Foolad has proven that by creating a strong
organization and relying on her own youth team could succeed. The strong
organization stems from their management philosophy and the partnership
between the two leaders of the club, President Rezaiian and General
Manager Navaserzadeh; add this to the organizational side, the strong
coaching influence and you have the recipe for a successful club.
Abaas Navaserzadeh has lived with this club and her predecessor for over
25 years. For the 2006 AFC Champions League, Foolad is grouped with Al
Qadisiya (Kuwait), Al Ittihad (Syria) and Pakhtakor (Uzbekistan).
Recently FootballMedia.net had an opportunity to speak at length with Mr.
Navaserzadeh.
HOW FOOLAD WAS BORN
KAVEH: Let’s start with Foolad’s history. When did the
club begin to operate?
NAVASERZADEH: Over 33 years ago, a club called Jonoob of
Ahvaz was born. After some 26 years, due to financial difficulties, Jonoob
could no longer operate and Foolad (Steel) Industries of Ahvaz took it
over. From then on, the club has operated as Foolad.
In the early days of Foolad, we developed a five year plan for the club.
As you know, Khuzestan (a southern province in Iran) suffered a lot during
the war years of 1980’s. Creating a professional sports club was not an
easy matter. In such condition, we developed our 5-year plan based on two
principles:
1. To develop and defend Khuzestan’s football
2. Train and develop the fountain of talents in Khuzestan and provide an
avenue of hope for the youth in this province.
We then signed the Croatian Begovich as our head coach and began our
quest. Over the first four seasons of IPL, twice we placed third, sixth
once and won it last year.
KAVEH: How did you find Begovich?
NAVASERZADEH: From the beginning, our management insisted
on a foreign coach. We then contacted Stanko (former Perspolis and
National team coach) who had been successful as a teacher and coach in
Iran. He recommended Begovich. Begovich helped us a great deal to further
develop and execute our 5 years plan. He was instrumental in creating a
successful program and to advance our football academies at Foolad. His
modern football philosophy helped us to get ahead of many others in Iran.
During his tenure, he introduced many players like Moabali, Kaabi,
Mirzapoor and Kameli Mofrad to our club and to the national team.
KAVEH: How does your football academy operate and how
many players are under Foolad’s umbrella?
NAVASERZADEH: Our football academy works with all age
groups from U13 all the way up to the main team. We have established
academies in several Khuzestan cities including Shadgan, Izeh, Dezful and
of course Ahvaz. We also have affiliate programs in a number of other
cities including in Khoramshahr.
In our academies, we bring in experienced foreign coaches to work with our
Iranian coaches. We find young players with great potential and help them
develop in these schools. This is how we discovered Iman Moabali in Izeh
in our own academy.
So far, we have developed 35 national team players in different age
groups. Our philosophy is to train, educate and bring up young footballers
and keep our team fresh, young and energetic at all times. We also have
approximately 400 players under our program.
KAVEH: Does your football academy operate only in
Khuzestan or do you also operate in other provinces?
NAVASERZADEH: We operate primarily in Khuzestan although
we do have an operation in “Javanrood” in Kermanshah province. Young
players from that region have the right physics and height. “Nader Ahadi”
is one of the players that were discovered in “Javanrood.”
KAVEH: Your philosophy of youth training and putting it
into practice with football academies is more similar to countries with
deep history and roots in football. What pushed you to this direction?
NAVASERZADEH: About a year after we began operating as
Foolad, our research showed that south of Iran had tremendous football
potentials but these potentials disappeared and were wasted once the
players reached their late teenage years. There was no systematic program
or facility to train them. The key missing element, other than
organization, was coaching. We didn’t have enough quality coaches for most
age groups. Begovich was brought over to help us dealing with the coaching
challenge.
KAVEH: Isn’t your management team key to your success?
Who are they and where do you come from?
NAVASERZADEH: Those who operate the club come from the
high positions of Foolad industries. They are great managers and have long
history in football. We evaluated why Iranian clubs were not successful.
We invested in creating and putting an organization in place that would
think, plan and act long term. We focus on strategic thinking.
KAVEH: How about Mr. Rezaiian (Foolad’s President)?
NAVASERZADEH: Mr. Rezaiian is a dear friend and comes
from a football family. His brother played for a local club called “Gomrok.”
He was educated in the U.S. and is one of the high ranking managers of the
Foolad Industries. His management skills and personal traits have provided
the needed direction for the club.
KAVEH: What is your background?
NAVASERZADEH: I began playing football from a very young
age. Back in those days, 1960’s and early 70’s, high schools championships
were the biggest tournament for the youth. My school won it all while I
played for them. Then I joined “Jonoob” and later on “Pars” clubs of Ahvaz.
We played in several international tournaments and had great success.
I was then selected for Iran’s U19 national team. Later on, I spent three
years in Germany and returned home during the war. Those days were very
difficult for us who lived in Khuzestan. I then continued with “Jonoob”
club in different levels until as discussed “Foolad” was formed.
CROATIAN COACHES
KAVEH: You have been consistent in hiring Croatian
coaches. Why is that?
NAVASERZADEH:I mentioned
how we brought Begovich to Foolad. After four years of hard work, it was
time for him to move on and he wanted to try a bigger club in Tehran. We
were thankful for his efforts and wished him well. Other than Begovich, we
were using the services of another Croatian coach, Nicolovich, in our
youth level. We consulted with these two and in 2003 brought “Bonachich”
to Foolad.
From a coaching and organizational perspective, Bonachich was amazing and
even better than Begovich. Yet, he was a hard person for our players to
get along with. This was a big cultural issue for Khuzestani players. We
agreed with his departure at the end of the 2003 season.
At that point, we needed a good coach with milder manners. That is why we
selected Franchich as our head coach. Under his leadership and also
because of the work of those prior to him, last year we won IPL and will
now represent Iran in Asia.
KAVEH: Is there a difference between Northern and
Southern coaches of Croatia?
NAVASERZADEH: Most Croatian coaches are sports and
football educated and the formal education is a part of their system. The
northern Croatian coaches include Belazovich and Ivankovich. Belazovich is
the dean of the northern coaches in Croatia.
The coaches we have brought here such as Begovich and Bonachich are from
the southern part of Croatia and their style is closer to Iviich (Iran’s
former national team coach in 1998). We have found these coaches to be
better in organization and teaching. Of course we have tremendous respect
for Branko Ivankovich and what he is doing in Iran.
Branko has done a lot for our national team and our championship in Asian
Games of 2002 and qualification for 2006 world cup were achieved under his
leadership.
KAVEH: How do you select an Iranian coach to work in your
organization?
NAVASERZADEH: The Iranian coaches we employ have risen
through our own ranks and have been a part of Foolad / Jonoob family. A
good example is Abdolah Vaysi. Vaysi and Nicolovich are responsible for 14
of our current senior players who came through our youth organizations.
That is why Vaysi and Nicolovich are both on the bench with Franchich.
HERE AND NOW
KAVEH: Foolad had a poor start this season and there was
talk of Franchich getting fired. What went wrong?
NAVASERZADEH: We never look at issues from one perspective and
that is not how we judged Franchich. Let us review what happened then.
We were in the middle of our training camp in Germany where we were
focusing on physical conditioning and preparedness of the team when
Iranian Football Federation (IFF) gave us a week's notice to go to Tehran
and as the IPL champions play Saba Battery club who were the Iran (Hazfi)
Cup champions. IFF called it the “Super Cup” and this was the first year
such game was played.
We concluded our training camp in Germany yet couldn’t change our travel
itinerary. It took us 24 hours to fly from Hamburg to Tehran then to Ahvaz.
Once there, we had to fly back to Tehran for this match. Our players were
tired from the camp and the long travel yet we had our obligation toward
IFF. We had scheduled to rest for a couple of days after returning from
Germany but instead we packed again and went on the field in Tehran.
The match had negative consequences for the club and players’ moral which
resulted to our poor start.
KAVEH: …and then Moabali had that uncharacteristic foul
on Daei.
NAVASERZADEH: Daei is a great player and we have
tremendous respect for him. We have always had a great relationship with
Daei hence we will not revisit this incident any longer.
I do however confirm that the incident and subsequent events influenced
our decision to transfer Moabali to Al Shabab. He wanted a transfer and we
felt that he needed it. Moabali has done very well there.
KAVEH: Don’t you think that by Moabali playing in the
Persian Gulf states his chances to play for the national team would
diminish?
NAVASERZADEH: I don’t think so. I give it an 80%
probability that if Moabali would continue to play well, he would be
invited to the national team. His team, Al Shabab, just signed former
Under 20 head coach of Brazil. Moabali will learn more and will do well
there. As Karimi shined in the Persian Gulf states, so would Iman Moabali.
KAVEH: What is your policy on transferring players to
outside of the country?
NAVASERZADEH: We are a club that needs to become self
sufficient. Since there are no revenue possibilities In Iran from the TV
broadcast rights, our only source of revenue is player transfers.
Transferring players therefore is a good answer for both the club and the
player. We get a chance to recuperate some of our investments and the
player gets higher financial compensation. On that basis, Kaabi and
Moabali have been transferred to other Persian Gulf clubs.
Also, keep in mind that in the past, only players from Perspolis and
Esteghlal were able to transfer to outside of Iran. That myth no longer
exists and you now have players from other clubs transferring to Europe
and the Persian Gulf clubs. This is an important achievement for us and
other clubs to hold on to our talents and recuperate some of our
investments.
KAVEH: Have media been fair to Foolad?
NAVASERZADEH: You have to understand that Perspolis and
Esteghlal each have over 15 million fans in Iran. It used to be that
anytime these two teams came to Ahvaz, the overwhelming majority of the
spectators were cheering for them. We have worked hard and changed this
process. These two teams still have most of the support in the country but
wherever we play, you would find some of our supporters in the stands,
too. We now have a great fan base in Ahvaz and other cities of Khuzestan.
The same influence is also in the media. While sports papers have
experienced editors, most of the staff consists of younger writers who are
under the age of 25. These guys grew up with these two teams and therefore
have their own fan tendencies. That is normal. Also, TV only broadcasts
Perspolis and Esteghlal matches. We hope to see changes there as well.
KAVEH: How about last year when you won the IPL?
NAVASERZADEH: We got better coverage in some media
outlets. The daily papers Jahan-e-Football and Khabar-Varzeshi gave us the
most coverage. “Voice of Khuzestan” radio network broadcasts all of our
matches live.
KAVEH: What do you think about the quality of “Men in
Black” in Iran?
NAVASERZADEH: Like any other aspects of life we see
progress being made in the quality of referees. I do believe that to be
true. We need to learn to respect referees and focus instead on our
matches. Moradi’s international success is our football success. When our
football progresses so does our refereeing and vise versa.
KAVEH: Your thoughts on Sanat Naft of Abadaan
NAVASERZADEH: Football
has to be decided on the field. Having said the above, Abadaan has been
very good to Foolad. We use their stadium for our home games. We have
found great talents in there including “Kameli Mofrad” and ‘Alavi” who
both have played for the national team. Yet, Abadaan has been through a
lot of hardships since the 1980’s war and the region still has not fully
recovered. Football means a lot to their youth. We try to help them in
different ways. Sanat Naft is one of the oldest teams in Iran and they
have begun to also think and operate strategic and long term. They will be
a force in Iran’s football in the coming years.
QUICK QUESTIONS
KAVEH: Best Iranian football player you have ever seen?
NAVASERZADEH: Different ones for different generations.
Parviz Dehdari, Parviz Ghelichkhani and Ali Daei.
KAVEH: Best current Iranian player?
NAVASERZADEH: Mehdi Mahdavi Kia
KAVEH: Best Iranian coach ever?
NAVASERZADEH: Parviz Dehdari
KAVEH: Best foreign coach who worked in Iran?
NAVASERZADEH:Raykoff. He had a tremendous impact in his
years as the national team and Esteghlal (Taj) head coach.
KAVEH: What is your goal for the AFC Champions League?
NAVASERZADEH: To advance to the second round.
KAVEH: How will you do this year in IPL?
NAVASERZADEH: We will be in the top 3 teams.
KAVEH: Why did your home stadium’s (Takhti) construction
began right at the start of the IPL season and will it be ready for the
ACL?
NAVASERZADEH: “Takhti” stadium’s field is below the sea
level and we have always had problems with it. When there is a heavy rain,
run-away water flows through the stadium. The concept of resurfacing it
and fixing up the stadium is the right idea. We hope to have it complete
by the start of the second round of ACL.
KAVEH: You have 400 players in your system yet you still
bring foreign players to play forward. Why?
NAVASERZADEH:Please realize that we have only had our
football academies for five years. We still have not done well in
developing forwards from within. This year is the first time that in
“Chahr Mahali” we have found a potential star striker. He recently
competed and shined in the World High School tournament and won the
championship with Iran. He was brought up in our system and we look
forward to be self-sufficient in this position as well over the next two
years.
Kaveh Mahjoob
