Afshin Afshar, lastkick.com

Perspolis FC's Croatian coach Zlatko "Cico" Kranjcar is confident that his team will be ready for the opener against Mes of Kerman.

Speaking to reporters after a 2-2 tie preparation match against Paykan FC of Qazvin, Kranjcar reminded the fans that this was the team’s first match after a week of heavy physical training and the players were still recovering from the expected ensuing fatigue.

“The results of preparation matches may not be what we would like, but the main goal of these matches is to bring the team to our target tactical preparedness”, said Kranjcar. “We will probably have another two preparation matches before our opener against Mes”

“We have dedicated next week to specific tactical workouts. I hope to have our injured players back soon, so we can get on with our full team drills. My goal is to implement my two favorite systems before the opener.”

Kranjcar has been working with his Iranian assistant Hossein Abdi over the last few days. However, his Croatian assistant Tomislav Ivkovic is scheduled to arrive in Tehran on Sunday. It is not clear if Ivkovic will arrive in time to join the team for their second training match with a team that is yet to be announced.

“We have many young players who need time to prove themselves. (Assistant coach Hossein) Abdi and I will give them ample opportunities in the coming week to reach their ideal form and show us what they can do. We have no concerns in preparing the team for the opener” said the coach.

Perspolis is scheduled to open their season away against Mes of Kerman on Thursday, August 6.

Afshin Afshar, lastkick.com

Newly promoted Steel of Azin FC continued its spending spree by dishing out around $400,000 for Ali Karimi.

The former Perspolis star midfielder signed a one year contract with Steel only a few days after his negotiations with Perspolis hit a wall.

Karimi was reportedly seeking a $600,000 to $700,000 one year contract, but with the IPL signing deadline only hours away, he took the offer from Hossein Hedayati owner of Steel Azin football club.

Interestingly, as a member of the board of directors of Perspolis, Hedayati had played a role in securing Karimi’s signature for Perspolis only a year earlier.

Steel has also signed Iranian-Germans Freydoon Zandi and Amir Shapourzadeh amongst other well known names in Iranian football.

Afshin Afshar, lastkick.com

Amir Shapourzadeh and Freydoon Zandi will be kicking in the Iranian Professional League this year.

The Iranian-German footballers reached agreements with the recently promoted side Steel of Azin that will bring them to Iran for the next 12 months.

Shapourzadeh who played for FSV Frankfurt and Hansa Rostock of German Bundesliga II told reporters that he decided to make the move after consulting his relatives in Iran and fellow Iranian-German Zandi who had signed his contract a few days earlier.

When asked about his match fitness, Shapourzadeh admitted that he has not done much heavy training, and needs to work extra hard in order to get ready for the season’s opening.

Afshin Afshar, lastkick.com

Perspolis FC negotiations with star midfielders reached an impasse on Monday.

According to Perspolis president Abbas Ansarifard the two sides could not agree on the salary amount. The negotiations had gone on for four weeks and at times it seemed like the two sides were very close.

Former Perspolis board of directors member and Steel of Azin’s owner Hossein Hedayati showed interest in luring Karimi, but with the player transfer deadline come and gone the rumors are that Karimi may be heading abroad. One of his possible destinations is rumored to be the Korean League.

Mehran Afshar, lastkick.com

Mehran Afshar is a native of Abadan, a city in the oil-rich southern Iran that has produced many of Iranian football’s talents. In his latest trip to his hometown, Mehran visited the city’s legendry football ground where many of the stars of the past and present started their careers.

If you put up a shinny star for every Team Melli player that this dusty field has produced over the last 50 years, the stars’ light intensity might even match that of the Sun’s!

Abadan’s Bouvardeh Jonubi (Boulevard South) football field’s myth can only be compared with the mighty 400 Dastgah (400 units) ground in South East of Tehran, except that the original 400 Dastgah field does not exist anymore, but (more…)