TEHRAN – Former Iran national football team winger Mehdi Mahdavikia has been named as new coach of the country’s U23 football team on Sunday.

Mahdavikia, who has worked at the Hamburger SV Academy in the past years as an assistant, will lead the team in the AFC U23 Asian Cup 2022 Qualifiers, where the Iranian team have been drawn in Group B along with Tajikistan, Nepal and Lebanon.

Iran U23 football team were without a coach since January 2020 where the team were knocked out from the 2020 AFC U23 Championship under leadership of Hamid Estili.

Mahdavikia, 43, represented Iran at the 1998 and 2006 FIFA World Cups. He scored against the U.S. in the 1998 World Cup.