TEHRAN - Shahabeddin Azizi Khadem, previous president of the Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Iran (FFIRI), believes that he was illegally eliminated from the presidency of the federation.Azizi Khadem broke his silence about his brief time as the president of the FFIRI in an interview with Iran state-run television.

I do not like to state that I am the previous president of the football federation.

I would rather state I am the unlawfully gotten rid of from presidency of the federation, he said.Members of the federations board of directors held an amazing meeting in February 2021 in which Azizi Khadem was eliminated from the presidency of the federation per post 35, paragraph 14 of the FFIRI Statutes.

Then the Ethics Committee of the FFIRI prohibited him for two years from all football activities.

I was scapegoated by some peoples disagreements and individual encounters with the football federation and with me also, added the 44-year-old man.When Azizi Khadem was elected as the president of the FFIRI on February 28, 2021, the Iran nationwide group were on the edge of missing out on the 2022 World Cup.

Back-to-back beats versus Bahrain and Iraq had actually left Iran on the brink of an early exit from the Asian qualifiers.However, Dragan Skocic, former coach of the national team, who had replaced Marc Wilmots, did a fantastic task and made Iran the very first Asian nation to reserve their place in the Qatar 2022 World Cup.

All these occasions happened during the presidency of Azizi Khadim.

Even the most optimistic fans of Iranian football didnt expect the nationwide group certification at that time, said Azizi Khadem referring to the problems of the federation at that time.

It was an extremely pathetic circumstance due to the fact that the federation was running by an interim president prior to me.

Even with a draw, Iran would have lost the World Cup, and Team Melli had to win all 4 staying matches.

However, we made history.

It was the fastest World Cup certification in the history of our countrys football.