TEHRANTIMES - Vahid Hashemian has spoken exclusively to FIFA.com about his coaching career and the Iranian football team.

The 36-old-year player bade farewell to Persepolis last season and took charge of the SV Halstenbek-Rellingen in the fifth division.

“I'm looking for a practical experience to be a football teacher. I am very pleased and happy that I am at SV Halstenbek-Rellingen. I always knew that I cannot play football all my life. But I would continue to work in this wonderful sport as a coach,” he added.

"Great coaches like Fabio Capello, Ottmar Hitzfeld, Louis van Gaal or especially Jurgen Klopp are my role models, but I don’t want to copy others. I always find my own personal style," former Bayer Munich striker stated.

Hashemian has played 55 matches for Iran football team and scored 14 goals. In the 2006 World Cup in Germany, he played in all group matches.

In the 2014 World Cup qualifying, Iran suffered a home 1-0 defeat against Uzbekistan last month and has a tough task to qualify for the competition.

“Iran must win its three remaining games. We have to be very focused to book a berth in the World Cup. I think we are one of Asian strongest team and we have so many talented players such as Brazil,” he said.

“I think it's time to see a new generation in Iranian football. We have many talents and good footballers. But we need a good plan as well. This has been missing in the past decade,” Hashemian concluded.