6/30/2022 4:28:10 PM
The 4th Football Mini World Cup was held on June 16th in the Children's Medical Center in Tehran, Iran. Pediatric patients struggling with chronic diseases took part in this competition. They played football with three teams consist of senior football players, artists, and the board of trustees from Tehran University of Medical Sciences (who were medical doctors). Symbolically, the children represented Iran's national team. The three other teams represented the United States of America, England, and Wales national teams, respectively, which are Iran's rivals in the 2022 Qatar world cup.
First, the two girls' teams at the medical center competed against each other.
Team one, with white shirts, was managed by Kosar Zolfaghari. Arnika Rezaei (goalkeeper and team captain), Elena Ahmadi, Nazanin Fatemeh Mirkhani, Sana Haghighi, and Sogol Souri were the players. Team two was managed by Bahareh Jahandoost. Helma Shokri (goalkeeper and team captain), Zahra Souri, Mohana Issaabadi, Bahar Vinari, Ariandokht Aslani, and Fatemeh Noura Ale-Yamin played in red shirts.
Niloufar Ardalan was also the head coach of the girls' national team. Team one managed to win this game.
Then, the boys team entered the field. Their first match was against England (the senior football players' team). Mohammad Moein Mian Dashti, Soheil Nayebi, Kian Sobhani, Mahyar Mahmoudi, Mohammad Reza Oveisi, Arash Zolali, Mohammad Amin Bandari, Amir Ali Ebrahimi, Sepehr Bukan, Amir Hossein Zafi, Amir Ali Paderband, and Ali Asghar Rahmanpour were the team players. The head coach of the Children's Medical Center team was Dr. Nima Rezaei.
The head coach of the athlete's team was Mohammad Panjali, and the team manager was Saeed Naseri. Mohammad Aghaei, Hadi Shakoori, Alireza Nikbakht Vahedi, Morteza Fonunizadeh, Parviz Boroumand, Mohammad Reza Mahdavi, Reza Agha Mohammadi, Ahmad Taghavi, Mostafa Shabani, Mehdi Pashazadeh, Javad Manafi, Sadegh Droudgar, Nima Nakisa, Masoud Reza, Ali Nouri, and Behzad Dadashzadeh played symbolically for England.
The match ended in a 6-3 victory for the Children's Medical Center football team.
The next match was held among the medical center's boys and artist team, symbolically representing the USA. Seyed Javad Hashemi was the head coach of the artist's team, Amir Hossein Yar Yar was in charge of managing the team, and Hamid Sanaei, Mohammad Moslemi, Hamed Tehrani, Siavash Mofidi, Mehdi Salehpour, Seyed Mojtaba Zarifian (Uncle Mehraban), Farshid Sarbaz Watan, Omid Jahan, Mostafa Nazari, and Mahmoud Najafzadeh were the players.
The match ended 5-5, and the Children's Medical Center team won the penalty shoot-out.
In the final match, Iran's national team representatives competed against the board of trustees of the Tehran University of Medical Sciences, who were representing Wales national team.
Dr. Hossein Qenaati, Dr. Mashallah Torabi, Dr. Mohammad Hossein Sadeghian, Dr. Reza Shervin Bedv, Dr. Hojjat Rahmani, Dr. Kazem Rahnama, Dr. Alireza Oliaei Manesh, Dr. Abbas Mazinani, Dr. Seyed Abolfazl Zakerian played for Wales under the coaching of Dr. Mohammad Jalili.
The last game ended with the victory of the Children's Medical Center team.
Children, the champions, received golden medallions and lifted the champion's cup above their heads at the end of the competition.
These matches aim to improve sick children's mental health and give them motivation and hope to fight better with their disease, stated Dr. Nima Rezaei, founder of the health and art group. This event was held jointly by HEART and Tehran University of Medical Sciences.