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Iranwire – Tehran’s Persepolis FC officially announced a full agreement and initial contract with Spanish coach Juan Carlos Garrido to become the team’s head coach.
Garrido, a coach with a mixed record, unexpectedly replaced the club’s primary choice, Dutch coach John van ‘t Schip.
However, Persepolis has not yet finalized the contract with Garrido.
Iranian media reported that the Overseas Council of the Ministry of Sports and Youth temporarily opposed the contract.
Tasnim news agency reported last week, “In today’s meeting of the Overseas Council, the activity permit of Juan Carlos Garrido was examined, but the members did not reach a conclusion for issuing a permit to the Spanish head coach of the Persepolis football team, and they decided to conduct further investigation on this issue.”
Before the meeting, Tabnak news agency suggested that Garrido might face the same fate as Winfried Schäfer, who was denied entry to coach Sanat Naft Abadan, without explaining the reasons behind the decision.
IranWire sources in the Persepolis club and the Ministry of Sports indicated that Garrido’s prior negotiations with Maccabi Haifa in Israel were the sole reason for the Overseas Council’s delay in issuing a permit.
These sources also revealed that security institutions had previously prevented the club from signing a contract with John van ‘t Schip by saying he is Jewish.
ANA news agency’s latest update claimed that the Overseas Council is awaiting a response from high-ranking institutions and security authorities regarding Garrido’s permit.
“Recently, an instruction was sent by the security institutions to the federations stating that the presence of foreign coaches is subject to the approval of these institutions,” it said.
Currently, the members of the Overseas Council of the Ministry of Sports and Youth, comprising security forces, representatives of security institutions, and some heads of sports federations, have decided to ban two Persepolis coaches from entering Iran due to their Jewish background and negotiations with or potential travel to Israel.
The Iranwire source says that the Overseas Council of the Ministry of Sports and Youth wants to ensure that the Spanish head coach of Persepolis has not traveled to Israel on the eve of negotiations with the team.
The source states that the negotiations with the Haifa club have not been finalized for the council members who seek evidence of the coach’s presence or absence in Israel.
The claim that Israel’s Maccabi Haifa club had started negotiations with Juan Carlos Garrido before Persepolis is not contrary to reality.
The IranWire source says that the security managers of the Ministry of Sports and Youth have called for further investigation and checking of the passport of this Spanish head coach due to what they called “the possibility of Israeli espionage in Iran.”
Opposing the presence of a Dutch head coach because of his religion, as well as not issuing a permit for the entry of a Spanish head coach due to negotiations with an Israeli club or traveling to this country, are cases that signify “political interference in sports,” “antisemitism,” and “ethnic and religious discrimination” in Iran.
The security institutions restrict the entry of coaches who have even entered into negotiations with Israeli clubs, even though many players of the Palestinian national football team have Israeli citizenship or have played in Israeli clubs during times when Gaza was under Israeli bombardment.
