Afshin Ghotbi to be Unveiled as New Iran Head Coach

Reports from Tehran suggest that Afshin Ghotbi has been picked as the next coach of Iran, and he will be officially unveiled by the head of Iranian Football Federation, Ali Kafashian, on Saturday.

Ghotbi has beaten off competition from Amir Ghalenoei, Majid Jalali, and Mohamad Mayeli Kohan, and the announcement will bring an end to a long running soap opera which has lasted well over six months.

Ali Kafashian announced on Friday that "the new coach will be named on Saturday, after a meeting of IFF board members". He added that Clemente is now out of the running. "Clemente was expected to visit Iran embassy in Spain on Thursday, to hold further talks. We had even made arrangements for lunch, but he contacted us and said he can't come to the meeting, so we will not be thinking about him anymore".

Members of the Iranian Football Federation (IFF) had reviewed a short list of five local coaches last week, and a decision was expected on Monday, but a last minute attempt to bring Clemente to Iran meant that the announcement had to be put on hold until now.