Daei appointed as team Melli head coach

Afshin Ghotbi and Amir Ghalenoei appeared to be the front-runners with IRIFF favouring Ghotbi and PEO favouring Ghalenoei. Technically speaking IRIFF should have the authority to hire the head coach for the national side however in Iran such appointment will need to be signed off by the president of PEO Mr Aliabadi.
This indeed is a breach of FIFA regulations, PEO is a Government entity headed by Iran's vice-president Mr Aliabadi, any Government interference in the appointment of the head coach is a violation of Article 17 of the FIFA Statutes and could lead to suspension of IRIFF from International activity which would mean a ban on Team Melli and Iranian clubs from competitions such as the world cup or Asian Champions League.

Daei's appointment on March 2nd came as a surprise in many ways, whilst Daei's credential and achievements as a player which included playing in Germany's Bundesliga for five seasons and becoming the first Iranian to score in UEFA Champions League is beyond any doubt he has limited experience in coaching, Daei's sole coaching experience is with Saipa FC of Karaj in the last 18 months, however, Saipa under Daei as player coach won Iran's Persian Gulf League last season. When Daei announced his retirement from playing football at the end of last season there was no doubt on anyone's mind that one day he would coach the national team, but I for one did not expect this to happen so soon.
As highlighted in my last article I would have preferred Daei to gain experience of coaching at International level with Saipa in Asian Champions League this season before considering the Team Melli role.

Daei who will turn 39 later this month (March 21st) is now the youngest Team Melli head coach ever. On the plus side Daei had more experience of playing the game and he played his football at a higher level (Bundesliga) than the other candidates, however the other candidates had more coaching experience. Daei the veteran of two world cup finals (1998 & 2006) has a proven record of leadership and is an influential football personality, his presence in the team as a player was a confidence booster, indeed Iran became so reliant on Daei spearheading attacks that they are still having difficulty scoring 19 months after Daei's departure from the national side, Iran have failed to score in their last 5 matches and that is one of the problems Daei will have to address.

Daei might not have been my first choice for Team Melli head coach job at this point mainly due to his lack of coaching experience at International level, however, Daei proved his ability and potential to coach and to lift the team at Saipa last season when their German coach Lorrent left the club abruptly. Daei's determination, professionalism and strong personality would have been factors in his appointment; he also has vast experience of dealing with Arab opponents (Iran face 3 Arab teams in their Group 5 qualifiers) as well as East Asian teams. Whilst I believe Afshin Ghotbi's coaching experience at world cup level with South Korea made him a better candidate for the job I am relieved that Amir Ghalenoei was not re-instated as Team Melli head coach, Ghalenoei's appointment would simply have been the result of internal power-struggle between IRIFF and PEO, Ghalenoei's Team Melli track record certainly did not justify his recent candidacy for the job. We wish Daei all the best in his endeavour of taking Iran to world cup 2010 finals in South Africa.

By Afshin Dastafshan
adastafshan@persianmirror.com