Iran Football News Breakdown

Photo via: Wikimedia Commons

Inspectors from the Asian Football Confederation will be heading to Iran in November to visit the country’s stadiums and infrastructures in order to determine suitability for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup.

The holder of the aforementioned event should have been announced at the 31st AFC Congress in November of last year. However, the decision was delayed by the travel restrictions set in place on the back of the emergence of COVID-19 and will now happen in 2022. Inspectors weren’t able to conduct site visits within bidding countries because of the ongoing pandemic so Iran will entertain a visit later this year.

The Asian Football Confederation has made the AFC Asian Cup 2027 Bid Books of the four Member Associations remaining in contention to hold the event public. The All India Football Federation (AIFF), the Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Iran (FFIRI), the Qatar Football Association (QFA), and the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) have all submitted bids to that effect. Of course, free sports picks will be available by the time the tournament approaches.

“The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) inspectors will travel to Iran in November to visit the stadiums and infrastructures for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup,” Persian football reports.

“The host of the 2027 Asian Cup was due to be announced at the 31st AFC Congress in November 2020, but this decision is now due to take place in 2022, because of travel restrictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic delaying inspectors visits to bidding countries.”

Iran has also moved up five spots in the FIFA World Ranking, according to the rankings that were released on Thursday this week. The Iranian men’s team went back to playing in June after being out of action for a lengthy period as the pandemic forced the second round of the Asian Qualifiers into postponement.

Dragan Skokic’s side headed to Bahrain to play the rest of the games in a bubble, where they would win all four contests - against Hong Kong, Cambodia, Bahrain, and Iraq - to ensure qualification for Round 3. They’re now 26th on FIFA’s list, with lots of movement having taken place on said list.

Belgium remains at the top of the list although they got booted out of the Euros this summer by Italy, who moved into the top five (No.5, went up two spots) after winning the competition. The Italians are still behind fourth-placed England despite beating them in the finals. Brazil moved up a spot into No.2 as World Cup holders France went down into third, exchanging places with the South American country.

The next rankings will be released on September 16.

Meanwhile, FIFA president Gianni Infantino has offered condolences to the Iran Football Federation, as well as the family, friends and loved ones of Alireza Azizi. The former Iran midfielder passed away in Tehran on August 7 at the age of 72.

“On behalf of the international football community, I wish to extend our deepest sympathy to the Iran Football Federation, and to his family, friends and loved ones,” Infantino said. “Our thoughts are with all of you. We hope that these memories and our words of support may help bring some peace and solace at this difficult time” FIFA President Infantino said in his condolence message to Iran.”

Azizi was part of the Iran national football team who won the AFC Asian Cup in Tehran back in 1976. Born as the second child in a family of five siblings in Abadan, the former midfielder began his professional football career in Homa and would reach third place in the Iranian League a year before helping his country win the Asian Cup.

After a switch to Persepolis F.C., Azizi won the Iranian Championship in 1976 and his team finished in second place in 1977 and 1978. He remained with Persepolis on the back of the Iranian Revolution and won the Espansi Cup, Iran’s nationwide tournament, before moving to Melli F.C.

Azizi also competed in the Munich Olympics with Iran in 1972, before winning the Asia Cup. He would reach the Olympic quarters in Montreal in 1976 too.

Photo via: Wikimedia Commons

In other news, Iran international Alireza Jahanbakhsh has allayed fears over an injury with claims his groin problem isn’t serious. The Feyenoord winger scored two goals against Luzern in the qualifying round of the Conference before being forced to leave the match in the first half.

“I thought: maybe I should be changed. It was a bit stiff. Then I went on for a while,” he told ESPN after the game. “I thought if I make a few actions, I’ll be fine. Then I realized: That is a lie! I won’t be able to play if it gets any worse. It’s not a serious injury and I will be fine soon.”