NM: For those who don’t know you from before, tell them about yourself.
Yashar Moazez: I’m born November 19, 1985 in Tehran (Iran) and I’ve been playing soccer since I was 5-6 years old. I started playing in Shahid Keshvari but I moved to Canada when I was 8 years old. I decided to continue playing soccer at a high level and Iran was starting their qualifications for the world cup at that time, so I thought it would be the best move for me to go back to my homeland and start my professional career. So the move from Canada to Iran became a reality.
NM: Tell us about your football carrier before you moved to Iran.
Yashar Moazez: One of my first teams in Canada that I played for was the Toronto Hawks, it was a really good experience and I still keep contact with my coach, Agha Behrouz, from back then, and I still have friends from that team. After that I played for different teams in Canada, such as North Scarborough, Vaughn Azzuri, Glen Shields and Unionville Strikers in the OYSL which is the top league in Ontario for youth soccer. I also played in my school teams. I was top goal scorer for my senior team in grade 11 with 13 goals in 7 games. I travelled with Vaughn azzuri to play in a tournament against youth teams in Portugal such as Benfica in 2000-2001. I’ve played soccer in Canada untill I was 18. I won the Ontario cup championships with Unionville Strikers in 2003 and went to nationals and became silver Medallists in all of Canada. Playing in Canada was a lot of fun and a really good experience.
NM: Tell us about your first season in Iran.
Yashar Moazez: I made my player profile and sent it to a contact I had within the Perspolis organisation. He gave this to the Pasargad staff, and set up a 3 month trial for me. I went on the trial; the team was near the end of their season, so the players were very fit and on form. But I had been training very hard prior to joining the team so I kept up with them very well. They showed interest in me from the beginning, the coach at that time was Mehdi Dinvarzadeh. The season ended and the team moved to the first division in Iran, one below the IPL.
I signed a 3 year contract with them, and my first season was underway. The team I signed with, was the U21 team. What they are trying to do in Iran right now is to encourage teams to sign younger players, by giving them 20 slots for senior players, five for U23 and they can have ten U21 players that can join the men’s squad and play for the U21 as well. So I was with both the U21 team and the men’s team. This was great because practicing and playing with the men’s and playing with the U21 gave me more experience and a lot more training.
In the middle of the season though, I was only with the men’s squad untill the end of the season. The reason for that was that, the men’s teams training was very intense and the practices had very high intensity that I needed all of my energy for the men’s team. The team didn’t really have much of a facility; we practiced at Shahid Keshvari and our games were all over the place, talking about organization!
I was new to this and it was odd for me that a professional team didn’t have a home stadium. Me and the other foreign players like Dani Olerum were always joking around about the lack of organization of the teams in Iran. But it wasn't just our team, I later found out that is the case for almost every team. Later on when I came into contact with Esteghlal players and Perspolis players, they were complaining about the same thing me and Dani would complain about. The coach for pasargad was Marijan Pusnik, whom I believe was the best foreign coach and the best coach to coach in Iran. Unfortunately qualified coach’s and big coach’s like Marijan don’t like others to interfere in their decision making, which resulted in Marijan leaving the team early in the race for the Championships and we ended up 3rd I believe, one or two points behind Rah ahan. This was a huge blow to me and many other players, because this resulted in the owners of the team to sell the team.
NM: Tell us about your second season in Iran.
Yashar Moazez: My second season almost didn’t start; Pasargad was sold and I didn’t have a team. But I was very very fit and on form. Unfortunately I also got injured right when teams were starting their trials and tryouts so I wasn’t 100 percent fit. Even though I wasn’t 100 percent, the U-21 team of Bargh FC of Tehran wanted to sign me and the coach at the time even brought the contract to my house to sign. Right at that time I started trials with Rah Ahan FC, and Rah Ahan has amazing infrastructure for a team in Iran. So I stayed with Rah Ahan, Firouz Karimi was the coach, he really liked my attitude and playing style but he was very busy with other things surrounding his team; Such as the Ra’ahan VS Naft’e Abadan fiasco. I didn’t sign with them because I was afraid this team might not be stable and the season would go to waste. I called up my first coach in Iran when I was on trials, Mehdi Dinvarzadeh and he told me to come to Karaj to play for Pegah FC of Karaj. So my second season started a little late, but it was an amazing season and a terrible season at the same time. My fitness and form was very good, the team was amazing. Great attitude by the players, the infrastructure of the club was really good, we had our own stadium to practice in and the Enghelab Stadium to play in. We won the 2nd division title and moved to the 1st division.
Unfortunately with around 4 games left I tore my meniscus and my ACL, I learned later that this knee was injured since the beginning of the season, and I was playing on it for around 7 months. This was a huge blow to me, because I never got to be part of the team in the most exciting part of the season , which was the end of the season period. When this happened, my spirit was really down, so I went on vacation back to Toronto for the summer. During my vacation I heard that they might sell the team, but they didn’t know yet. I was really frustrated because this was a solid team, with a solid coaching staff and young players. So I couldn’t understand why they would want to sell the team.
When I arrived in Iran, the deal was finalized and the team was sold. So for the 2nd time in my playing career, I was left without a team. During this time I was in the lowest spirit and morale I ever was during my stay in Iran. I had worked very hard for years, and both times the team was sold and I had nothing to play for, because of my injury, except some championship trophies, which really means nothing when you climb up to something really high, just to get knocked down and to only be with memories of the past.
NM: Tell us about your third season in Iran.
Yashar Moazez: My third season was a very tough season on me mentally. It was just an injury after injury type of season and all of it on the knee I just had a surgery on. Another reason why it was very tough on me, was because I am used to a very high level of fitness intensity and due to injuries I was not there yet. I was relatively very fit, but not at the highest level, I've been used to over the previous 2 seasons. When I came back from Toronto to Tehran after my summer vacation and rehab, I first played for Sabba Battery’s U21 team. We played a friendly game against ETKA, the coach was very optimistic about me, and liked my playing style. During that game my right knee, that was just recovered from an injury collided with the keeper, and it sidelined me for 2 weeks. This ended my stay with Sabba Battery, and I went to Parchin. There I signed a 3 year contract, which I didn’t fullfill till the end, due to injuries.
This season I was meant to make my knee stronger, but I kept getting injured on the same knee. Half way through the season I went through another injury, where I had to rehab my knee and go through physiotherapy for a month. My meniscus had shifted and there was 65cc's of blood in my knee that needed to be removed. I was walking on crutches for a good 2-3 weeks, and I was afraid I needed another surgery.
During this time my friends who play football outside of Iran kept my hopes up and cheered me up but I was devastated. During this time I was thinking a lot, and I realised that this knee needs some rest, and I do too. Not just from football, but from living in Iran as well. Because just living in Iran is a challenge all by itself, let alone playing professionl football in Iran, so I decided to go back to Toronto and go back to school until I’m ready to play again, both mentally and physically.
NM: If you would be the head of IFF, what things would be the first you changes/improvements that you would aim for in Iranian football?
Yashar Moazez: The first thing I would do is to regulate the ownership of the teams and I would make it difficult for teams to be bought and sold frequently. Right now it has became a business for people to buy a team for 100 million toman and then sell it next year for 200 million toman. Some people can’t run their own personal lives let alone a football club and in Iran just about anyone with money can own and operate a football club.
I would set up a system that only highly qualified people will have a say in important matters. Not just anyone. Unfortunately I don’t know how much the head of the IFF can do when the whole system is broken and needs to be replaced, not even fixed. Teams are being bought and sold like commodities, players need to be on one team for a long period of time to grow. For instance; Lionel Messi has been with Barcelona since he was 13, Beckham was with Manchester United since he was 14. In Iran players switch teams, teams switch cities and teams switch players faster than me and you change shirts. And this is completely wrong and unhelpful. Mr. Mohammad Nabi had some good points in an interview I heard him do, that teams need to become privatized just like in every other successful footballing nation. This is very important, but at the same time the IFF needs to regulate current flaws, and not allow corruption in Iranian Football.
NM: Your best and worst memories from Iran
Yashar Moazez: I have some really good experiences and funny moments in Iran. I think the best experience was winning the 2nd division league title with Pegah FC and also playing along side Dani Olerum. He is a funny guy and has a really good heart, he helped me a lot as well. One thing I really liked about him was his positive attitude; I remember before we played against Esteghlal in Jam’e Hazvi with Pasargad, Dani was training very hard and some players told him to relax to save his energy against Esteghlal, I told him that, and he just laughed it off saying he’s not worried about Esteghlal. Next day at the hotel I told him, Dani, you have to score a goal and he told me “No I’m going to score two”. I thought that was amazing, two goals against Esteghlal, and he went on the field and destroyed the Esteghlal defence, scoring two great goals. So that was one really amazing moment, although it didn’t happen to me it happened to a team mate of mine, and I learned to always be optimistic and relaxed before a big game.
The bad experience I had was frequently getting injured and the teams I played for being sold one by one. Also it was very hard for me to adapt to living in Iran, my lifestyle was completely different in Toronto, and I had to change my lifestyle when I moved to Tehran, and at times it was very depressing.
I’m really happy and glad to be back in Toronto, but I also miss playing at such a high competitive level of football. So when I left Tehran to come back to Toronto I was very excited, but also very sad to leave my football career behind. Maybe sooner or later I’ll start my training again to play at a high competitive level again, right now I’m having fun playing with friends and some semi competitive teams.
NM: Your favourite team and coach
Yashar Moazez: My dad played for Javanan’e Taj back in the day, but I was always fascinated by perspolis, and when perspolis came to Toronto, they ended up being my favourite team. My favourite foreign team though, I don’t really have a club team that I really am passionate about, but I love the Argentina national team. They are an amazing footballing nation. They won the U-20 world cup for the 6th time, I believe, here in Toronto. I think that’s something remarkable, and Iran can learn a thing or two from the AFA.
By far my favourite coach is Mr. Mehdi Dinvarzadeh, he helped my footballing a great deal and in life and maybe if I start football again and go back to Iran, he would be the only coach that I would want to play for.
One last thing, Ever since I left Iran to come back to Toronto I haven’t been keeping in touch with my former team mates and coaches in Iran. So I’d like to thank the coaches who have helped me in Iran and my former team mates. Mr. Parviz Komasi has helped me during my stay in Iran, as a person and as an amazing fitness coach. I think he is an amazing trainer and person, and I’ve learned a lot from him. Also, thank you Naveed for the interview.
Many thanks to Yashar for taking the time and more best wishes for the future, with football and life!
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