TEHRAN – Iran U23 football team will not participate at the 2021 Islamic Solidarity Games, Faraz Fatemi, sporting director of the team, has confirmed the news is correct.

“The Iranian clubs have previously announced their readiness to cooperate with U23 football team but they don’t release their players to join us for the friendly matches,” Fatemi said.

“We decided not to participate at the 2021 Islamic Solidarity Games. We wanted to take part at the Games to prepare our team for the 2024 Olympic Games qualification but we cannot participate in the competition with an incomplete team,” he added.  

The U23 football team lost to Persepolis club 4-2 in a friendly match on Sunday. The team were scheduled to play Paykan on Monday but the match has been canceled.

Mehdi Mahdavikia’s side are drawn in Group B along with Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan.

Hosts Turkey, Senegal, Algeria and Cameroon are in Group A.