TEHRAN (Iran News) – In the Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Iran (FFIRI) presidential elections which were held at the Iran International Conference Center in Tehran, Azizi Khadem was selected as the new president of the football federation with 49 votes out of 87 votes.

The four candidates were vying to win the election and Azizi Khadem and Kiumars Hashemi won 35 and 24 votes respectively in the first round.

Mostafa Ajorloo and Ali Karimi also earned 18 and nine votes in the first round.

Azizi Khadem won the election in the second round with 49 votes, while Hashemi claimed 38 votes. He has already worked in the Iran football federation as a member of the board of directors.

The Iran football federation was running by Heydar Baharvand as acting president after Mehdi Taj resigned as president in December 2019.

In less than 48 hours, the Iranian football federation will see its new president in the elections which will be held on Sunday, Fab. 28. Former Iranian referee Navid Mozafari says that the referees also deserve to be on the new federation’s board of directors.

FIFA demanded changes to the FFIRI statutes more than a year ago and rejected amended documents submitted on several occasions. Finally, it was in the last month that FIFA approved the football federation’s statutes.

Iran, a nation of largely football-mad people, is not where it should be because the basic needs have not been met over the past decades.

While football is the most coveted sport in Iran and could generate income, the infrastructures have not yet been equipped after many years.

For example, the Iranian football officials have previously said over and over again they would use Video Assistant Referee (VAR) at the stadiums. We see so many Iranian teams protest the decisions and say refereeing decisions have gone against them because there is no VAR to prove that they are right or not.

Iran football has shown in recent years how powerful it is, since, for instance, football club Persepolis has qualified for the AFC Champions League final twice in three years. It means the country has a great potential to grow and become more competitive, but it depends on who is leading the football.