Mansourian named Iran Olympic coach

MNA – TEHRAN, Former Iran midfielder Alireza Mansourian was appointed as Iran Olympic football coach on Wednesday.

Mansourian will be assisted by Hadi Tabatabaei and Bijan Taheri in the team. Former Denmark U-21 coach Flemming Seritslev was expected to take charge of the Olympic team, according to Iranian football officials.

Iran Olympic team has been without a coach since the Guangzhou Asian Games where Gholam Peyrovani retired from his job.

Iran is scheduled to face Iraq on June 19 in the second round of the London 2012 Olympic Games qualifiers. The second leg will be held on June 23 in Tehran.

Director of the International Committee of Iran Football Federation (IFF) Abbas Torabian had already announced the 64-year old Dane is one of the candidates to take charge of Iran Olympic team.

The last time Iran football Olympic team took in the matches was the 1976 Summer Olympics held in Montreal, Canada. In that competition the team advanced to the next round but was defeated by the Soviet Union 2-1 in the knockout stage.