension.”

“After the change of Cabinet, the new minister of sport did not want me in FFIRI and said I was retired and should not be occupying this post. I reminded him that the federation is a non-governmental organization and that my retirement is irrelevant, but the honorable minister said that the federation is a “non-governmental public institution” and that government employment rules and regulations apply to you, so your retirement is a problem.”

Kaffashian emphasized that the nature of the federation should be written correctly in the amendment of the federation’s charter, adding: “I think we should include everything that we are in the new charter. Officials should mention that the federation is an ‘independent non-governmental organization’ If FIFA accepts that, then there is no problem, but if it does not, do not falsely tell FIFA that it is an independent, non-governmental organization while in fact, it is a government entity.”

“We have conned FIFA in the past,” Kafashian said, referring to the federation’s 2007 constitutional amendment. When the constitution was adopted by a six-member group of government and FIFA representatives, Mr. Kiomars Hashemi, a former member of the federation’s presidium, wrote in a preface of the constitution that it was an independent, non-governmental organization. This is not true and never was. We tricked FIFA to remove the sanction imposed on us after the 2006 World Cup and lied.”

He continued “We should not have lied. Now we must clearly say that we are a non-governmental public organization. If they do not accept, we should take the law to the parliament to change it so that future managers do not face any problems. Whenever we were moved, they hit us on the head with a stick that we are a public and non-governmental organization and should abide by the ministry”.