AFC President Mohamed Bin Hammam.

TEHRAN: AFC President Mohamed Bin Hammam stressed on the need to professionalise Iranian football, calling for wholehearted efforts in this direction in a media conference here in the Iranian capital on Saturday.

Bin Hammam, who was in Tehran to attend the final of the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) Championship, underlined the importance of Iranian football within the Asian context and asked Iranian clubs to embrace professionalism for all-round improvement of the game.

“The concept of professionalism is not limited to football players but includes each and every aspect which plays a role in football,” said Bin Hammam. “Therefore, AFC has introduced a new set of professional rules for its premier tournament, the AFC Champions League, from next year.”

“Iran is one of the countries who have promised to meet the criteria,” added the AFC chief.

“Among 46 Asian countries only a few are eligible and among these Iran have received four berths. But of course, if Iran cannot meet the conditions, then we cannot talk about these four berths.”

To a question, Bin Hammam said that if Iranian clubs failed to meet the conditions then they would not be allowed to play in the new AFC Champions League.

When asked about his view on the recent spate of cancellations which have hit friendlies scheduled for the Iranian national team, Bin Hammam said: “I am aware of the events. However, the reason why the friendlies have been cancelled is still not clear. AFC firmly believes that politics has no role to play in football.”

Speaking on a unified football calendar for the whole continent, the AFC chief pointed out the difficulties considering the vast size of Asia.

“We have one calendar for 46 countries but Asia is a very big continent and each country has a separate schedule for their domestic leagues. Now it is summer time in Tehran but in Australia it is winter. So we cannot have a common calendar for all countries.”

“I hope after the new AFC Champions League starts next year all the participating Member Associations will come to a consensus about a unified calendar.”

Earlier, Bin Hammam met with the Head of the Iranian Physical Education Organisation Mohammad Ali Abadi and President of the Iranian Football Federation Ali Kaffashian and discussed matters related to Iranian football.