Iran Football Federation wins the AFC Association of the Year award! Huh?!

Iran Football Federation won the annual AFC Association of the Year award! What?! Come again!!

Not that I am kicking a gift horse in the mouth, but are we talking about our Football Association?! The same Association that does not know its left from its right?

When I heard this I wondered what the AFC criteria for being the best in Asia were so I did a little bit of research and here is what I found out.  According to the AFC official website:

The AFC Association of the Year award is given to a Member Association in recognition of its exceptional contribution to the development and promotion of the game within their country particularly in the areas of (but not limited to):

– Grassroots and youth development
– Clubs and national league development
– Participation in continental and world-wide competition
– Professionalisation of its administration and governance

Folks, I can tell you with certain degree of certainty that this could only mean one of the following three:

1- The judges were drunk out of their minds!
2- Somebody stuffed the judges’ pockets with something green!
3- The rest of the AFC Associations are in ruins!

I was flabbergasted when I heard the news. I thought for sure either Korea Republic or Japan Associations were more deserving, but who am I to say that our football federation has got its head up its rear end. Things are so bad that IRIFF could be a good case study for how not to do things.

Our stadiums are in ruin, our clubs are struggling financially and organizationally, we do not have a true professionalism, corruption is suffocating the game, lack of adequate sports medicine is taking a toll on our young players, and we desperately need well trained coaches and physical trainers. And yet, we are the Association of the Year!

No wonder Asian football is lagging the rest of the world by such long distance!