Tehran, Iran, July 21, 2020: Iran is aiming to hold an international futsal tournament as build-up to its title defence at the 2020 AFC Futsal Championship in Turkmenistan in November.
The Iranian Football Federation is hoping to host a six-team tournament on Kish Island as part of preparations for the national men’s team, who are defending Asian futsal champions.
Talks are underway with Kuwait, Iraq, Belarus, Ukraine and several other European countries to send their national teams for the tournament scheduled for either September or October. Six teams are targeted including the Iran national senior and U20 futsal teams.
This year’s AFC Futsal Championship, the 16th edition and held biennially, was to include 16 teams and originally scheduled to be played in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan from February 26 to March 8.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event has been pushed back to November 4-15. The tournament will double up as the Asian qualifiers for the 2021 FIFA Futsal World Cup in Lithuania with the top five teams winning berths.
Iran defeated Chinese Taipei to win the 2018 AFC Futsal Championship. Iran also won the bronze medal at the last FIFA Futsal World Cup.