Why more Iranians played abroad in 1999-2000 than any other time?

[Doctor DOOM]

^
1- I had totally forgotten about emamifar, dino and mahdavi.
btw, mansoorian also played at St. Pauli, germany

2- No. Mo'meni is not momenzadeh.
Mo'meni was the leagues top scorer or pretty high up in the scorers list ( I think he was with saipa or traktorsazi or ... cant remember )
you are correct on their plight and flight from turkey, though

so far, our lads have infected ( joke ) major leagues like EPL, La-liga, Seri-A and bundesliga and some minor ones like the belgian and austrian leagues./ but amazingly, the french league has been immune to our flock !
hmmm ... perhaps Jabbari can do the honors and infect the french lig as well.

[Ali Chicago]

^
1- I had totally forgotten about emamifar, dino and mahdavi.
btw, mansoorian also played at St. Pauli, germany

2- No. Mo'meni is not momenzadeh.
Mo'meni was the leagues top scorer or pretty high up in the scorers list ( I think he was with saipa or traktorsazi or ... cant remember )
you are correct on their plight and flight from turkey, though

so far, our lads have infected ( joke ) major leagues like EPL, La-liga, Seri-A and bundesliga and some minor ones like the belgian and austrian leagues./ but amazingly, the french league has been immune to our flock !
hmmm ... perhaps Jabbari can do the honors and infect the french lig as well.

Merci Doctor jaan. I don't know how I forget Mansoorian. I wanted to add both DinMohammadi and Mansoorian, but somehow forget to list Mansoorian. There was the rumor for Jabbari going to La Championa but that is as close as we got. With Jabbaris' knee injuries, I doubt any European club offers him a contract, unless he does magic in WC2010. I hope he does though.

[maij]

Fraz Fatemi played for a Greek Club.

[Doctor DOOM]

^ yes, I remember.
Nakisa also did play for a greek club for sometime.
so did ... I think, mansoorian, before going to germany.
right ?

[Martin-Reza]

Yeah, totally forgot about Mansourian's time in Greece:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Reza_Mansourian

I think this page is quite useful for checking Iranian footballers abroad in the past:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...te_footballers

[Doctor DOOM]

LOL.
everyone forgot ali karimi !!!! ......... EVERYONE !!!

hahahahaha

[maij]

Here is my list

[maij]

oops ...sorry. Looks a bit tiny to read,

[police in helicopter]

Good question.

I agree with the combination of our good display in the WC, the fact that the salaries were low in our local league and that UAE was still not the Eldorado for Iranian players.

Also, at the time Daei, the first to play abroad were successful and I think most players did not realise how hard it is to adapt to a new country and a new style of play. Nowadays, when a youngster analyses Ando and Kaebi's spells (some of our brighter talents) in Europe, they think about it twice....more money and easier lives in UAE.

[Ali Chicago]

I add a few:


I beleive EU also invoked a rule that limited the number of non EU players into the EU members footballing clubs.

Also the leagues made it harder for forigen based players to play in their league, for example in EPL, you have to played for yoru national team and the national team must be ranked higher than certain number.

And the most important of all, Iranian football since 2000 hasn't really produced a STAR. Karimi is pretty much the rising star at the 2000, but if you look back, even our tm hasn't enjoyed a star. We still have to prey, Kia, Hashemian, Nekoonam play well or we are screwed. As a matter of fact a single player like Nekoonam has scored two tremendos goals KSA or N. Korea or else we would have been screwed in WC Qualification. Add to that Bagheri's goal in UAE and you get the picture. So IMO the most important reason is Iran's football hasn't produced a star. You may ask why? I would say, because star production is a stochastic process, you can't plan for it.

I also think this doesn't mean our football today is worst than 1998-2000. Don't forget after a single loss in a friendly game 7-1 or something to Rome, our federation was stupid enough to fire Ivitch and Iran played in the WC with a new head coach a few weeks before the WC 1998. Human being tend to glamorize the past. Typically good old days aren't so good if you really look into it.

[maij]

I agree with Ali , you cannot plan to produce a star player.

I also think that the standard of football in Iran has improved , speaking generally and it is able to produce more quality players (rather than stars). The fact that less players are playing in European league does not necessarily mean that the standards in Iran has deteriorated.

If you look at the Persian Gulf League , you can see how the competition is hard and tight. There is no more such situation where a top club such as Perspolis of Esteghlal turning up and kicking ass of lower ranked teams. Only a few days ago we saw how Saipa managed to draw against PP and there are many more of similar encounters.

I beleive the success of players in Europe is depends on the individual player , and not necessarily reflecting the football of the country of origin.

[Ali Chicago]

I agree with Ali , you cannot plan to produce a star player.

I also think that the standard of football in Iran has improved , speaking generally and it is able to produce more quality players (rather than stars). The fact that less players are playing in European league does not necessarily mean that the standards in Iran has deteriorated.

If you look at the Persian Gulf League , you can see how the competition is hard and tight. There is no more such situation where a top club such as Perspolis of Esteghlal turning up and kicking ass of lower ranked teams. Only a few days ago we saw how Saipa managed to draw against PP and there are many more of similar encounters.

I beleive the success of players in Europe is depends on the individual player , and not necessarily reflecting the football of the country of origin.

Fully agree, the sheer numbero of foriegn based players isn't a true reflection of the progrees or regress of our football.

[Hadi]

I dont think there was any particular reason behind it.

Just back in 2006, we had 8 players playing in Eruope, which is close to the number we had back in 1999/2000:

Mahdavikia
Karimi
Hashemian
Rezaie
Zandi
Kaebi
Teymorian
Nekonam

Now, prior to this, we did have 10 or 11 players playing in Europe but few of them played in Belgium or Greece and only for a short period of time.
Iran usually produces a handful of footballers who are good enough to play for European clubs and the trend hasnt changed much in my opinion.

Second, no matter how many players we have in Europe, Iranian players in general are no on par with world class standards.
My theory, is that large majority of Iranian players are physically inferior to European players. I believe today, physical attributes like speed, agility, strength, jumping and stamina, make up more than 70% of football. Just look at the body shape of our IPL players and compare them with English players!

Being overweight is now a trend in our football. Look at the calf and stomach muscles of our players and to see how unathletic they are. Their running speed is almost like a slow motion. Their balance is not even comparable to European players.

We often have a wrong notion and think that just because our players are 'big', we have physical superiority in Asia. That is very very untrue. Take Korean players for example. I consider them physically much more superior than Iran. Strengt is not about having a leg as big as Rostam and a stomach ith 5 cms of fat. Its about agility, balance, stamina and speed.

[maij]

Very true Hadi jan.... Big built does not necessarily mean a better physical condition and in fact it could be a hindrance in tough matches if this big body is not conditioned properly.

I have always admired the athleticism of the Korean players , but there is a reason for that. Most Koreans were obliged to go through Military Service and it is one hell of a tough assignment which includes hard labor at some stage and lots of physical training.

[Paradigm]

I dont think there was any particular reason behind it.

Just back in 2006, we had 8 players playing in Eruope, which is close to the number we had back in 1999/2000:

Mahdavikia
Karimi
Hashemian
Rezaie
Zandi
Kaebi
Teymorian
Nekonam

Now, prior to this, we did have 10 or 11 players playing in Europe but few of them played in Belgium or Greece and only for a short period of time.
Iran usually produces a handful of footballers who are good enough to play for European clubs and the trend hasnt changed much in my opinion.

Second, no matter how many players we have in Europe, Iranian players in general are no on par with world class standards.
My theory, is that large majority of Iranian players are physically inferior to European players. I believe today, physical attributes like speed, agility, strength, jumping and stamina, make up more than 70% of football. Just look at the body shape of our IPL players and compare them with English players!

Being overweight is now a trend in our football. Look at the calf and stomach muscles of our players and to see how unathletic they are. Their running speed is almost like a slow motion. Their balance is not even comparable to European players.

We often have a wrong notion and think that just because our players are 'big', we have physical superiority in Asia. That is very very untrue. Take Korean players for example. I consider them physically much more superior than Iran. Strengt is not about having a leg as big as Rostam and a stomach ith 5 cms of fat. Its about agility, balance, stamina and speed.

I agree with the above and also wanted to note that the Koreans are culturally and mentally really close and as a result of this, easier to control and give direction to. Mind takes precedence over body so when they have the correct attitude and motivation they'll be able to follow a physical routine which makes them fitter and much closer to the European standards.