Rodrigo Hrando is living a real torment. The football coach born in Burgos, but settled in Victory Corner since he was 13 years old, he has been a classic of the Costa del Sol benches. He led Málaga CF’s youth ranks for almost five years, but decided to see the world and is now stuck in Iran after having trained the team until the end of December. Naft Mosque Soleyman FCbut without knowing how to return to his house in Rincón.
«It has been a strange situation due to visa issues. I came with a work visa, but that takes a few weeks to process. While it was being done, I was ousted. So that process was stopped and I ceased to be a future resident in the country to become a Spanish tourist», narra a The opinion of Malaga, from the Prensa Ibérica group, from an Iranian hotel where he hopes to solve his bureaucratic problems. «I exceed the 30 days in this country that a tourist visa allows you. I had not come with that type of visa because mine was to be a resident, but now I have become a tourist, “says Hernando.
With this new situation, he finds himself in a country where he no longer works. «If I had obtained the resident visa, everything would have gone well. They would have generated an ID for foreigners and an Iranian Treasury code to pay my taxes. The problem is that since this procedure was not carried out, but I did work here, I have to pay a series of taxes And that management now has to be done by the embassy, “he explains.
«In Iran they have treated me wonderfully. What’s more, when I go to the immigration offices or the police they are always excited to see a foreigner and when you tell them that you are a football coach they love it », to which he adds the facilities that the one that was his club is also giving him: “They are trying to help with the procedures, they are paying for the hotel in Tehran and they kept me in a residence.”
Now, the problems come through the Spanish embassy. «I finished with the club on December 21 and on the 22nd I contacted the embassy to make them understand that I was ending up here and how I could carry out the process to leave the country and return to Rincón de la Victoria. I had to call the emergency number because they didn’t pick up on the three phones they had. They told me to send an email and they would contact me in 2-3 days because it was right around Christmas. I didn’t get any answer. I let the holidays pass and went back to write another email. I never received an answer. What they did answer me is that it was not their problem.
During his career on the bench, Rodrigo has gone through Portugal, Mongolia or the United Arab Emirates, but I had never experienced anything like this. «I know the processes to carry out on these visas, it is all very complicated. What hurts me is that I have found zero help from my compatriots, who are supposed to be there for that, “he laments.
The problem is that in this situation you don’t even know what you need. “I do not know yet. Now it seems that what I am missing is being able to obtain a code to pay taxes as a worker. That is where the embassy can enter in a very simple way, but… ».
His situation is already known to the Government of Spain. “The Islamic weekend is Thursday and Friday. I will be at the offices to which they are sending me at 7:30 and I think that throughout the Spanish weekend I can move forward. I want to have faith that by the beginning of next week, by myself, unless the Spanish embassy intercedes, I could return», assures Rodrigo Hernando. Now he just wants to close this adventure that has become a nightmare.
