On the anniversary of a historical honor / Marzieh Jafari, again for Taj Asia!

For the second year in a row, Marzieh Jafari was among the three nominees for the best female coach in Asia.

According to "Varzesh Se", the name of Marzieh Jafari is seen again in the list of nominees for the annual awards of the Asian Football Confederation. The head coach of Khatun Bam and the Iranian women's team, who won the award for the best female coach of the continent last year, now has the opportunity to defend her title in the 2026 ceremony and add another honor to her rich career.

The announcement of this nomination has an interesting symmetry. Jafari was announced as the best female coach in Asia on the 24th of Mehr last year in Riyadh, and now, on the anniversary of the same night, she is again among the three finalists. In that ceremony, she became the first Iranian female coach to receive this award, and now, a year after opening this path, she will compete to repeat her success.

Behind this reappearance is the career of a coach whose name is tied to Bam's football championships. At the end of last season, Khatun won its 12th championship in the Women's Premier League and by recording 12 championships and two runners-up in 18 rounds, it strengthened its position as the most proud team of this competition. Jafari led this team to the cup in the same season that he was also responsible for leading the Iranian team.

Of course, unlike some previous championships, the 12th Cup was not won early. The competition with Golgohar Sirjan continued until the last day, and the defeat against Melvan in the penultimate week brought the fate of the championship to Sepahan. Jafari's students won that match 3-0 and with 49 points, two points more than their rival Sirjani, once again kept the trophy.

Asian Jafari's record is also one of the important parts of his coaching path. Under his guidance, Khatun reached the top eight teams in the first season of the Asian Women's Champions League, season 2024-25. Iran's representative lost to South Korea's Hyundai Steel in the quarter-finals by only one goal and failed to reach the semi-finals. A presence that added the experience of competing in the elimination stages of the highest level of Asian clubs to the record of this coach and his team.

Jafari then combined club success with an important achievement in the Iranian team. Under his guidance, Iran passed the qualifying stage of the 2026 Asian Women's Nations Cup and reached this tournament for the second time in a row. The Asian Football Confederation also clearly mentioned this rise when introducing him as the winner of the 2025 award.

Now in this year's list, Jafari's rivals are Ma Xiaoshu, head coach of China's under-17 women's team, and Park Yunjung, head coach of South Korea's under-20 women's team. Along with the representatives of the two powers of Asian women's football, the Iranian coach named Khatun Bam and the Iranian team have entered the competition that they won last year.

The presentation ceremony of the best of Asia will be held on Thursday, November 28 in Bangkok. For Jafari, who has been repeating the championship in Bam football for many years, this time the opportunity to repeat the honor on the continental scale has been provided. A year ago, she became the first Iranian woman to win this award and now she can return to Iran with the second statue.