The Appointment of New Head Coach of Iran in Doubt

It was previously announced that Iran will appoint the new head coach by 30 December, with Arthur Jorge favourite to land the job. The Portuguese travelled to Iran on Thursday, and held face to face talks with Iran football bosses, and a final decision was expected in 48 hours. However, it emerged on Sunday that Jorge has asked to bring a back-room staff of three coaches with him, which is against the wishes of Iran football bosses.

With the election of the new president for Iran Football Federation scheduled for January 9, the two main candidates, Ali Kafashian, secretary general of Iran's Olympic Committee, and Shahrokh Shahnazi, head of the country's tennis federation have asked the appointment of the new coach to be delayed until after the election process.

Iran called up 50 players on Saturday, and the players will start a training camp on 1 January. Team Melli is to play 4 friendly matches in January, but there is now a good possibility that the team will play its first two friendly matches without a head coach.

Iran will begin its World Cup Qualifying campaign on 6 February in Tehran, against Syria.