Iranian football before and now!!!

[shahname]

Look at this 39 years old video with the young prince Reza Pahlavi, his football school and his interest in football. Imagine what would have happened to our football during the past 40 years if he had been king after his father... In the start of the video, they are talking about how Iran is THE BEST in Asia but still have some distance to the best footballing nations in the world. Since then and after the islamic revolution, Iran has not won a shit in Asia!!!
The young prince talks about how our football has to be turned professional in order to be competitive on the international level. Now just imagine how our football and sports in general would have been if the kingdom had been in place in the past 40 years. I truly believe that Iran would have been in at least one WC final. We would no have suffered from the mismanagement, the corruption, the lack of academies, the lack of standard stadiums, the lack of facilities like a training pitch and kits for our TM and so many other shortcomings that we are dealing with today. Today we are fighting with our headcoach of TM because he demands the minimum facilities any national team would need.
It truly breaks your heart to think about what we could have been and what we are now!!!


http://footballitarin.com/video_page.php?id=17932

[_Navid_]

My friend, you will go crazy if you actually sit and think about what and where we would have been not just in football but every single aspect of our country.
I used to keep regretting the past since I was a teenager but it won't change the history.

[Bessos]

Indeed. Let the past be. Be wise, and look to the future.

[mahestan]

What would've happened if Mossadegh wasn't overthrown?

[AIrani]

Iranians have NOT learned from their history and they keep repeating their mistakes.

Iranians major in the fields that make money such as engineering and medicine or law. How of us are history majors? I will guess, none. Here is the answer.

[persepolisfan]

Better not to pity ourselves

[shahname]

My friend, you will go crazy if you actually sit and think about what and where we would have been not just in football but every single aspect of our country.
I used to keep regretting the past since I was a teenager but it won't change the history.

I agree, this applies for all the aspects of Iranian society and not only football. But since we are in a football forum, I thought it was worthy of mentioning.

[Nokhodi]

How is this any good?

I don't like it in any country when the elites force themselves on to national team players and want special treatment and training.

This is the definition of unprofessional.

I say this as a Pahlavi fan.

[shahname]

How is this any good?

I don't like it in any country when the elites force themselves on to national team players and want special treatment and training.

This is the definition of unprofessional.

I say this as a Pahlavi fan.

I get your point and partially agree.

I am trying to make another point here though. And that is the attention and the care that the elite of the country at that point was giving to football and sports in general.

If the young prince had turned king as it was supposed, do you think we would have been fighting for the absolute minimums of football like a training pitch for TM, kits etc. No my friend!! We would have had such professional league that many players around the world would have dreamt of being a part of it. Our national teams would have had top notch facilities. We would have been playing friendlies with the very best of footballing nations etc. The biggest clubs of Europe would have hold their winter camps in south of Iran, playing with our clubs rather than going to Qatar and Emirates. We would have been a FIFA top 10 footballing nation for sure. That´s what I am trying to highlight.

Now you think it is better with the mullahs that don´t give a shit about football/sports and rather spend that money on Hizbollah in Lebanon or Assad in Syria???

[eerooni]

This Islamic regime ravaged our nation worst than the plague worst than Great Depression! The Pahlavis were truly patriots who wanted only the best for Iran.... But like you said. We sadly never Learn from history. What we only have left in our football is raw talent and Carlos Queiroz...

[Bessos]

Ok this thread is pretty interesting after all.

If I'm not mistaken, Iran was a main candidate to host the 1984 Olympic Games. The only other candidate being Los Angeles (who ended up being selected since Iran withdrew its bid after 1979).

I agree on the part that many top teams would pick ''southern Iran'' over Dubai, had history gone differently.

Kish was going to be what Dubai is now, plus much more.

The largest casino in the world, the #1 tourist hotspot of the EAST, and without a doubt also an attraction to sports.

I read somewhere that when Kish's plans got put on hold, Dubai basically took the role instead (in the 80's), and started doing what Iran was already doing in the 70's.

These are pretty interesting things, when you think about it.


P.S. And on Ronaldo's shirt we would be reading ''Kish'' instead of ''Emirates''

[Iran007]

Look at this 39 years old video with the young prince Reza Pahlavi, his football school and his interest in football. Imagine what would have happened to our football during the past 40 years if he had been king after his father... In the start of the video, they are talking about how Iran is THE BEST in Asia but still have some distance to the best footballing nations in the world. Since then and after the islamic revolution, Iran has not won a shit in Asia!!!
The young prince talks about how our football has to be turned professional in order to be competitive on the international level. Now just imagine how our football and sports in general would have been if the kingdom had been in place in the past 40 years. I truly believe that Iran would have been in at least one WC final. We would no have suffered from the mismanagement, the corruption, the lack of academies, the lack of standard stadiums, the lack of facilities like a training pitch and kits for our TM and so many other shortcomings that we are dealing with today. Today we are fighting with our headcoach of TM because he demands the minimum facilities any national team would need.
It truly breaks your heart to think about what we could have been and what we are now!!!


http://footballitarin.com/video_page.php?id=17932

Having been raised abroad and away from Iran, I realized very early on that Iranian (specially the older generation) have never learned to accept responsibility for the decisions they make. I would see this time and time again....
They would be very brave in time of "making a decision" to the extreme....if the decision turned out to be a successful one , they would take full credit for it and be in the front row to take picture.
If the decision turned out to be a complete disaster (just like the Islamic Rip-off-lic revolution of 1979), not a single person would take responsibility or accept being a part of it.

Iranians need to learn that any decision you make bares consequences....NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH.

Iranians chose to go out on the streets and topple a regime that may have not been perfect, but sure as heck beat Islam and outdated and backward islamic ruling that goes on in iran today. Make no mistake about it my friends....THIS IS THE TRUE ISLAM that you are seeing in Iran today.

That decision of 1979 has landed iran in the ruin and complete disaster that you see today.

[Bessos]

Having been raised abroad and away from Iran, I realized very early on that Iranian (specially the older generation) have never learned to accept responsibility for the decisions they make. I would see this time and time again....

Inshallah-mentality

[Damavand]

Look at this 39 years old video with the young prince Reza Pahlavi, his football school and his interest in football. Imagine what would have happened to our football during the past 40 years if he had been king after his father... In the start of the video, they are talking about how Iran is THE BEST in Asia but still have some distance to the best footballing nations in the world. Since then and after the islamic revolution, Iran has not won a shit in Asia!!!
The young prince talks about how our football has to be turned professional in order to be competitive on the international level. Now just imagine how our football and sports in general would have been if the kingdom had been in place in the past 40 years. I truly believe that Iran would have been in at least one WC final. We would no have suffered from the mismanagement, the corruption, the lack of academies, the lack of standard stadiums, the lack of facilities like a training pitch and kits for our TM and so many other shortcomings that we are dealing with today. Today we are fighting with our headcoach of TM because he demands the minimum facilities any national team would need.
It truly breaks your heart to think about what we could have been and what we are now!!!
http://footballitarin.com/video_page.php?id=17932

Thanks so much for posting this. Does this bring back a lot of memories. I went to Andisheh school in Tehran and our school was one of the teams which was always invited to the Reza Pahlavi tournament. I went with several classmates to watch some of those games and cheer for our school. Reza Pahlavi was a very good player and had very powerful left kick.

That was a young Manook Khodabakhshian talking to Reza Pahlavi in the Studio. And very interesting to see Reza had so many pictures of Iranian Stars in his room. He was more passionate about football than I thought.

I can imagine what would have happened to our football if such a passionate individual would have become King.