Vote Buying Allegations Rock Iranian Football Federation Election

Iranian football managers said a candidate for the presidency of the Football Federation offered significant bribes before the March 1 election.

Iranian media reported allegations that a candidate offered 300 million tomans ($3,300) or expensive Swiss watches per vote.

While neither media nor club officials have specifically named Mehdi Taj, who won the election, the Federation’s Ethics Committee has summoned the managers who made the corruption allegations and threatened media outlets with legal action.

The Ethics Committee, responsible for investigating such cases, said the claims are “baseless” and constitute “disturbing public opinion, publishing falsehoods, and slander,” warranting legal consequences.

Taj received 72 votes from the 82 members present at the electoral assembly, securing his position for the next four years.

If bribes of 300 million tomans were offered to half the voters, the total would exceed 12 billion tomans ($130,500), raising questions about the financial benefits of holding the federation presidency.

How Much Did Votes Cost?

The website Didban Iran, on March 7, quoted Rasoul Khatibi, CEO of Paykan FC, saying, “Speak with Mr. Tafakkori or Rajaian, the CEO of Arak, they will tell you. Mr. Rajaian said they were offered fancy watches.”

He also told the media that many provincial football federation heads informed him that if they voted for a “particular candidate,” they would receive a good reward.

He said, “I’ll just mention one example. The head of Yazd’s football federation told me that someone approached him the night before the elections, saying, ‘Your province has 4 votes, and I’ll buy each vote for 300 million tomans. That’s 1.2 billion tomans for 4 votes.’”

Tabnak news website, one day later, on March 8, without directly naming Mehdi Taj, the Football Federation president, referred to the bribe-giver in their headline: “Billion-toman coronation through bribery and collusion.”

The news website explained why Rasoul Khatibi, CEO of Paykan FC, made the revelations: “Due to his closeness to Masoud Pezeshkian’s team and his active presence in his election campaigns, Rasoul Khatibi hoped to lobby his way into the Football Federation’s board.

“However, it seems a more powerful force was behind the scenes, using money and bribes to change the board’s composition beyond any lobbying efforts.”

How Does the Ethics Committee Know the Accusations Are Baseless?

On March 2, media reported on the retrial of Michel Platini, former French football legend and UEFA president, and Sepp Blatter, former FIFA president.

The reason for reconvening the court after 10 years was to examine allegations related to “the payment of 2 million Swiss francs” from FIFA to Michel Platini.

Both the former FIFA president and the former UEFA president are accused of receiving “precious watches” as bribes from political figures or national federation presidents.

While the corruption case against these two senior world football executives continues, the Football Federation and its Ethics Committee’s response to allegations of bribery by an electoral candidate has been threats and summons.

The Ethics Committee of the Football Federation, as the body responsible for monitoring financial and ethical corruption in Iranian football and the FIFA-approved judicial entity for addressing such violations, announced on March 8 that it had summoned Farshad Tafakkori, head of Yazd province’s football federation.

In its statement, the Ethics Committee claimed that such allegations, even if accompanied by sufficient evidence and documentation, should be pursued quietly through the federation’s judicial and ethical bodies, not among football managers or the media.

The Ethics Committee said, “Naturally, if something is proven, it will be addressed firmly according to regulations.”

What raises questions for some independent domestic media is why this committee has given a definitive opinion on the “baselessness of claims” before hearing from club managers and assembly members, and why managers who have exposed the “300 million toman vote buying” or gifting of precious Swiss watches are being threatened with legal cases.

Tabnak wrote that filing legal cases against club managers or electoral assembly members by the Football Federation in court directly contradicts FIFA’s laws and statutes.

FIFA explicitly states in its statutes that if judicial and government agencies interfere in federation and club matters, FIFA can decide to suspend that country’s football federation.

How Profitable Is Football Presidency for Taj?

Mehdi Taj has repeatedly claimed that he receives no income from the Football Federation and has never received a salary as the federation president.

So why would he, the only serious candidate among the nominees who managed to defeat his advisor, Amir Abedini, by more than 60 votes, be willing to spend 300 million tomans for each vote?

According to documents from the Asian Football Confederation and a report published by Goal newspaper in June 2023, Mehdi Taj, as vice president of the Asian Football Confederation, receives an annual salary of $200,000.

In other words, Mehdi Taj’s income just from his position as AFC vice president is much higher than the money he allegedly distributed to members of the Football Federation’s electoral assembly.

On the other hand, Mehdi Taj and some board members of the Football Federation have hidden incomes within the federation.

The country’s General Inspection Organization, in a 10-page report in February, claimed that senior managers of the Football Federation and the League Organization registered a private company called “Iran Premier Football League Organization Institute” and transferred a significant portion of the federation’s domestic income to this company’s account.

In recent months, fines of several hundred million tomans and even billion-toman penalties imposed by the Football Federation’s Disciplinary Committee on clubs, players, and coaches have made headlines.

According to the Inspection Organization’s report, the shares and assets of the private League Organization Institute have belonged to its founding board members - Mehdi Taj, Mehdi Mohammad Nabi, and General Azizollah Mohammadi - since its establishment.

Apart from media outlets close to Mehdi Taj, news agencies or media that have raised the issue of bribery in the