Time For the Next Level In Iran

Goal - Now in its fifth year, the Iranian Premier League (IPL) has delivered many improvements over its amateur predecessors. Even its harshest critics can not deny the fact that in a relatively short time it has helped revolutionize many aspects of the game, but is it capable of taking it to the next level?
Despite being labeled a professional league, IPL lacks the financial and organizational infrastructure that many of the professional leagues in Asia enjoy. Only eight of the sixteen clubs in IPL have their own home field and practice facilities. Perspolis (Piroozi) and Esteghlal, the two most popular clubs in the country operate out of makeshift facilities. A few weeks ago, Perspolis players showed up for a practice session only to find out that they had been locked out of their practice facility due to unpaid rent. Two weeks ago, players from both clubs threatened to go on strike unless they received their long overdue wages. The crisis was averted when a government loan enabled club management to make a partial payment to the players.

Part of the problem stems from the fact that none of the sixteen clubs is a profitable entity. Only two of the sixteen teams are privately owned. Perspolis and Esteghlal are owned and managed by Iran’s Department of Physical Education, and the other twelve by government owned industries, and none of them are profitable.

The clubs receive no TV revenue. As a matter of fact, Iran is probably the only country in the world of professional football where it is the clubs that pay the government owned national TV to have their games broadcast! Although a few of the clubs are willing to pay the required fee, they still do not get any TV time because the two Tehran giants are preferred clients. Over the last 5 years more than 90% of the broadcasted IPL games have been those of Perspolis and Esteghlal. So unless they are playing one of the two Tehran giants, the national audience rarely gets to see other teams such as the reigning champions Foolad and the title-winners of the two previous years, Pas and Sepahan. It is very difficult for teams to market their merchandize when they have very little national exposure; therefore merchandizing revenue is virtually nonexistent.

At a maximum of $2 a ticket, gate receipts account for only a small fraction of the clubs’ income. In most cases all the gate revenue goes directly towards the rent of the stadiums.

To solve their financial woes many clubs have been forced to sell their star players to foreign clubs. That, however, is only a temporary solution and in the long run will weaken the clubs by depleting them of quality players.

Management of football operations is another challenge. Most clubs are managed by people who have very little experience or training in running a football club. As a result they fail to provide their coaches the support that they need to run the day-to-day and on-the-field affairs of the clubs. Foolad, Sepahan, and Pas who benefit from sound management have won the last three championships.

There has been little done to educate managers, coaches, and players on the finer points of professional football. Most have had to learn by the way of trial and error. This has made the transition harder than necessary for many.

Asian football has been on a well determined path to professionalism for nearly a decade now. Iranian football has taken huge steps towards that direction, but it is hard to predict how well it will proceed from here. It is however very clear that unless some of the key issues are addressed properly the pace of the progress towards a true professional model will either slow down or come to a complete halt.