Begovich selected as Iran's U23 head coach

PFDC - Tehran, After a long debate between Iran's football federation(IFF) and Iran's Olympic Committee(IOC), the head of IOC, Ali Kafashian, announced Vingo Begovich as Iran's under 23 national team head coach on Sunday.

The news came as a bit of a surprise as Foolad FC management had announced Begovich to be their new head coach a day earlier. But, with Begovich' departure for a short trip to Croatia, Kafashian announced him as the selected head coach for Iran's U23 which is preparing to participate in 2008 Olympic qualifiers. Begovich is expected to return to Iran on Wednesday.

Begovich is known in Iran for his work in Foolad during early 2000s. He took over Foolad then to bring up the team from bottom of the IPL standing to become a championship contender. He is also known for producing several players for Iran's national team. Nevertheless, many have criticized him for failing to deliver final results.

Iran's U23 team is already training under assistant coach to be, Mohammad Panjali, and is scheduled to participate in Qatar's international tournament, set to begin on January 21st. Iran is grouped with South Korea, Egypt, and Belarus in group B. Qatar, UAE, Japan, and South Africa are the other participants, grouped in group A. The participants are expected to bring their youth or U23 teams.

Iran's schedule for Qatar International Tournament

Jan 22nd: Iran-South Korea

Jan 24th: Iran-Belarus

Jan 26th: Iran-Egypt

The semi-finals and the final is scheduled to take place on Jan 29th and Jan 31st, respectively.

Posted By: Mansoor Ansari