Dispute in Urmia for a host / Asian Club Cup, maybe in Isfahan

According to the sports correspondent of Fars News Agency, the issue is that in 2016, the Urmia Municipality Club agreed with Leobomir Travisa, a well-known Serbian coach, and his son Dragan Travisa to participate in the Premier Volleyball Premier League, but financial problems and unfavorable results caused The Serbian coach and his son left Urmia earlier than half a season. Some time later, while volleyball fans and club officials were waiting for Travisa to return, he sued the Urmia Municipality Club and demanded compensation from the club. By filing this complaint with the World Volleyball Federation, the Urmia Municipality team club was banned from participating in international competitions until Travisa’s demand was demanded.

The debt of Urmia Municipality Club to several foreign players and coaches caused the team to be deprived of the right to participate in the Asian Clubs Cup. After that, the officials of Urmia sent a letter to the Volleyball Federation announcing that Urmia will be the host and the Azerbaijani team will participate in these competitions as the representative of the host. This request of the Urmia people did not last long and a day later, Vahdat Talab, the CEO of Azerbaijan, rejected this issue.

Urmia Sports Officials believe that this hosting is vital and dignified for them, but they do not take action to pay the debts of Urmia Municipality Club. On the other hand, they thought that the Asian Clubs Cup competitions would definitely be held in Urmia, and for this reason, they did not make much effort to settle accounts with their creditors. Now it seems that everything has taken on a real and serious color and smell for them and they believe that they will not be able to be present in the Asian Club Cup until the settlement with the creditors. In this regard, Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Khalilpour, Chairman of Urmia City Council said in this regard: the amount of debt is very high and in these economic conditions, it is certainly not possible to pay this amount of debt.

Aydin Vahdatalab, the director of the Azerbaijan Cultural and Sports Club of Urmia, said in this regard: “Previously, the Azerbaijani team decided to participate in the 2022 Asian Clubs Cup as a representative of the host city, but due to financial problems, it is not able to do so. This decision has been reversed. The decision to cancel the Club Cup was taken after a meeting of the Azerbaijan Club’s board of directors and a meeting with provincial sports officials, hoteliers and private sector sponsors, as support was practically insignificant and the Azerbaijan Club alone was able to finance the Club Cup. Does not have Asia.

He continued: “Based on the proposal of the provincial sports officials and the volleyball federation to accept the independent hosting of the Asian Clubs Cup by the Azerbaijani club, a meeting was held on the board of directors of the Azerbaijani holding and after estimating the hosting costs, we realized that It can not be done by Azerbaijan alone. Undoubtedly, hosting big international events for the city of volleyball lovers is of special importance and will bring a lot of income for the city of Urmia, but due to the problems we face, it is not possible to host this big event by the Azerbaijan Club.

Vahdat Talab said: “At first, we thought that the cost of hosting the Asian Clubs Cup would require a credit of 30 to 40 billion rials, but after the necessary estimates, it became clear that the costs are several times this amount, which is provided by the club Azarbatari is outside Urmia.

Provincial sports officials and city managers have not stopped trying and hope that the host of the Asian Clubs Cup will reach Urmia. Meetings have been held in recent days, but have not yielded positive results. It seems that one or two weather conditions in Urmia and differences between officials have caused this host to move away from Urmia and move towards Isfahan. Isfahan is one of the serious options for hosting the Asian Clubs Cup volleyball tournament, and now we have to wait and see what will be the task of this tournament?

Iran will participate in the 2022 Asian Men’s Volleyball Championship with two quotas (the 1400 Premier League champion team and the host team) and thus 11 teams will compete in Iran in May 1401. Meanwhile, the Iraqi representative has obtained a permit to participate in the 2022 tournament by resolving his complaint and financial case.

End of message /