The problem with Iranian Football

Iran has a large pool of young talents who have the potential to be world class footballers. I dare to say that we may lead Asia in that category. The problem, and it is a big one, is that we do not have the necessary infrastructure to nurture these talents.

Korea Republic and Japan, which may lead Iran in number of players in Europe, started their professional leagues years ago. They made long term commitments back then and are now beginning to pick the fruits of their investments.

Modern physical conditioning techniques, nutrition, and sports psychology are just beginning to find their way into Iranian football thanks to a number of foreign coaches who are trying to introduce the scientific approach to the country. As a result Iranian footballers who try their trade abroad find themselves to be far behind their European counterparts. If they are lucky enough to have made the move early in their career, they have a better chance of catching up; otherwise, unless they are immensely gifted athletes, they find it very difficult to make it.

In 1998 a group of talented Iranian players made their move to Germany. Many of them simply didn’t make it, and others had partial success, but two who did succeed were Ali Daei, and Mehdi Mahdavikia. These two opened the door for many others.

Eight years later, many young and talented Iranian footballers hope that a good showing by the national team in this year’s World Cup will open the doors for their generation.