TEHRAN – Farhad Majidi has named his 22-man team for the 2020 AFC U23 Championship Thailand.

The Iranian team will travel to Tashkent to play two friendly matches with Uzbekistan as part of preparation for Thailand 2020.

The Persians will face Uzbekistan on Sept. 6 at the Metallurg Stadium in Olmaliq in their first match.

Iran will also play Uzbekistan three days later at the Pakhtakor Central Stadium in Tashkent.

The 2020 AFC U23 Championship will be held in Thailand from Jan. 8 to 26.

The top three teams qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in July, although should Japan emerge as one of them, the fourth-placed side will advance.

Iran, a powerhouse of the Asian football, have not been in the Olympics since the 1976 games in Munich.

The Qualifiers

Group Winners - Group A: Qatar; Group B: Bahrain; Group C: Iraq; Group D: UAE; Group E: Jordan; Group F: Uzbekistan; Group G: DPR Korea; Group H: Korea Republic; Group I: Japan; Group J: China PR; Group K: Vietnam Four Best Second-Placed Teams: Australia, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia Host: Thailand

Squad:
Nima Mirzazad (Nassaji), Mehdi Ghaedi, Mohammad Bolboli, Aref Gholami (Esteghlal), Meraj Esmaeili (Zob Ahan), Mohammad Khoram Alhosseini (Machine Sazi), Omid Noorafkan, Mohammad Mohebbi (Sepahan), Mohammad Khodabandelou (Paykan), Amir Mehdi Janmaleki, Mehdi Nourollahi, Taha Shariati, Abolfazl Jalali, Amirhossein Hosseinzadeh (Saipa), Reza Jabireh (Sanat Naft), Mohammadmehdi Mehdikhani (Varaždin), Mohammad Aghajanpour, Sina Zamehran (Padideh), Mohammadreza Azadi, Abolfazl Razzaghpour (Tractor), Amir Roostaei (Persepolis) and Younes Delfi (Charleroi)