Afshin Afshar (lastkick.com) –  Mehdi Mahdavikia scored his first goal since returning to Iranian football. The midfielder scored Steel of Azin’s first goal in their 2-0 victory over Sepahan Novin of Isfahan (Not to be mistaken with Sepahan FC) in Round of 32 of the Iranian League Cup (i.e. Elimination Cup). The match was played in Tehran’s Railroad Stadium in front of only a few hundred attendees. Mohammad Gholami scored Azin’s second goal.  (more…)

Afshin Afshar (lastkick.com) – As you might have guessed, this week was all about the Derby, so we dedicate most of today’s Short Kicks to exactly that.

Eighty thousand fans filled up the Azadi stadium for the match between Perspolis and Esteghlal. One might get impressed with this crowd unless (s)he recalls the fact that only a three or four years ago 110,000 would fill the stadium to the rim for the Tehran Derby. (more…)

Persepolis 2 – 1 Esteghlal

The battle of the titans in search for the crucial third place and qualification to the Asian Champions League began brightly for the Esteghlalis as they took an early lead through none other Farhad Majidi who sent the Esteghlali fans into raptures on the quarter hour  mark. (more…)

Afshin Afshar (lastkick.com) – After six consecutive 1-1 draws, the much anticipated sixty eighth Tehran derby ended with a 2-1 victory for Perspolis FC.

Esteghlal Captain Farhad Majidi took advantage of horrendous defending by Perspolis defenders and put the Blues in the lead fifteen minutes into the match. Perspolis’ Hadi Norouzi returned the favor by capitalizing on yet another defensive error and equalized with less than ten minutes to in the first half.   (more…)

Afshin Afshar (lastkick.com) – In an unprecedented move, the Iranian Football Federation made available the details of Team Melli coach Afshin Ghotbi. The information was published on the IFF website on Monday and released to the press. 

According to the released documents Ghotbi’s contract is broken into two phases, the first covers the August 1, 2009 through January 30, 2010 for the pretax amount of $300K, and the second covers February 1, 2010 through January 31, 2011 for the total pretax sum of $500K.  (more…)

 Afshin Afshar (lastkick.com) – Happy Monday everybody! This weekend I had an exchange with a couple of friends who used to follow Iranian football very closely. They told me that the recent events in Iran have taken an emotional toll on them and they do not care to follow Iranian football any longer. I must confess that I sometimes struggle with the same dilemma. The question I ask myself is “Do I really want to write about Iranian football, while the same regime that sponsors the game in Iran brutally suppresses the same contingency, namely Iranian football fans, to whom I am trying to reach?”

I am not sure what the answer is, at least not yet. So I keep on doing what I have been doing until I figure out what the “right” thing (for me) is. But, until then, I would appreciate your thoughts on this. What would you do?

Drop a note and share your thoughts with me and other readers. (more…)

Afshin Afshar (lastkick.com) – We last left Steel of Azin Coach Hamid Estili after the match against Moghavemat in Shiraz. Azin had just won the match and Estili had announced his resignation. Fast forward one day or two and the club’s back office is claiming that Estili had never really resigned and that he is still in charge! It will take another day or two for us to figure out what is really going on. If you ask me, Estili has really resigned, but the club has no immediate backup, so they are trying to buy some time.  (more…)

The most prolific interational striker in history talks to Goal.com about his new challenge …

Ali Daei (photo: Sina Shiri / ISNA)

Hossein Ghodhssi (goal.com) – Once again, Ali Daei is back in football and this time he is coaching Iran’s most popular club Persepolis.

Persepolis was where Daei made a name for himself as Iran’s best finisher and from the Reds of Tehran, Daei eventually ended up in Germany where he played for Arminia Bielefeld, Bayern Munich and Hertha BSC.
(more…)

Afshin Afshar (lastkick.com) – Round 25 of the Iranian Professional League came to a close today with two games on Friday. The two Isfahan teams, Sepahan and Zob-Ahan still lead tight pack in that order followed by Esteghlal of Tehran and Perspolis, and still Azin is close fifth.

Here is a recap of the round 25 matches.
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Afshin Afshar (lastkick.com) – A couple of months ago, in one of my soccer blogs I wrote a tongue in cheek “What if” post. The question was “What if Ahmadinejad became the Head of Iran Football Federation?” A few of the possibilities I suggested were: 

1)    He would claim doping to be the natural right of all Iranian football players, and invest significant amount of money in secret underground steroid manufacturing plants.

2)    He would give fiery speeches about the super duper pill that would make Iranian football a world football superpower, and threaten to defeat the Brazilian, German, Italian, French, and English national teams in a blink of an eye.

3)    He would accuse Sepp Blatter of being a puppet of the Brazilian Football Federation.

4)    He would deny the fact that Brazil has won five World Cups and would suggest world football experts research the matter independently. 

And last but not least  (more…)