Iran likely to play friendly match with Sweden: official

TEHRAN TIMES – TEHRAN, Iran football team is likely to play friendly match against Sweden, according to the vice president of the Iranian Football Federation.

Iran is scheduled to face Qatar on February 29 in the World Cup qualifying round and its coach Carlos Queiroz has requested the country’s football officials to hold a friendly match prior that match.

“Sweden Football Association is interested in playing with Iran as well as one African team,” Mehdi Taj said on Friday.

Iran and Sweden football have not yet faced each other in an official match.

Iran has already qualified for the final round of World Cup qualifying, while Qatar and Bahrain are trying to book a berth for the stage.  

The 10 countries will be divided into two groups of five teams, with the top two from each group qualifying for the World Cup. The two third-place teams then meet to decide which one of them goes into an intercontinental playoff for a place at the 2014 finals in Brazil.