ISP teams up with ambitious group in production of show dedicated to Iranian football and the beginning of a bright future
By Babak Golriz
An ambitious team of Iranians intent on leaving a long-lasting effect upon the face of Iranian football have devised a long-term plan, which begins in the short-term by producing a weekly television program dedicated to football, from a technical, and scientific point of view. In the medium term future, plans are afoot to form the first ever large-scale football academy and professional club in Iran, both for youngsters and professionals. In the meantime I caught up with one of the men behind all these plans, Hossein Abdi, the former Persepolis and Iran star. In the first ever public proclamation of these plans, Abdi tells ISP about the TV program, the academy and the football club.
Hello Hossein, I know how busy we all are with the project at the moment, but let us take a few minutes to let Iranian football fans hear a little about what is going on.
No problem Babak. I would like to say a warm welcome to Iranians all over the world. Go ahead and start the interview.
Where have you been for the past couple of years since Persepolis?
Well, I think it was during the 1379/80 season that I had some issues with Persepolis and I decided to move to Foolad. But, unfortunately I was not that comfortable with them and then a lucrative offer came from KuwaitKuwait, but for whatever reason things started to slowly improve after I had moved there and we finished runner-up in both the league and cup. But, I missed my family in Kuwait and life was not as nice as it is here in Dubai so I decided to move on. Here I am now, involved with this exciting project. and I could not refuse it. So I moved to Al Jahra in 2003 and played there. The club was usually one of the lower teams in
Tell us a little about this project. What is it all about?
Well, we are laying the foundations for a huge football academy in Iran, which would cater for children as young as 9. It will be a huge sports city, with hotels, shopping centers, entertainment centers for these young children besides the serious stuff of training facilities, training grounds and a couple of football stadiums and grounds. At the same time, we are looking into forming a football club, at a professional level. Now, we are still not sure if it is more feasible to buy an existing club, to save time, or invest into building a club from scratch. It’s a matter of deciding which one is more important, time or money.
Tell us more about the academy and where will it be formed?
The academy will firstly be formed in Iran. But, we are looking at a wider scope. We have researched opportunities in other countries too, both in North Africa and in Southern Europe. So we will not stop with one football academy. Ultimately, the goal is to help Iran’s football. I am very, very hopeful. We have spent so much in research and development already. The talking stage is over; now all that remains is the sometimes lengthy official contract stage.
Where did this idea come from and who is backing it?
Three years ago, I visited Dubai and I got acquainted with a very astute young Iranian architect, who was involved with the development industry in the city. We talked about everything, football, ideas, the future and we came to some common ground. I wanted to do something, but at that time, the finances were well out of our reach. Now, three years later, we have got together again and things have begun rolling. We seriously reopened the idea a few months ago and have been pursuing it since. He has provided all the resources to make this ambitious dream a reality.
Hossein, some people might be sceptical; as you know, in Iran we hear a lot of things about what people want to do or will do, but it never materializes. What makes this any different?
This is a completely private initiative, with money only coming from personal pockets. We are spending money each and every day, and will continue to do so, even after the ideas bear fruit. If it works, it will be a huge leap for Iranian football. If it doesn’t then at least we lived a dream and tried our best. We are trying to make it a reality. This will happen in Iran sooner or later. Even if it doesn’t happen with us, at least we can rest easy knowing that we lit the candle that facilitated its realization. Obviously the finances required to make this happen are huge astronomical figures. Also, the person putting the money in realizes that he will not be getting any return on his investment for a long, long time. But, our commitment is so strong that we have continued to proceed despite all this.
Tell us a little about the television program please.
It is called “The Wind of Football and Science”. We started filming coaching sessions, which we began running, for the purposes of the academy in the future. We are not keeping any of our work a secret. We want to display our perspective on football, which encompasses a new scientific and technical approach, which has not been used, certainly not in Iran. At the same time, we will be analyzing football professionally. People don’t notice some of the technical things that happen during the match. As a fan, sometimes you watch only with emotions. We take a step back and illuminate the games. More importantly, the program will be focused on the World Cup Qualifiers, especially Iran’s opponents. We have been watching the Bahraini team for 2 months now, and compiled a comprehensive preview of all their team and players. You will get a good informative presentation during the program. We could not even fit all that we had found due to the length of each episode and time constraints, but we have condensed it well enough. We will not be looking at Iran, at all, until after the matches, as we do not want to compromise our chances. After a few shows have aired, we will also be looking at the history of tactical development.
How is the football program different?
About what makes it stand out, as I said it’s a very comprehensive perspective on our football. We have a lot of ideas, but we can only introduce them gradually due to time constraints. Each week you will see something new that we are working on. We have a team of professional researchers working, including Iran Sports Press (ISP), as you know. We will not have general debates about whether this was a foul or was this offside. These are clear things to the eye and other people have done them excessively. We will have a professional preview and analysis of matches. To be honest, a number of clubs in Iran have said they are interested in acquiring some of our services. By the way, even if you do not get to see all our work in the one-hour show, we are creating an extensive CD-archive with sometimes even unaired work and footage, which will eventually be used in our academy library.
What role has Iran Sports Press undertaken for you?
You were our first main dedicated research and information outlet. The help you have given us from the people on your team in researching all the projects, including the Bahrain team, given to you has been great. I had honestly not heard of ISP, before I met you, but I have been pleasantly surprised at how professional and how helpful a group of young people like yourselves have been, and I must commend all the work, research, and interviews that you guys have done. Before going further, I want to personally thank the people on your team, besides yourself, who have done an excellent job for us in exchange just for the knowledge that they are doing a favour to Iranian football. I also hope that we will continue this co-operation well into the future.
You are most welcome Hossein. Finally, tell us a little about your thoughts on the Bahrain game, without going into much detail as people will watch the program for that.
We can win this game easily, if we don’t make it difficult in our minds. We have to concentrate, and leave all emotions out of it. They will try to provoke our emotions. We have to make a rational approach to the game. Otherwise, we will lose because they are a very good team. 100% we can win this match, even in Manama. But, I suggest our boys watch out for Talal Yousef, usually their captain, as he is a magnificent talent. From our side, we have so many match-winners, and I can’t pick a key man for us, as a number of our boys can spark something at any moment. As long as we concentrate and do not lower our level into their mind-games, we will leave Manama successfully.
Remind us about when the program, The Wind of Football and Science, is airing?
Filming on the first two shows has finished. The first one is expected to go on air on the newly formed Homa channel from the US, on Friday the 4th of February. That is the introductory show, which is worth a watch. Then the one-hour program on Bahrain will be shown on the same channel 2 or 3 days later. We are currently working on launching our own TV station, within a couple of months, and that is why we are airing on different channels right now. We have had to rent a few time-slots off different channels. Believe me, we tried our best to display the shows on a new television channel, but its launch date got delayed, and we couldn’t wait any longer as all our work on Bahrain would have been for nothing. Please ask your readers to check with your site for precise timings of the shows.
