TEHRAN - Shahabeddin Azizi Khadem, former president of the Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Iran (FFIRI), believes that he was illegally removed from the presidency of the federation.

Azizi Khadem broke his silence about his short time as the president of the FFIRI in an interview with Iran state-run TV.

“I don’t like to say that I am the former president of the football federation. I would rather say I am the illegally removed from presidency of the federation,” he said.

Members of the federation’s board of directors held an extraordinary meeting in February 2021 in which Azizi Khadem was removed from the presidency of the federation per article 35, paragraph 14 of the FFIRI Statutes. Then the Ethics Committee of the FFIRI banned him for two years from all football activities.

“I was scapegoated by some people’s disagreements and personal encounters with the football federation and with me as well,” added the 44-year-old man.

When Azizi Khadem was elected as the president of the FFIRI on February 28, 2021, the Iran national team were on the verge of missing the 2022 World Cup. Back-to-back defeats against Bahrain and Iraq had left Iran on the brink of an early exit from the Asian qualifiers.

However, Dragan Skocic, former coach of the national team, who had replaced Marc Wilmots, did a great job and made Iran the first Asian nation to book their place in the Qatar 2022 World Cup. All these events happened during the presidency of Azizi Khadim.

“Even the most optimistic fans of Iranian football didn’t hope for the national team qualification at that time,” said Azizi Khadem referring to the problems of the federation at that time.

“It was a very pathetic situation because the federation was running by an interim president before me. Even with a draw, Iran would have lost the World Cup, and Team Melli had to win all four remaining matches.

“However, we made history. It was the fastest World Cup qualification in the history of our country's football.