TEHRAN, October 20 (MNA) – The new coach of Iran's U23 football team Mehdi Mahdavikia announced his 25-man team for the 2022 AFC U23 Asian Cup qualification.

The qualification will be held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan from October 25 to 31.

Iran are pitted against host Tajikistan, Nepal and Lebanon in Group B Mahdavikia’s boys will kick off the campaign with a match against Nepal on October 25.

They will play Lebanon and Tajikistan on October 28 and 31, respectively.

A total of 16 teams will qualify to play in the final tournament, including Uzbekistan as hosts.

The names of the players in each post and the clubs they are playing for are as follows: Goalkeepers: Alireza Rezaei (Esteghlal), Mohammad Javad Kia (Padideh), Reza Kakhsaz (Mes Shahr Babak) Defenders: Saman Fallah (Paykan), Mohammadmehdi Ahmadi (Naft Masjed Soleyman), Omid Hamedifar (Sanat Naft), Mohammadamin Hazbavi (Foolad), Younes Akbarpour (Mes Rafsanjan), Mehdi Hashemnejhad (Malavan), Sina Abdollahi (Machine Sazi), Milad Kor (Zob Ahan), Mohammad Soltanimehr (Zob Ahan) Midfielders: Amirhossein Hosseinzadeh (Esteghlal), Sobhan Khaghani (Esteghlal), Mohammadmehdi Mohebi (Paykan), Alireza Koushki (Paykan), Mohammadhossein Zavari (Sanat Naft), Alireza Bavieh (Foolad), Mehdi Limoochi (Fajr Sepasi), Hossein Nokhodkar (Gol Gohar), Mohammad Khodabandehlou (Zob Ahan), Yasin Salmani (Sepahan) Forwards: Amirali Sadeghi (Esteghlal), Aria Barzegar (Fajr Sepasi), Farzan Dana (Fajr Sepasi) KI/TT