TEHRAN – Persepolis football team could have written their name into the history books as the first Iranian team to win AFC Champions League but they fell short against Ulsan Hyundai in the final match on Saturday.

Persepolis should be better prepared if they are ever faced with another challenge like they have faced in Doha’s Al Janoub Stadium.

They were not completely ready to win the title since their players lost their concentrations and gave away two penalties.

Persepolis have reached the ACL final two times in three years and any team cannot be lucky to reach this level year after year. Persepolis reached the final in 2018 with a limited number of players due to their player signing suspension. And they advanced to the final in 2020 while they could not use their four key players.

Shortly after the match, Persepolis coach Yahya Golmohammadi said that it would be unprofessional if this result becomes an obstacle in their way. It shows that they will keep going as they have won Iran domestic accolades over the past four years.

Iran football has always had talented players but any Iranian club has won a title for almost three decades. It shows that there is something wrong and it needs to be amended.

The Persepolis coach said that Iran football suffers from lack of adequate infrastructure. Yes, he is absolutely right since most of Iranian teams have no dedicated stadiums.

Iran football is heading by an acting president for one year and it’s been a weird year for the Asian country. For instance, the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system has not been used in Iran league and it’s abnormal for a country who has a club in the AFC Champions League final match.

Persepolis failed to end their title drought in Asian showpiece but the team have learned a lot in the competition. The Iranian football league is called Professional League but indeed the league is not professional due to lack of infrastructure.

Iran’s football needs to learn from their loses and, definitely, it has potential to stand up once again as Persepolis did it by advancing to the final two times in three years.

Nelson Mandela once said: “I never lose. I either win or learn.”