TEHRAN - Katayoun Khosrowyar, head coach of Iran's U19 women's football team, says that the 2019 Kuban Spring Women U19 Tournament is a good warm-up tournament for his team.

Defending champions Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan and Belarus will participate in the competition which will be held in Sochi, Russia from March 1-5.

Iran prepare for the AFC U19 Women’s Championship Thailand 2019 Qualifiers Round 2, where they have been drawn in Group B along with hosts Vietnam, two-time champions Korea Republic and Lebanon.

The Round 2 Qualifiers will be played over three matchdays from April 26 to 30.

“I think these kinds of tournaments are very helpful. Our players need to play warm-up matches to prepare well for the Continent’s competitions,” Khosrowyar said.

“We don’t care about the result in Sochi because we are here to realize our strengths and weaknesses,” she added.   

“Three Iranian-American players will represent our team for the first time at Kuban Spring tournament. They currently play for American clubs and are very talented players. And they will fit in perfectly with the U19 team we are creating,” Khosrowyar stated.

The format for the tournament will be a single group of four teams, where each participant will play all opponents.

Based on the results of three rounds, the champion and prize-winners of the "Kuban Spring-2019" will be determined.

Iran will kick off the campaign on March 1 with a match against Belarus, while Russia meet Azerbaijan on the same day.

The Persians will face Russia and Azerbaijan on March 3 and 5, respectively.