Sports Coaching

Coaching involves more than directing athletes during competition. A FIFA profile of Katayoun Khosrowyar, then coaching Iran’s women’s under-19 football team, described work on scouting, training, diet, fitness, and preparation. Published in October 2018, it also recorded her account of travelling to find girls playing football or futsal, including in parks. Futsal is the small-sided form of football commonly played on a hard court. s1

The profile provides a concrete example of the relationship between talent identification and coaching: a promising player must first be found before a development programme can support her. Its evidence concerns one coach and a particular period. FIFA’s enthusiastic account should not be read as an independent evaluation of every youth programme or as confirmation of Khosrowyar’s position in 2026. s1

In October 2024, the Olympic Council of Asia reported that Iran’s National Olympic Committee and volleyball federation had begun an Olympic Solidarity development course for female coaches. The report identified 65 selected participants from across the country and described a programme focused on grassroots coaching and young female talent. s2

The announced format combined 12 days of classroom theory with a six-month practical stage. Participants were expected to apply their learning on court, followed by an online meeting reviewing the process. This is evidence of a structured training initiative, including an intended link between instruction and practice. The announcement does not establish how many coaches completed the programme, how their teaching changed, or how many young players subsequently benefited. s2

Marziyeh Jafari became Iran’s first winner of the Asian Football Confederation’s Coach of the Year award for women in 2025. The confederation, which governs Asian football competitions, credited her with guiding Iran through qualification for the Women’s Asian Cup Australia 2026. Its announcement described this as the national team’s second consecutive qualification, following its tournament debut in 2022. s3

The award documents recognition of a specific coaching achievement. It does not measure the availability of qualified coaches in community clubs, the security of coaching employment, or access to advanced qualifications across Iran. Reading an elite milestone alongside a grassroots course helps distinguish individual achievement from the broader task of developing a coaching workforce. s2s3

The announced volleyball coach-development process

The arrows show the programme sequence described in October 2024. They do not certify completion or demonstrate participant outcomes.