With only two days to the 86th Tehran derby between Esteghlal FC and Persepolis, the Persian Gulf Pro league officials announced the main referee of the match on Tuesday.
Iran’s international umpire Alireza Faghani is set to judge the game on March 1. He will be assisted by Reza Sokhandan and Mohammadreza Mansouri, Tasnim News Agency reported.
World Cup and AFC Champions League referee, Faghani, 39, has been officiating the league games for seven seasons and is on the international list since 2008.
He has judged important matches including the 2014 AFC Champions League Final, 2015 AFC Asian Cup Final, 2015 FIFA Club World Cup Final and the 2016 Olympic football final match. Faghani has entered the list of referees who will judge the Russia World Cup in summer too.
Faghani was honored as Referee of the Year by the Asian Football Confederation in 2015. Also, he was named Referee of the Year in 2013-14 and 2016-17 seasons by the Football Federation of Iran.
FIFA Officials Invited
Football Federation of Iran has invited the Swiss-Italian President of FIFA Gianni Infantino to Tehran to watch the game at Azadi Stadium.
FIFA chief officer for technical development, Marco van Basten, will reportedly accompany Infantino.
Their 2-day visit to Tehran, FIFA boss and the Dutch legend will evaluate the capacities of Iranian football.
According to local media, Infantino is going to meet with President Hassan Rouhani and Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Masoud Soltanifar as well.
Infantino visited Iran two years ago when he was seeking the country’s support for his bid to become FIFA president.
Hottest Clash
Azadi Stadium will host another Tehran clash which usually attracts over 80,000 football fans.
Persepolis is now atop the Persian Gulf Pro League with 57 points and Esteghlal is at third place with 38 points.
The Reds’ Croatian head coach Branko Ivankovic has been managing the team for two years and his side is performing at its best this season, a 16-point gap with the second team (Zobahan) and just losing one match in 24 games.
On the other side, the Blues have improved significantly under the management of German head coach Winfried Schaefer who took control of the team last October. Replacing Alireza Mansourian on the bench, Schaefer has helped the team climb the league table from the 12th place in the week 9 (when he took charge of the club) to the third place.
The derby is always important for both teams, some time it is critical as its three points can give one of them a higher place in the table. But it is not the case this time since Persepolis is almost assured of its first place six weeks to the end of the league games and Esteghlal is fighting to finish as the runner-up. All in all, it will be considered a success (both for the team members and the fans) if either the Reds or Blues taste victory in this fixture.
Both teams have millions of fans across Iran and there is no escaping the clash when it is derby day. The tension builds around the country in the days leading up to the fixture and does not dissipate for a while after.
