So, my cousin Ali is playing in a small club in Tehran, he is 16 years old. He invites me to his practice, and they let an old man like me join in their practice.
Funny thing is, my cousin is wearing a Naft Tehran jersey. I asked him about it, and he told me this interesting story.
My cousin is a skilled footballer for his age, and apparently a few Tehran teams approached him to join their youth academies when he was 11-12 years old. But, unlike most European academies, instead of paying him to play football, they asked my cousin to pay them $500 to join Naft's youth squad.
Fair enough, he dreams to be a footballer, and my aunt and uncle have money, so they pay for it.
Fast forward a few months, and he is playing against Persepolis youth team. After the match, a Persepolis official comes to him, and tells him that if he pays the official $15,000 USD, they can get him into Persepolis, and when people Google his name, they will see that he plays for Persepolis!!
I laughed out loud. He was laughing too. Soon after, he quit Naft's youth academy, as he saw how corrupt the whole development system in Iran can be. I never would have thought that some of the jokes here of players paying their ways onto good teams in Iran would turn out to be true, but from my cousin himself, I heard this. Some of his teammates also echoed similar situations of being asked for money to join youth academies.
Should IPL teams be asking young players to pay them to join the team? Shouldn't they make the system closer to Barcelona or any professional environment where players are brought in based on potential and not their abilities to pay? Shouldn't the clubs pay the players who go out and work hard for the teams? It seems kind of ridiculous to me, and thought it would be a funny story to share.
Funny thing is, my cousin is wearing a Naft Tehran jersey. I asked him about it, and he told me this interesting story.
My cousin is a skilled footballer for his age, and apparently a few Tehran teams approached him to join their youth academies when he was 11-12 years old. But, unlike most European academies, instead of paying him to play football, they asked my cousin to pay them $500 to join Naft's youth squad.
Fair enough, he dreams to be a footballer, and my aunt and uncle have money, so they pay for it.
Fast forward a few months, and he is playing against Persepolis youth team. After the match, a Persepolis official comes to him, and tells him that if he pays the official $15,000 USD, they can get him into Persepolis, and when people Google his name, they will see that he plays for Persepolis!!
I laughed out loud. He was laughing too. Soon after, he quit Naft's youth academy, as he saw how corrupt the whole development system in Iran can be. I never would have thought that some of the jokes here of players paying their ways onto good teams in Iran would turn out to be true, but from my cousin himself, I heard this. Some of his teammates also echoed similar situations of being asked for money to join youth academies.
Should IPL teams be asking young players to pay them to join the team? Shouldn't they make the system closer to Barcelona or any professional environment where players are brought in based on potential and not their abilities to pay? Shouldn't the clubs pay the players who go out and work hard for the teams? It seems kind of ridiculous to me, and thought it would be a funny story to share.
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