“Hiddink's concerns were not only restricted to coaching,” the 45-year-old Qotbi told the-afc.com. “He came up with wonderful medical, technical and media management programs as well.”
“He is a very smart man. On top of that, he created a wonderful atmosphere within the team. What I learned form Hiddink was to build a positive atmosphere and to work with full focus on the task at hand,” he added.
Qotbi further pointed out that he gained as much knowledge as he could from the legendary Dutch coach Guus Hiddink who is now temporarily in charge of English Premier League team Chelsea.
The Iranian soccer coach was a part of Hiddink's team when he led Korea Republic to the semifinals of the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
Qotbi replaced Mohammad Mayelikohan on April 22 to take the reigns of Iran's national soccer team.
The Iranian squad faces an uphill struggle to secure a place at the World Cup, with two away matches in South and North Korea and a home match with the UAE to come.
South Korea currently leads the group on 11 points, one point ahead of North Korea and Saudi Arabia. Iran sits fourth with six points, while the UAE is at the bottom of the group with only one point.
Iran appeared in the 1978, 1998 and 2006 World Cups. It achieved its best result in France in 1998, when it beat the United States 2-1.