News / Sports

Iran football team to take on Turkey in pre-World Cup friendly

Saturday, 06 January 2018 8:50 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 06 January 2018 8:50 AM ]

The Iran men’s national football team (file photo)

The Iran men’s national football team, domestically known as Team Melli, is going to face Turkey as part of preparations for the 2018 Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup.

The match, which has been scheduled for late May, will give Team Melli some competitive testing before starting its World Cup campaign against Morocco at Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on June 15.

The Iran and Turkey men’s national football teams have already played each other six times.

The Turkish side has won four of the match, and two them have ended in a draw.

During the official 2018 FIFA World Cup draw ceremony at Kremlin State Palace in the Russian capital city of Moscow on December 1, Team Melli joined the Portugal national football team, nicknamed A Selecção, Spain’s La Furia Roja and Atlas Lions of Morocco in the preliminary round of the tournament.

The host nation, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Uruguay form Group A in the upcoming quadrennial international sports event.

France is drawn in Group C, and is pitted against Australia, Peru and Denmark.

Argentina, Iceland, Croatia and Nigeria are drawn in Group D.

Group E consists of Brazil, Switzerland, Costa Rica and Serbia.

While the 2014 FIFA World Cup champion Germany, Mexico, Sweden and South Korea shape Group F, Belgium, Panama, Tunisia and England are in Group G.

Group H has Poland, Senegal, Colombia and Japan.

The 2018 FIFA World Cup will take place from June 14 to July 15. Russia will open the event against Saudi Arabia in a Group A fixture at Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium.

A total of 64 matches will be played in 12 venues located in 11 cities.

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