May 14, 2021
The Iranian Football Federation and the Persepolis soccer club have both lost their headquarters buildings in Tehran due to their inability to pay their debt to former national team head coach Marc Wilmots.
The Belgian coach was appointed in May 2019 with a three-year contract, but left after just six matches due to what he called “serious contractual violations by the Iranian Football Federation.” He then sued for his salary, which FIFA, the governing body of international soccer, said Iran must pay.
In November 2019, the Iranian football federation, led by then President Mehdi Taj, decided to borrow 2 million euros from Iran’s Social Security Investment Company (known by its Persian acronym as Shasta), Iran’s major state-owned investment company. The federation borrowed the money to pay part of Wilmot’s salary.
In December 2020, Shasta called in the loan. Since the federation was unable to pay the debt, Shasta seized the federation’s assets, including the building housing the federation and the building of the Persepolis club, whose documents are legally in the name of the Iranian football federation.
The federation denied the sequestration of its buildings, but on May 4 Iranian media reported that the ownership documents had been legally transferred to Shasta. The federation’s newly-elected directors confirmed the loss the next day.
No one has said whether the federation and the club will be booted out on the street and made homeless.