The Persian year is coming to an end and Iran’s football has absolutely nothing to show for it, zilch. This is unless you consider that Team Melli jersey is selected as one of the candidates for most attractive national teams jersey design in a Marca poll  according to ISNA , is something to brag about !!

Football dominates all other sports in Iran a country which has an acute passion for sports and athletes.  Amongst a plethora of sports some which has rich tradition in world and Olympics titles, football and footballers  have the lion share of the government funds channeled into it. Ironically, it has the least achievements, trophies or accolades of them all. Not only the Islamic government almost entirely bankrolls football clubs in Iran, directly or indirectly,  and the football federation (FFIRI) ,  Team Melli is wholly dependent on the government hand out for survival.

The immediate impacts of American sanctions on the Iranian economy are apparent as oil production and GDP growth are collapsing, Iran’s currency is weakening, and inflation is picking up. Longer-term impacts remain to be seen. People have suffered and sacrificed a lot. In such a dire economic environment , there are much more priorities that affect the citizens wellbeing.

Yet , the government still pumped relatively big money into football hoping that this sport yields some success and bring joy for a nation that has very little to cheer about.  However, very little success was experienced by the fans in Iranian football and the 43 years dream wait for the Asian Cup title has just extended for another 4 years. The apex of the achievements at club level was Persepolis being finalist of the Asian Championship League 2018 and at National Team Level, elimination from the group stages of the FIFA World Cup 2018 and defeat against Japan in the Semi-final of the AFC Asian Cup 2019. The rest of representatives at age levels came out empty handed too.

The Irony of all this non-achievement is the people concerned in football from players to coaches’ and top administrators complain about lack of facilities and funds channeled into football. No doubt that this mentality was instigated by the former coach Carlos Queiroz injudicious and  constant reference to huge amount of money that rich nations such as Japan, China and Korea   spend on their football!

For all those in the know , however, football problems in Iran go well beyond funds and starts right at the fundamentals. Football is badly managed in Iran and completely owned and controlled by the government. And as it happens, the government is not very well versed at running football and its proxies running clubs and federations are not too skilled either.

One short example in hundreds, is the current situation with Team Melli. Over a year ago, the powers of football decided that Carlos Queiroz will not coach Iran beyond the Asian Cup 2018. 3 months has passed since the end of the Asian Cup, and the wise men of the FFIRI are still widely chasing someone to take over from Queiroz.!!! While the rest of the world are taking advantage of FIFA international break for friendly matches or official competitions, Team Melli is on extended holiday with no coach, no friendly matches and unknown future.

Now, if that is not the apathy of management and downright incompetency , then I don’t know what is.

Happy Nowrooz.