On Monday, May 20, 2019, Dr. Bijan Zolfaghar Nasab, Chairman of the Iranian Football Coaches Association, met with Dr. Mohammad Mehdi Mazaheri, the president of the ECO Cultural Institute, at the headquarters of this international institution.
According to ECI public relations, at the meeting, Dr. Mazaheri expressed the special strategy of this international institution in using sports as one of the most important mediums of public diplomacy and stated: " for the first time in its history, ECI has paid special and focused attention to sports during the past two years".
Referring to organizing diplomatic sports competitions at the international institution such as the billiard tournaments of Diplomats Cup, the ECI president added: "We have several sports events in the field of futsal, beach volleyball, polo and horseback riding on the agenda".
Dr. Bijan Zolfaghar-Nasab, former coach of the Iranian national football team and the current chairman of the Iranian Football Coaches Association, welcomed the unprecedented perspectives of the ECI president regarding sports as a peace making instrument at the service of establishing friendship among nations and said: "In cooperation with FIFA and AFC, the football directors and coaches are now being trained."
He further added that we are ready to organize the training courses for ECO coaches during the tenure of Dr. Mazaheri at ECO Cultural Institute.