Kafashian re-elected as IFF president

Iran’s Football Federation (IFF) executive committee have opted to re-elect Ali Kafashian for four more years as president.

This re-election mark the first time in the country’s history that an IFF boss has been re-elected.

In the past few weeks, there had been an expectation the government backed Hossein Gharib would succeed.

However after two rounds of the IFF executive committee’s voting procedure, it was decided that Kafashian would be re-elected.

In the second round of voting, Kafashian managed to capture 47 votes – nearly twice as much as Gharib – to seal his victorious day.

Other surprising results were the vote of no-confidence for second deputy nominee, Behrouz Montaghi. Also Hadi Ayatolahi replaced Mehdi Taj as the IFF’s new vice-president.

Following the re-election, victorious Kafashian emphasised on his mandate for clubs’ finances and commercialisation and vowed for ‘more independence for Iran’s Football Federation then before’.

The 34th IFF election was held in one of the most crucial years for Iranian football, as the national team is eagerly vying to qualify to 2014 World Cup after not reaching the event since 2006.