TEHRAN, Jan 18: Iran has appointed Mohammad Dadkan to lead the Islamic Republic’s soccer federation for the next four years following a successful stint as caretaker chief.

Dadkan, who beat off 24 rivals to land the job, stepped in to head Iranian soccer’s top body in September following the resignation of under-fire boss Mohsen Safai Farahani.

“The General Assembly of the Soccer Federation, elected Dadkan with 32 out of 43 votes to take over the body for four years,” state television reported on Saturday.

Safai Farahani stepped down after being heavily criticised for the Iranian national team’s poor run of form which included failure to qualify for the 2002 World Cup Finals in South Korea and Japan.

Dadkan proved an immediate success, with Iran hanging on to their Asian Games title in October when they took home the soccer gold medal for the fourth time after a 2-1 win over Japan in the final.

Dadkan’s appointment came amid speculation that the Croatian coach of the national squad, Branco Ivancovic, is on his way to Tehran to discuss renewing his contract, leading sports newspaper Khabar Varzeshi reported.

Speaking to reporters after his appointment was announced Dadkan said he would talk to Ivancovic by telephone on Sunday.

“Mr Branco still has a contract with us. He has no problems with the soccer federation but is very likely to have new conditions due to the fame he gained in the Asian Games,” he said.

Ivancovic took over the national side in January 2002, replacing fellow Croatian Miroslav Blazevic after his failure to steer Iran to the 2002 World Cup finals.

Iran’s greatest achievement on the soccer field came at the 1998 World Cup in France where they beat arch-political foe the United States 2-1.—Reuters