Iranian football officials have reportedly invited Diego Maradona to come to Tehran, Tabnak reported.
Maradona, who is a fan of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is currently in Beijing, China as part of his charity programs and will most likely visit Iran but the exact time of his arrival has yet to be announced.
Maradona bestowed his autographed T-shirt to the Iranian nation as a sign of his affection for them in December 2007. The Argentine football legend has already met Cuban president Fidel Castro and Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and now he is going to meet Ahmadinejad.
"Maradona has already announced that he wants to come to Tehran to meet the Iranian political officials. We are making efforts to pave the way but nothing has been finalized so far," Iran's football federation president Ali Kaffashian told Khabar Varzeshi.
Iran's current coach Afshin Ghotbi recently made public that he will not renew his contract with Iranian football federation after the 2011 AFC Asian Cup. The Iranian football officials have started to search for a big name, however Kaffashian ruled out talking to Maradona for taking charge of Iran as Ghotbi's replacement.
"He (Maradona) will come here just to meet Mr. Ahmadinejad and not for negotiating taking the helm of Iran team," Kaffashian added.
The Argentina football officials signed a contract with Sergio Batista in the past few days and this means Maradona has no chance of going back to his former team. Maradona was axed from the Argentine national team after being defeated 4-0 against Germany in the 2010 World Cup.
The Chinese football officials are also planning to sign him up as their head coach, but the 1986 World Cup winner has said he has no intention of coaching the team and if offered the job his asking price would be very high.