Historic Iran Nuclear Deal Reached! Hopefully Sanctions to be lifted to aid TM

[O-ZoNe]

Iranian football set to score heavily from nuclear deal

Lifting of sanctions will release at least $10m in funds owed to the country's football federations.

A deal to lift international sanctions on Iran will transform football in the country, opening the door to foreign investment, international transfers and the release of World Cup prize money, according to the boss of one of the country's leading clubs.

Iran and six major world powers*reached an agreement this week*imposing limits on Tehran's nuclear programme in return for the unblocking of more than $100bn of Iranian assets frozen abroad.

Mansour Ghanbarzadeh, chief executive of club side Naft Tehran, told Reuters in an interview that some of that money belonged to the Iranian Football Federation.

Iran's deal contents

"Everybody claims that sport should be away from politics but in reality football in Iran was under sanction," Ghanbarzadeh*said.

"We have not received anything in the past two years from FIFA. One figure was about $10m subsidy for qualifying for the World Cup. The only reason for that was the banking sanction."

The prize money set by FIFA for last year's World Cup in Brazil was $8m, plus $1.5m in preparation costs, for teams that reached the tournament, as Iran did, but failed to go beyond the group stage.

Ghanbarzadeh, a former executive committee member of the Iranian Football Federation and now a standard member, said more millions were owed from the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign, while subsidies from the Asian Football Confederation, the regional body, never made it through.

He added that importing basic requirements like match balls had been problematic, while players and federation members were often required to carry cash in and out of the country to pay for training camps.

Best in Asia

Despite the troubles, Iranian football has managed to hold its own on the world and regional stage.

The men's national team is currently Asia's best side in the FIFA rankings, at 38th.

Three-time Asian champions, the Iranians won plaudits at the World Cup where they drew with African champions Nigeria and came within a minute of holding eventual runners-up Argentina.

Ghanbarzadeh's club Naft, who just missed out on the Iranian title in May, are through to the quarter-finals of the AFC Champions League, alongside wealthy Emirati, Chinese and Qatari clubs, despite being unable to pay transfer fees for foreign stars like their regional rivals.

"Despite all the sanctions, sport could move on and we were very active in Asian competition and FIFA competition, World Cup and Champions League," Ghanbarzadeh said.

"We hope we can be more successful and it can re-energise football in future."

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/0...141437445.html





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[Javeed]

FIFA is releasing $9 million dollars to the IFF now that the sanctions have been lifted. Unbelieveable

[serghe]

I'll believe it when I see it.

[ehsan singapore]

I love our Uhlsport jersey design, will definately buy another one before we get the new sponsor, but I'd love for us to get something like Adidas or Nike which will be easier to buy online.

and quality of adidas and nike is much much better, lets not forget

[Camran khan]

I love our Uhlsport jersey design, will definately buy another one before we get the new sponsor, but I'd love for us to get something like Adidas or Nike which will be easier to buy online.

[Afat11]

I'm hoping for Adidas honestly. I feel like Adidas' jerseys are classier, but not too plain like Puma's jersey's.

[Abtin]

Uhl, Sport?

Yeah, what else did you think?
And btw, bache bargard Facebook!!!

[Kiarash]

Dear Lord, not uhl again...

Uhl, Sport?

[Abtin]

IFF negotiating with Nike, adidas, Puma and uhlsport.

instagram: @team_meli_iran

Dear Lord, not uhl again...

[ehsan singapore]

since sanctions are being removed, i still hope adidas is good, but nike is not that bad also

[Team Melli Fan]

Ir Soccer facebook reporting that Nike has expressed interest in being our new sponsor replacing Uhlsport. Anything more official to confirm this?

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IFF negotiating with Nike, adidas, Puma and uhlsport.

instagram: @team_meli_iran

[jahandoost]

Ok so anything from Nike itself?

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It was probably just an informal meeting discussing future possibilities, they would announce something if a deal was signed but its too premature for such things at this stage.

[O-ZoNe]

Its from isport.ir

Torabian had a meeting with Nike

Ok so anything from Nike itself?

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[jahandoost]

Ir Soccer facebook reporting that Nike has expressed interest in being our new sponsor replacing Uhlsport. Anything more official to confirm this?

Sent from my ME173X using Tapatalk

Its from isport.ir

Torabian had a meeting with Nike

http://isport.ir/fa/content/120707/س...ست

[O-ZoNe]

Ir Soccer facebook reporting that Nike has expressed interest in being our new sponsor replacing Uhlsport. Anything more official to confirm this?

Sent from my ME173X using Tapatalk