A Second Iranian Sports Channel Claims Carlos Queiroz is Returning to Iran

An Iranian sports news agency with close ties to the Football Federation president reports that Dragan Skočić has resigned as head of the Iranian national team.

Earlier today the Federation’s board of directors met to discuss Skočić’s future with Team Melli barely two months before the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

Controversial football boss Mehdi Taj was re-elected last week on a single-issue campaign to bring back the Portuguese manager Carlos Queiroz, who led the team from 2011 to 2019.

Another news site, Iran Varzeshi, whose editor is an ex-PR manager for the Federation and close confidante of Taj, had reported on Monday that a deal with Queiroz had been struck. This was denied by the Federation’s vice-president.

Then Tuesday afternoon Varzesh 3, a news, live streaming and results website close to Taj, claimed in a report published after the meeting that Skočić had agreed to step down. Like Iran Varzeshi the day before, it stated that Queiroz would be back in Iran by the end of the week.

It came hours after Ehsan Usoli, another board member, had told Iranian news agencies at noon that Skočić would be remaining in post.

At the time of writing none of the parties involved has released an official statement confirming or denying the reports. A source close to events has told IranWire a formal update will be released in the next 48 hours.