Evidence of political bias to submit to FIFA

[Iranianarsenal11]

I think it's more ridiculous that Iran couldn't at least pick the neutral venue, or hell, at least GIVE US A NEUTRAL venue.

A lot of people underestimate the powerful advantages of playing at home. It's super unfair that we have to play Bahrain in Manama both times.

If the neutral venue was Qatar, or hell even UAE, I wouldn't be this pissed off.

[Hosseini]

I've got to agree with Taz.

some of us sometimes, in our zeal to defend the motherland, get all illogical and blind to the facts:
Fact is Iran is THE MOST dangerous country to be in, with relation to COVID. be it the spread of the virus, the presence of the mutated version, the lack of facilities and correct medicine to tackle it, lack of amenities and health infrastructure (dont just look at a couple of Tehran hospitals), Lack of govt oversight or protocols to CONTROL the spread (Lack? fuk that. the govt actually is the reason for its spread), .. etc etc etc.

Now to top this, our usual and traditional shortcomings in hospitality segment, facilities, ... , actually makes this a very simple and easy decision for the very corrupt AFC who normally dont even need such reasons to fuk us over. But this here, handed them the excuse.

my advice; dont waste your time writing letters

No one is disputing this, but it makes little sense to have Bahrain host when Iran had 3 home matches left. They should've atleast had a neutral country for this if the group preferred that? It's obviously a bias if a certain country gets more hosting privileges than the rest. This is basic common sense. Optics wise the AFC seems like it doesn't care, is very stupid, or there's clear bias.

[Hosseini]

Iran always hosts other national teams and clubs and the standards of the facilities we offer are more than fine. So a nonsense argument that all of a sudden we are not capable of hosting anymore due to covid, but shitty Bahrain can.

This is corruption at its finest and imo Iran should withdraw from the qualifiers, enough is enough. We can move to UEFA or CAF, screw the AFC or should i say the Arab Football Confederation.

If they had moved it to a neutral venue i could have respected their decision, but this is a dirty and foul move. You can bet that they will play mind games and annoy the hell out of TM in Manama. When the games start the grassrolling and corrupt referees will work their magic as well. This has nothing to do with football. I would respect IFF if they withdrew.

Iran is the worst covid hotspot in the Middle East. So it makes sense it wasn't chosen - but they should've atleast picked a different neutral country, even Qatar, UAE, Australia, etc. would've been better.

[mattigil]

Iran is the worst covid hotspot in the Middle East. So it makes sense it wasn't chosen - but they should've atleast picked a different neutral country, even Qatar, UAE, Australia, etc. would've been better.

Everyone's saying that Iran is the covid hotspot of the Middle East etc, I'm not denying that covid hit Iran hard but are we seriously ignoring the fact that population of our country has a massive effect on that?
Food for thought:-
Total cases per 1 million population:
Iran - 20,434 Bahrain - 74,522
Population density per kilometre squared:
Iran - 48 Bahrain - 1,831

Yes Iran was hit hard by covid and there's no denying that, but Bahrain and other neighbouring countries have also been hit significantly considering their size and population!

Members who are blaming the covid situation in Iran to this horrendous decision by AFC are only aiding with AFC's decision... If the Iranian federation had submitted (I'm not sure what exactly they submitted when applying to host the games) some plan where by they could ensure that teams and staff would only come into contact with individuals who are regularly tested and if they were all quarantined within a suitable environment with facilities, then I don't understand how AFC could ignore Iran's hosting application. If Iran had put such a plan in their application (which I hope they did) then the AFC decision is obviously biased and political (as suggested by the negative points a member posted eg TV rights, sanctions, facilities etc which are all excuses by the AFC). I hope everyone opens their eyes and realise that this is politically driven and the covid situation in Iran is an excuse...

[Kavian]

kiss the qualification goodbye!!

[Preezy]

Dragan Skocic on instagram:

Addressing all Iranian football friends,

When we had a video conference with Mr. Shin Man Gil, chairman of the Asian Confederation's competition committee, on February 15,
I directly pointed out to him that I believe that all decisions have already been made and that the conference was held only in a ceremonial and formalized manner, and I see no use in it.

Apparently, they asked for our opinions, but I have no doubt that everything was already known,
because when it came to playing games in April or postponing them to June, suddenly a message appeared on the monitor screen that the postponement of the games had been finalized.

What surprised me the most was when the topic of the meeting was about postponing the games from April to June, and without any introduction,
the Bahraini representative began talking about hosting, which completely stunned me.

Besides, it is indigestible to me why the tournament has been postponed for about a year.

When it comes to human health, it is definitely my highest priority to maintain people's health and follow protocols.

But, the coronavirus is no longer a new issue, and I think the AFC has found experience in holding matches in the last year.

I urged the AFC representatives to model the holding of various competitions in Europe, and their response to me was, 《You do not understand the diversity of the Asian continent》.

Now with this decision, I have fully noticed the diversity in the attitude. Contrary to custom.

In my opinion, the AFC had to find a solution that would benefit everyone - not a team - and make a decision consistent with the spirit of the sport.

But in the end, all teams have to face us and we will undoubtedly have a strong presence and we will overcome this situation.

[PSGman#19]

I don't like how on the iranian side, we already have resignation. Sentence like "we will overcome this situation, we are going to win the remaining games..". We should go on every existing court to fight this injustice.

[Preezy]

I don't like how on the iranian side, we already have resignation. Sentence like "we will overcome this situation, we are going to win the remaining games..". We should go on every existing court to fight this injustice.

Agreed. I’m just gathering all the evidence at the moment on this thread because we have time to put together a proper case.

The key in Skocic’s comments were his statements of how AFC dictated the meeting.

Anyone who disagrees, doesn’t support the case or hasn’t done research but instead complains about the case or justifies the decisions of AFC is a disgraceful fan.

There is no point to watch football anymore if we are going to tolerate this.

[Iranianarsenal11]

Well, if everything stands, it'll be really difficult to qualify... Doable, but very very difficult. Team Melli needs to bring their CQ 2018 WCQ A game for all four matches.

Hong Kong and Cambodia should be easy W's. That leaves Iraq and Bahrain at home. Iraq is a much better team than Bahrain, but Bahrain is a well managed team and now has the home field advantage. In a neutral venue, we have no excuses not to defeat Iraq. It'll be tough, but with the right tactics and preparations it should be done.

Beating Bahrain, however, will be a harder task than we would think. Bahrain will be at home, and will park the bus and try to get in our heads.

My predictions:

IRN 5- Cambodia 0

IRN 2- HNK 0

IRN 3- Iraq 2

IRN 0- BHR 0

[AIrani]

I've got to agree with Taz.
some of us sometimes, in our zeal to defend the motherland, get all illogical and blind to the facts:
Fact is Iran is THE MOST dangerous country to be in, with relation to COVID. be it the spread of the virus, the presence of the mutated version, the lack of facilities and correct medicine to tackle it, lack of amenities and health infrastructure (dont just look at a couple of Tehran hospitals), Lack of govt oversight or protocols to CONTROL the spread (Lack? fuk that. the govt actually is the reason for its spread), .. etc etc etc.
Now to top this, our usual and traditional shortcomings in hospitality segment, facilities, ... , actually makes this a very simple and easy decision for the very corrupt AFC who normally dont even need such reasons to fuk us over. But this here, handed them the excuse.
my advice; dont waste your time writing letters

What a bull !!

I will write few comments:
As Dr. Edward Demings said: Any evidence without statistics is just opinion.

Statistics: USA does not have 25% of world population, but it has had 25% of death of all countries from Covid-19.

Iran has been under illegal Western, mostly USA sanctions for over 40 years. These sanctions violate international norms and few members have written or spoken about them.

How many Iranians care for their country of origin similar to Isral that steals helpless people's land and useless United Nations members do not say anything?

I agree, money is the most important factor for hosting and also looting a country.
I proposed in a post to start a fund to sue AFC and FIFA. There are many lawyers among members but most of them do not give shxt.

Our players get banned for six months (Al-Kasir) whereas AFC does not have in their books to ban someone for six months.

I will try to find my legal post.

[Sepehr9]

Iran is the worst covid hotspot in the Middle East. So it makes sense it wasn't chosen - but they should've atleast picked a different neutral country, even Qatar, UAE, Australia, etc. would've been better.

I disagree, Covid is a global disaster. There is a massive amount of propaganda and disinformation regarding Iran but if we put that all aside we can see that Covid has paralyzed the entire planet. Right now i'm stuck in an European country where there is a night curfew, total lockdown and the hospitals are full. So what are we talinkg about here? Even if your point was true then the qualifiers should have been played on a neutral venue as you said. Instead we see that the games are being held in Bahrain, which is a clear sign that the Arabs want to cheat their way to the next qualification round (as always). If IFF is smart they will refuse to play in Bahrain for political reasons just like with Saudi Arabia. They have a legal case due to the poltical hostilities between the two countries, just like with the Saudi's.

[perspolis#1]

I disagree, Covid is a global disaster. There is a massive amount of propaganda and disinformation regarding Iran but if we put that all aside we can see that Covid has paralyzed the entire planet. Right now i'm stuck in an European country where there is a night curfew, total lockdown and the hospitals are full. SO what are we talinkg about here? Even if your point was true then the qualifiers should have been played on a neutral venue as you said. Instead we see that the games are beinh in Bahrain, which is a clear sign that the Arabs want to cheat their way to the next qualification round. If IFF is smart they will refuse to play in Bahrain for political reasons just like with Saudi Arabia. They have a legal case due to the poltical hostilities between the two countries, just like with the Saudi's.

Whether the legal case is entertained is the issue despite us knowing objectively its there. Unfortunately, I assume the AFC will pull the same bull they did on us in the 1980s and suspend us.

[Sepehr9]

Whether the legal case is entertained is the issue despite us knowing objectively its there. Unfortunately, I assume the AFC will pull the same bull they did on us in the 1980s and suspend us.

They can use the Saudi's as an example. Iran does not play in Saudi Arabia, and seeing that Iran has the same issues with Bahrain, which is an active and supporting ally of Saudi Arabia, Iran should not play in Bahrain either because of the same hostilities and safety issues they face in Saudi Arabia.

[milad_b]

Beating bahrain is indeed a very hard task even if it was in azadi tehran. Their new portuguese coach has totally turned them around . They won cup of nations beating both iraq and saudi arabia. I watched their game against saudi arabia. They parked bus and defended really well. They are team. Weaker version of CQ team.

However saying that we must beat them ! No excuses! With 16 points we are not gonna go thro (the chances are really low ) Please don't count on 16 points.

China - Australia - Kuwait/Jordan - Uzbekistan - Saudi arabia - oman - Malaysia/Thailand - Turkmenistan and even UAE have better chance than us ( they can reach 17 ). And only 4 of them is enough to kick us out with ONLY 16 points

And I didn't even mention Kyrgyz Republic or Tajiskestan cuz i don't think they can reach that even tho they have the chance to do so.

Well, if everything stands, it'll be really difficult to qualify... Doable, but very very difficult. Team Melli needs to bring their CQ 2018 WCQ A game for all four matches.

Hong Kong and Cambodia should be easy W's. That leaves Iraq and Bahrain at home. Iraq is a much better team than Bahrain, but Bahrain is a well managed team and now has the home field advantage. In a neutral venue, we have no excuses not to defeat Iraq. It'll be tough, but with the right tactics and preparations it should be done.

Beating Bahrain, however, will be a harder task than we would think. Bahrain will be at home, and will park the bus and try to get in our heads.

My predictions:

IRN 5- Cambodia 0

IRN 2- HNK 0

IRN 3- Iraq 2

IRN 0- BHR 0

[webmaster]

If the AFC moves to Syria or Lebanon, then we would get all the calls to our advantage because our money is spent there. Money really works and specially where you spend it. Arabs do spend it in Malaysia where our football is mandated. As long as they have it there, we could only match or surpass the Arabs by spending more.

But how likely are we to spend in Asian football more than Arabs????? Zero..Zilch and Nothing. Let's face it.

And if you really thing the AFC deputy is Iranian , remember that he is the laughing stock of all and is a disgrace of a person. We will never prevail with the current people in charge of our football. So let's not stress it too much.