Strange Equation in Women's Futsal: From 340 Million Entry Fee to 10 Million Prize Money

The Women's Futsal Premier League kicks off on October 22 amid controversy over the gap between clubs' 340 million toman entry fees and the 10 million toman prizes awarded to the top teams.

Women's Premier Futsal League will start on Mehr 30, while the difference between the entry of 340 million clubs and the 10 million prize money of the top players has become marginal.

According to the reporter of Mehr, Iran's premier women's futsal league will start on 30 Mehr. The competitions, the new season of which will be held with the participation of 15 teams in two groups, but before the start of the competitions, the draws and the ceremony to celebrate the best of the last season have attracted attention.

Based on the lottery, the participating teams have been placed in two groups. In the first group, Golbarg Takestan, Isfahan Oil Refinery, Esteghlal Tehran, Meli Hafari Ahvaz, Pishtazan Khorramabad and Sanat Mes Rafsanjan are present. The second group includes Sepahan Isfahan, Iranzmin Mallard, Abadan Oil Refining, Babolsar Superior Technic, Polyvital Dilijan, Hormozgan Steel and Parse Kerman.

Due to the presence of 15 teams, one team from the first group will have a rest every week. The matches will be held in the group stage, where 3 teams from each group will advance to the next stage, and the 6 teams present in this stage will meet periodically.

The lottery was held after three postponements

Although the Women's Premier Futsal League hasn't started yet and the quality of the new season's competitions with the participation of 15 teams is still in an aura of uncertainty, but the margins are evident even before the start of the competition. From the successive postponements of the lottery ceremony to the criticism of the way the ceremony was held and the awards for the top players of the last season, everything shows that the margins have come to the field earlier than the start of the league.

The lottery ceremony, which was supposed to be held in the last week of Shahrivar, was first postponed to October 8, then to October 12, and was finally completed on October 18. A more formal ceremony, coordination of the presence of women's futsal players and figures who were present in the national team's camps, and the determination of the final status of the applicant teams were among the reasons announced for these delays. However, these successive transfers occurred in a situation where many clubs had already started training and recruiting players and had incurred their preparation costs; But they were still waiting for the exact schedule of the matches to be determined.

Awards and margins beyond a ceremony

The draw ceremony of the Women's Premier Futsal League was held on October 18. The ceremony, which was supposed to be an opportunity to celebrate the best of the last season, in addition to determining the grouping of the teams, but the way of honoring the players and coaches became one of its main sidelines. The payment of only 10 million tomans as a prize for the best player of the season raised serious questions about the federation's valuation of the performance and efforts of the figures in this field; And that too in the situation that he was not even awarded the statue of the best coach. The question is, when the best of a competitive season is to be honored, can such awards be a reflection of their status and effort? These criticisms become more serious when the clubs in the Women's Premier Futsal League have to pay 340 million tomans as an entrance fee and also bear the heavy costs of player contracts, technical staff, training and team preparation.

The gap between costs and support for clubs

It is expected that the football federation and the league organization will be more responsible for the quality of holding matches, supporting the teams, and honoring the best players and coaches for the fees they receive from the clubs. Clubs cannot be expected to pay hundreds of millions of tomans in entry fees and provide heavy expenses for a season, but instead, to honor the best of the same competitions, prizes are considered that are not proportional to their efforts and performance. Such an approach raises the question, what exactly is the contribution of women's futsal to the support of the Football Federation?