Iranian coach Koosha Delshad, 39, says he is driven by passion. It was a double experience with the feeling that attracted him to Brazil on March 12, 2014.
One of the reasons for his arrival was Mahsima Nadim, an Iranian who had landed in the country two years earlier and maintained a long-distance relationship with him via Skype. The other was football.
“I came to this country out of passion. First for Mahsima, today my wife. We met in Iran, but we got closer even from afar. I felt like being close to her, to change my life. And, of course, I came for football. I usually say that Mahsima and football form my freedom,” he told Sheet.
In the last week, the professional was the target of xenophobic attacks from part of the fans of the team that he led for the first – and only– time, Comercial, from the first division of the Piauiense Championship.
Delshad said he heard insults such as “terrorist trainer”, “suicide man”, “send the bomb”, in addition to homophobic insults such as “faggot”. And he understood that to remain silent would be like losing the freedom he had won.
“I had neither life nor liberty [no Irã], here was where I first encountered this. Freedom and democracy are sweet, I no longer accept losing them, “she said, in great Portuguese.
The case gained national proportions when the professional used social networks to vent about what happened at the Deusdeth de Melo stadium, in the municipality of Campo Maior.
“I was sad, but when I saw the support and strength they gave me, I realized that the few xenophobic people do not represent the Brazilian people and Piauí people as well,” he reported.
“More than 90% of Iranians believe that our government, regime and system is terrorist. We are fighting in several countries against them, we always say that the world without them will be more beautiful and safer. That’s why, when someone calls us that, even even in the game, it is even heavier”, he added.
There are no records of swearing in the game’s summary. “Nothing was unusual”, says the text, signed by referee Antonio Dib Moraes de Sousa. According to the financial bulletin, there were 268 people on site.
Delshad received several expressions of support and apologies from Brazilians. He also had connections with coaches, directors of the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation) and the FPF (Paulista Football Federation).
“We, coaches and players, normally accept name-calling. In Iran it’s also like that, but xenophobia, homophobia and racism are crimes. Why are we indifferent in football? When people don’t like a movie, they break the cinema?”, questioned.
The coach was announced by Comercial on the last January 31st, hired by the Rio Grande do Sul company JK Sports, a partner of the club. The next day, he already commanded the team from the edge of the lawn.
“I stepped on the field, and fans questioned me about some players, but they didn’t even know that I received warnings from three of them that they couldn’t go to the game. They then started cursing my goalkeeper and me in a harsh way. hostile,” he recalled.
The team ended up defeated by 4-0 by River. Koosha asked for immediate dismissal, returning to São Paulo, where he has a residence.
The 48-hour job in Piauí was the first opportunity in a professional team in his career as a coach and, according to him, the first negative experience on Brazilian soil.
“The news reached major television stations in Iran.”
Koosha Delshad’s career in football began in his country, as a youth coach between 2008 and 2013.
Trained as an electrical engineer, he arrived in Brazil and initially worked at a Persian rug factory. In 2016, he started to take coaching courses remotely in 2016 and dedicate himself to the CBF Academy degree processes. He completed grades A, B and C.
During the period, he worked as an assistant and analyst at Cascavel CR, in Paraná, as coach of the under-15 and under-17 teams at CFA Manchister, in Santa Catarina, and did mandatory internships at the base of Palmeiras and in the professional squad of São Bernardo, in last Series D of the Brazilian Championship.
“I want to show that I know how to work, that I’m here to try to be someone. It’s because of my passion for football that I want to continue. Abel certainly went through offenses like that a thousand times, it’s not easy to endure”, he compared.
The reference is Abel Ferreira, a Portuguese man who has won an impressive seven titles since arriving at Palmeiras in October 2020. Despite the results, he is often the target of criticism, especially for his temperament. Some, as his club has already stated in an official statement, are “of a xenophobic nature”.
According to the latest report released by the Racial Observatory in Football, referring to the 2021 season, 10 of the 124 registered cases of discrimination and prejudice in football were xenophobic manifestations. The others are racist, LBGTphobic or sexist offenses.
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