The Rise of Dragan Skočić

This article is part of a 22-part miniseries on the history and stars of Iranian football released ahead of Iran's participation in Group B of the 2022 Qatar World Cup in November. You can explore the rest of the series here.

On February 9, 2020, Dragan Skočić was introduced to the Iranian public as the new head coach of the national football team. Qualifying for the 2022 Qatar World Cup had begun the previous summer, and after mixed early results the dramatic exit of Marc Wilmots the previous December, Iran needed to win all of the return games to secure a place at the tournament.

Three named coaches had been proposed for the top job at this pivotal moment for Team Melli. Skočić’s, though, had not been among them. Originally the reported candidates were Iranian veteran footballers Amir Ghalenoei and Ali Daei, and Gianni De Biasi from Italy.

When Skočić’s appointment was abruptly announced, even state-controlled media in Iran expressed shock and misgivings. Mehr News Agency alleged backroom dealings: “Last week, a sports-related aghazadeh [a Persian slang term for the spoiled children of Tehran’s wealthy elite and powerful], whose father was a well-known president, hosted Dragan Skočić in a house in northern Tehran. After hearing and summarizing each other’s points of view, they came to the final decision to select him as the head coach."

The aghazadeh alluded to by Mehr News Agency was Ali Taj, the editor-in-chief of a sports news website the son of Mehdi Taj, the notorious then-president of the Iranian Football Federation. Among the guests at the “house in northern Iran” – Mehdi Taj’s house, in fact – were Reza Faizbakhsh, Skočić’s programming manager, Mahmoud Babaei, a former media consultant, and Amir Reza Vaezi-Ashtiani, an Iranian conservative politician and ex-head of Esteghlal FC.

Skočić had begun his coaching career in 2005 with the Croatian club Rijeka. He then led NK Interblock in Ljubljana, Slovenia, Al-Arabi SC in Kuwait, and Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia. He has not left Iran since he first entered the country in 2013, beginning as a coach with Malavan Bandar Anzali, then moving to Foulad-e Khuzestan.

The latter had been an Iran Pro League champion before Skočić took the helm but had since moved down to fifth place out of 16. Skočić then took over management of the Khooneh be Khooneh in Babol, overseeing an unbeaten 11-game streak but not quite managing to promote the team from the first division to the Pro League. In July 2019, the year before the sudden leap to head of Team Melli, he had taken on the top role at Sanat Naft.

Skočić, it appeared, had been drafted in as head of the national team by an aghazadeh described by Iranian observers as a “media broker”. Nevertheless, he steered the team through the pandemic and on to success at the World Cup qualifiers for the third time in a row, in the fastest promotion in its history with eight wins, one draw, and one defeat. Not only that, but in the same period Team Melli set a new record of 10 consecutive wins across all contests.