Although football is said to be the most popular sport in Iran, many cities and villages lack professional facilities to play this game. The Iranian national football team is currently ranked first in Asia, but many believe that Iran is in need of professional and standard facilities.
Iran Football Federation president Ali Kafashian says he is going to implement a new plan in order to improve football in the country. According to Kafashian, the Iranian Football Federation with the help of private companies is going to bring standard facilities to remote villages and cities of the country.
“Fortunately Iran is full of talents. However, we need to do our best in the hope of providing professional facilities to all people who want to play this popular game. I strongly believe that football can help the societies in many different ways, so we need to appreciate this power of football,” Ali Kafashian said in an interview with local media on Thursday.
Regarding the growth of football in the province of Kurdistan, Kafashian said: “As a matter of fact, football is not so developed in Kurdistan. We have to take the necessary steps to improve football in this province. After the FIFA World Cup, I will concentrate more on improving football in the country,”
The province of Kurdistan is 28,817 km². The population of the province in 2006 was 1,440,156. It is worth mentioning that Kurdistan doesn’t have any representative in the Iran Pro League.
“In my opinion, football will not improve in Iran unless we manage to promote this game in different provinces. Not only Kurdistan, but the provinces of Sistan Baluchestan, Ardabil and Khuzestan also need attention in this regard.” Ali Kafashian concluded.
Iran has a population of over 77 million residents. The country is divided into 31 provinces.