Shamsaei to stay on as Iran futsal head coach
Vahid Shamsaei will continue in his job as the head coach of the Iranian futsal national team, the country’s Football Federation confirmed.
The news was announced after Shamsaei had a meeting with Mahdi Taj, the chairman of the federation, and members of the futsal and technical committees in the national governing body of the sport.
The federation’s decision may come as a surprise to futsal fans in the country, following several sources suggesting in recent months that September’s World Cup in Uzbekistan was the final episode of Shamsaei’s reign as Iran coach.
“With the support of the federation, my coaching staff and I succeeded in introducing a group of young talents to create a combination of youth and experience for the national team over a two-and-a-half-year period,” Shamsaei said during the meeting.
“We still need to learn from our previous mistakes and move towards the future Asian Cup and World Cup tournaments,” added Shamsaei. “I firmly believe we need to play against world-class teams to improve our game. We would also benefit from the addition of a top-notch foreign trainer and a goalkeeping coach.”
Widely regarded as the greatest Iranian futsal player of all time, Shamsaei took charge of the national team in 2022 and settled for a runner-up finish in his maiden event after a 3-2 loss to Japan in the AFC Asian Cup, a tournament he won on eight occasions as a player.
The 49-year-old coach successfully led Iran to a record-extending 13th Asian title in April, thanks to a 4-1 victory over host Thailand in the final, and when his team headed to the World Cup, Iranian fans were eager to see their team improve on its best-ever finish at the flagship international event – the third place in the 2016 edition in Colombia after a shootout win against Portugal.
The Asian powerhouse routed Venezuela 7-1 in its Group F opener, and then went on to win the group by defeating Guatemala (9-4) and France (4-1), though the latter scoreline triggered angry reactions from other teams and a FIFA probe into tanking allegations, as a defeat would have meant an easier path in the knockout phase for the group runner-up.
The top spot sent Iran into a last-16 clash against Morocco, where Shamsaei’s men gave away an early lead to suffer a 4-3 loss to the African champion and fail to progress to the World Cup quarterfinals for the first time in 12 years.