TEHRAN – Alireza Pakdel, head of Iran handball federation, is prioritizing long-term development over short-term results.

Pakdel said recent investments aim to build a competitive pipeline capable of delivering consistent success at Asian and global levels in the years ahead for the national teams.

We chose Guijosa from among three final options

Since last year, we began planning for a successful presence at the 2026 Asian Handball Championship and had three foreign options to lead the national team. There were no financial problems or limitations in hiring a foreign coach; in fact, the Ministry of Sports and Youth and Mr. (Ahmad) Donyamali personally provided strong support to the federation in this regard. However, the first two options, apart from Rafael Guijosa, were unwilling to sign a contract. Eventually, we introduced Guijosa —under whose leadership Iran achieved their only third-place finish in Asian Championship history in 2014—as the head coach of the national team.

As I mentioned before, some other coaches may have been higher priorities, but they did not come to our country even after signing contracts. Iran handball have qualified for the World Championship twice in their history: once in 2014 under Rafael’s leadership, and once again in 2022 during the current federation’s management. For this reason, Rafael Guijosa was considered a good option for the Iranian national team.

The national team’s preparatory matches were unprecedented

Since last year, all the requests of the Spanish head coach of the national team were fulfilled by the federation. Two home-and-away preparatory tournaments with Iraq, hosting the Shiraz Tournament with the participation of Russia, Belarus, and China, participation in the Tunisia Tournament, holding two friendly matches against Bahrain, and traveling to the Spain Tournament—where we faced some of the world’s best teams—along with domestic training camps, enabled the national team to head to Kuwait in the best possible condition. According to many experts, such preparations for the national team have been unprecedented in the history of Iranian handball.

We were placed in the toughest possible group

In the tournament draw, we were not lucky at all and ended up in the toughest possible group. Saudi Arabia, who have been the most prepared in recent years, finished as runners-up at the Islamic Solidarity Games, were in our group. Japan, the runners-up of the previous edition and the only Asian team to qualify for the 2024 Olympics, were also in our group. This led experts to label this group as the “group of death”. In none of the previous editions had we been placed in such a difficult group.

Moreover, during the Spain training camp, two key players were dismissed from the national team and sent back to Iran by the head coach due to disciplinary issues. The federation’s disciplinary committee will certainly make the necessary decisions regarding them, and they will be dealt with accordingly, as they caused damage to the national team.

We could have defeated Japan

We lost to Saudi Arabia in our opener but after defeating Australia in the second match, we faced Japan in a decisive game—one in which we arguably witnessed one of the best performances by Iran’s national team in recent years. I am pleased that expectations of Iranian handball have risen to such a level that there was strong hope for a victory over Japan. Despite 56 minutes of outstanding play and establishing a goal advantage, circumstances arose in the final four minutes that will certainly be thoroughly reviewed by the technical committee.

In addition to technical mistakes by the coaching staff and players in the closing minutes, several major refereeing errors occurred against our team during this period, including two clear penalties that were not awarded. As a result, we conceded the result at the final moment. We are not looking for excuses, and despite all the issues mentioned—as well as the solid planning and preparation provided by the federation—this result is unacceptable to me personally as the head of handball in the country. All aspects will be reviewed in the technical committee meeting based on the report submitted by the head coach.

The federation’s focus on building a strong foundation

It is necessary to point out several facts and speak transparently, although I once again emphasize that I am not attempting to justify the result achieved in Kuwait. From the day I took charge of the federation, I stated clearly that handball needed long-term development and that building a proper foundation for a bright future takes time.

Today, the results of Iranian handball at various levels—especially youth categories—are clearly visible. Over the past seven years, we have secured 13 qualifications for the World Championships, whereas before that our teams had qualified only once in total. These achievements include: the Asian Under-17 Boys Championship title; the Girls’ Youth Championship title at the 2025 Asian Youth Games in Bahrain; runners-up finishes by the Boys’ Cadet team in Asia, with three players from that generation present in Kuwait; first-ever qualifications of both girls’ and boys’ cadet teams to the Round of 16 at the World Championships; two Asian titles and a third-place finish at the Beach Handball World Championship at the cadet level; the Asian Cadet Girls Championship title; and the runners-up finish at the Asian Junior Girls Championship.

All of these accomplishments demonstrate that the federation’s full focus has been on implementing a structured, sustainable development program for the future of Iranian handball.

Asian teams have become much tougher

All of this does not mean that we are not seeking the best possible results. The efforts, long-term planning, and expenditures were aimed at advancing to higher stages. However, an undeniable reality exists: the competitive atmosphere in Asian senior handball has become significantly more challenging.

The regular organization of tournaments such as the Arab Cup, Persian Gulf competitions, and similar events—tournaments from which we are excluded—allows Arab countries to compete continuously throughout the year. This, combined with the difficulties we face in participating in European tournaments and the absence of European and even Asian teams from visiting Iran due to political reasons, has made the path for Iranian handball harder than ever. Additionally, whereas Qatar had long used multinational players, in this tournament teams such as Iraq and the UAE also fielded multinational players in their squads.

Technical committee will decide on coaching staff next week

From this point forward, the Iranian Handball Federation’s objective is to appear strongly in upcoming events under improved conditions and to compete for honors. Regarding the team that participated in the Asian Championships, all aspects will be reviewed next week by the technical committee, and decisions will be made about the coaching staff as well.

Personally, I was not satisfied with the performance of the coaching staff; however, the final decision will be made by the technical committee, which consists of senior figures and handball experts.