TEHRAN – Iran’s women’s beach soccer forward Sara Shirbeigi says that Team Melli coaching staff have started to build a young team for the future.

Iran claimed the title of the 3rd edition of the CAFA Women's Futsal Championship in mid-February.

Team Melli defeated Uzbekistan 5-1, Kyrgyzstan 11-0, Turkmenistan 9-0 and Tajikistan 9-0 in the competition held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

“As you know, the team are turning into a young team and the coaching staff fielded the young players. We have won three successive times and it shows that there is a great difference between us and the Central Asian teams,” Shirbeigi told Tehran Times.

“We will participate in the first Women's Futsal World Cup, scheduled for 2025 and the football federation should arrange several warm-ups for the national team,” she added.

“The level of the CAFA is not high but regarding that our team are turning into a young team, the tournament has been beneficial for us.

“In the third edition, the coaching staff tested all players and I think it was very helpful for the future. More than 90 percent of the team has been changed and we need to play more warm-ups to identify our strengths and weaknesses,” Shirbeigi said.

Shirbeigi was selected as the best goalscorer of the tournament with 12 goals.

“I think the accolade goes to all players of the team because they helped me to score goals,” Shirbeigi concluded.