After the VERY public political statement made with green wristbands during Iran’s 2009 World Cup Qualifier against South Korea in protest against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election and subsequent lifetime ban handed down for Captain Mehdi Mahdavikia, Ali Karimi, Hosein Ka’abi and Vahid Hashemian, FIFA has sent a letter to the Football Federation of Iran asking for clarification over news reports regarding the players return to Tehran.

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“Ali Karimi, Mehdi Mahdavikia and two other Iranian players are ‘retired’ after sporting green wristbands (as a sign of protest) in their World Cup qualifier in Seoul” (more…)

World events spilled onto the pitch when six members of Iran’s national team, in South Korea for a World Cup Qualifier, wore green wristbands - the color used by Mr. Mousavi in his election campaign.

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“Iran and the United States have agreed on the date for two friendly soccer matches to be played between their national teams, the state-run Press TV channel reported on Sunday.”

The 100,000 seat Azadi Stadium in Tehran, Iran (pictured above) is the largest stadium in Asia.  Security will be important, I would think.

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“According to several news agencies in Iran, the USSF has informed Iran’s Football Federation that it is interested in a match between the national teams of the two countries in September. ”

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After being passed over twice, Afshin Ghotbi has now been appointed the head coach of the Iraninan National Team.

[ISP]

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TEHRAN, Iran (AP)—The first mixed soccer game—females vs. males—since the 1979 Islamic revolution led to swift punishment Monday, as an Iranian soccer club said it had suspended three officials involved and handed out fines of up to $5,000.

Iran’s strict Islamic rules ban any physical contact between unrelated men and women, and Iranian women are even banned from attending soccer games when male teams play.

The officials—a coach and two managers—first denied the game took place, but video clips on cell phones of the game were used as evidence against them, the Vatan-e-Emrooz daily newspaper reported.

Esteghlal, one of Iran’s top two soccer clubs, said its disciplinary committee suspended two officials for a year while a third was suspended for six months. A fourth official was fined, a report posted on the club’s Web site said.

More here.

UPDATE -  Afshin Ghotbi has taken Iranian Club Persepolis FC to the final day of the season, winning 2-1 and taking the Championship.

Big ups to Afshin for sticking to his morals after being royally screwed by the Iranian Football Federation.  First he had been named the Head Coach of Iran, the next it was Ali Daei.

When Fifa.com talks, I listen and if there was ever a lead to follow, it would be from them. Today it was announced that Iran Football Federation chief Ali Kafashian has been quoted saying that he approved of Iranian-American Afshin Qotbi (Ghotbi) becoming the next head coach of Iran’s National Team. After already making great headway as coach of top Iranian side Persepolis who are once again leading the pack, some thought because of Ghotbi’s American ties that he would never be considered.

Ben and I have personally known Afshin since we were early teenagers playing with or against his youth club AGSS in Southern California in the later 1980’s through the mid 1990’s. Afshin has widely been credited with the development of players like John O’Brien and Pete Vagenas and has seen time at the highest coaching levels as an Assistant under Guus Hiddink and South Korea for the 2002 World Cup, Steve Sampson at MLS’ LA Galaxy in 2004, before going back to South Korea until 2007 before going off to Iran with Persepolis.

Ghotbi was also a part of group that was behind the software that was introduced before the 2002 World Cup which tracks player performance during matches. Examples such as team ball possession, player passing tendencies and amount of distance covered by each player are now used for every match and can be seen regularly during Champions League matches.

image via Iran-Daily