Will Iran's Football prosper under the Islamic Republic?

[Leicester City]

I am noticing a negative trend in Iran's football and unfortunately, nothing is being done about it.

As much as we all want politics to be separated from sports, we all know that is just not the reality of it as evidenced by the Canada match.

I have to ask this question, because if not now, when?

Please vote and argue your case.

[taremiscores]

Nope never. It hasn't for 43 years, will not change in the future as the IR government is getting more ruthless, violent and desperate.

Our TM success has been because of hard-working and great players. There has been no single initiative or plan from IR or IFF that has resulted in footballing benefits. CQ fought tooth-and-nail to get things done in our most successful WC campaign. We have had some good people like Mohsen Safaei Farahani - who later was arrested by IR. All those who are trying to do good in our football see heavy resistance by IR and are in one way or another hamstrung. Ali Daei is another one, Mehdi Mahdavikia with grassroots program etc., Adel Ferdosipour (who wanted more transparency but has been blacklisted) etc.

Look at how some countries have grown (in all facets) in the past 40 years - one being South Korea. Iran should have been where South Korea was and beyond. We were ahead of them in the 1970s, by all metrics. Now they are a global brand in all areas, including producing the best Asian footballer ever from the good grassroots programs they have.

[Abtin]

Bruh has anything been prospering under IR? All downhill man, 43 years and counting....

[daggerhashimoto]

I mean, you have your answer after 40 years. For Asia we are doing pretty good. Could it be better? Yes.

[The]

Well we're the top team in Asia and have been for a while now.
Also Qualified for the world cup 5 times under IR.

So we have prospered. There's clearly something that I.R is directly or indirectly doing right. Hell, I can argue that I.R limiting or restricting so many entrainment outlets (Arts, partying, etc...) Gives youth few options and drives them towards sports as one the few remaining ways to express themselves.

However if the question is will Iran reach It's max potential, then the answer is not as clear and probably no. That said, it's not that any other form of government would automatically be better. IMO, and this goes beyond football, corruption, favoritism and inequality is deeply embedded in Iranian (and many other ancient) culture. That's not to say Iranians don't have capacity to live in a more free and merit based society, it's just that it's not as simple as changing the government system for Iran to prosper

[perspolis#1]

It has to do with the lack of intent.
We have our views of IR and mine are very negative but what they do that hurts our football the most is hiring nonfootball people to run football. At some point we were going to host the Olympics in the 80s and then we fell out with the west.

The issue is that football has become more organized and the countries that are more organized will prosper more. Look at what Qatar has done with Aspire Academy. For as long as football exists, they will now be closer to the level of Saudi Arabia than to Arab minnows. Japan will always have a baseline of Top3 in Asia. The US has been loading players into Europe and for the next decade will have an elevated baseline that will only open doors. IRs lack of ability to let people who kniw football run it has led to no formalized youth system, lack of stadia/training pitches. Dallals run the show like vultures.

These are the problems we face while the problems the USSF face are things like kneeling for an anthem.
We cant ride out gheyrat anymore because physical fitness/training/organization/training will outdo gheyrat for the future.

More and more footballers are taught to be less expressive ans more statistic oriented which is a change that has not come to our own domestic league where everyone tries to go on 5 man dribbles and 30 meter long shots.

Numbers wise its a mixed bag, we qualify to the world cup more but we are in a confederation where half the teams are minnows to begin with. We have failed to get an Asian cup in 40+ years and have not qualified to the Olympics in a long time

[mehdi13]

Well we're the top team in Asia and have been for a while now.

Some recent results… we had a chance to prove that we’re the best in 2019 and failed. Been going backwards since and Japan/SK aren’t slowing down.

0-3 Japan

1-1 South Korea

0-2 South Korea

[taremiscores]

Well we're the top team in Asia and have been for a while now.
Also Qualified for the world cup 5 times under IR.
So we have prospered. There's clearly something that I.R is directly or indirectly doing right. Hell, I can argue that I.R limiting or restricting so many entrainment outlets (Arts, partying, etc...) Gives youth few options and drives them towards sports as one the few remaining venues to express themselves.
However if the question is will Iran reach It's max potential, then the answer is not as clear and probably no. That said, it's not that any other form of government would automatically be better. IMO, and this goes beyond football, corruption, favoritism and inequality is deeply embedded in Iranian (and many other ancient) culture. That's not to say Iranians don't have capacity to live in a more free and merit based society, it's just that it's not as simple as changing the government system for Iran to prosper.

A whole lot of charity given to IR here, The jaan

We have a huge population, so some good players slip through the cracks that have made a difference for us. I'd argue that Iranian athletes have the best genetics and athletic traditions in Asia (look at all the other sports we do well in). So we are bound to succeed in FIFA's worst confederation based on genetics and traditions alone.
Which other nation in Asia has 80 million football-loving people? Under the Shah, we were the clear best Asian team with the best infrastructure and it was not even close.

- As far as infrastructure, we are worst than war-torn Iraq - we were the best in Asia prior to 1979
- As far as grassroots, what are our grassroots program? Underfunded and only driven by the likes of Kia FC etc. who always seem to lack funds
- People can blame sanctions but IR has proxies all across Asia who they richly-funded and live freer than us (no forced hijabs in Iraq, Lebanon etc.)
- Women and men freely attended stadiums and ceremonies to celebrate Iran's mixed and diverse people (I thin fan culture is critical as well in football development)

We got to the World Cup - have we ever gone beyond the group stage? Have we won the Asian Cup since then? Have we qualified to the Olympics since IR?

The question should be: what particular IR policies/initiatives have led to football development? If you cannot name them or there are none, then the success (not really crazy success it can be argued outside FIFA rankings) of Iran's team is just a fluke and anomaly - and owed to non-government policies (I say genetics and athletic traditions).

[taremiscores]

Another case in point to prove what I said above.

The Iranian women's team made the Asian Cup. It is easy to argue that they have been given ZERO support by the government (negligible support that hurts their chances, actually) and they made it Asia's most prestigious tournament. Again, genetics and athletic tradition alone.

Iranians succeed in whatever we do - we are not limited by anything and athletics is no different. So whether it's under a brutal Islamist government (like now) or brutal communist government - Iran will have some sort of success by this mere fact alone.

But compare us to countries that are more even-keel with us in this regards, like Turkey - and you will see that we are no where close to them (World Cups aside, they play in Europe but look at their players in Europe including other national teams, NBA etc. - huge athletic successes). That's a good place to start comparisons on what we could have become and more.

What IR has done is made us so acceptable of low expectations. Subconsciously, Iranians just accept really low results. It kills the soul of a nation.

[a_m]

Having talented players does not mean we are getting better as a team , we have more talent than all these other Asian countries combined , but in terms actually improving the game from the grassroots or the infrastructure, we keep declining when was the last modern stadium we built , or modern training facilities, from all I can remember it was PEK who CQ forced the IFF to build .
We can prosper though look at Iran volleyball team , you know what the The problem is that in football there is way too much money that is why we have all these corrupt officials in football if they can put less corrupt people in the IFF and for the clubs then yes we will thrive because we have the talent…

[taremiscores]

Having talented players does not mean we are getting better as a team , we have more talent than all these other Asian countries combined , but in terms actually improving the game from the grassroots or the infrastructure, we keep declining when was the last modern stadium we built , or modern training facilities, from all I can remember it was PEK who CQ forced the IFF to build .

We can prosper though look at Iran volleyball team , you know what the The problem is that in football there is way too much money that is why we have all these corrupt officials in football if they can put less corrupt people in the IFF and for the clubs then yes we will thrive because we have the talent…

Exactly - we have great genetics! Look at the geography that Iran has - from the Ahvaz to Azerbaijan to the Caucus (Shomal) to Turkmens to Bushehris etc.

Incredible genetic richness. Of course we will have success at the Asian level (worst FIFA confederation) with genetics alone. If we had no federation we would reach these current levels.

- Look at Saudi Arabia, they are competitive in Asia (World Cup are a joke) - but they got there from great stadiums, arguably the league in Asia, a world class manager (we had one with CQ got lucky there). They have a women's program too now that will be one of the best in Asia in the next decade.
- Qatar too - look at their Aspire Academy. They compete in many great friendlies and have world class stadiums and won the right to host the World Cup! They are less than 3 million people.
- UAE - Dubai is synonymous with one of the best places to visit in the world. They have great stadiums and like 10 or so years ago even had one of the best leagues in Asia. They never are in want of great friendlies and theri players are always accomodated wit hthe best of everything. They have amazing support

Sad but these are realities on the ground and no amount of "We're proud Persian" chest beating will change that. We cannot even get proper jerseys ... that's how sad our state is. Think about that.

Imagine with Iran's great history, culture, diversity, landscapes etc. what we could have been without IR. We would be a top 10 Football team and would be proud wherever we go.

[AmirSalar]

Not even the fruits or flowers of our land will ever grow the way they should under this government. Nothing will ever prosper under this regime except for the akhoonds and their fat stomachs

[inarsenewetrust]

If our volleyball can make such tremendous gains I dont see why our football cannot.

The issue as mentioned, amount of money in football creates a situation primed for the dozd and lashkhor types that lurk everywhere in IR. Simultaneously, as we have just seen, the popularity and image of the national team creates a high profile target for foreign elements to further their agenda, further impacting the ability of our players to just focus on football.

Our football requires an extremely capable, but also incredibly street-smart, diplomatic leaders capable of navigating the layers of agents, higher up governmental pressure, etc. Honestly Kaffashian was good at this and hence we achieved a great deal of success upon him making the necessary overtures to acquire and keep CQ.

[Roozbeh-G2006]

Our football has progressed as much as it is capable of doing. We probably could have done a bit better but just to compare ourselves with the other top four teams like Japan, Korea, Australia and the Saudis, who have not had the sanctions, and all that shit that has disadvantaged us, I would say we have done well. Just look at our players in Europe! So you can never assume with certainty that we would have done much better.

[taremiscores]