AFC Inspectors visit Mashhad

Persianfootball.com – MASHHAD, Iran’s second largest city welcomed AFC Inspectors.

A metropolis with a population of more than 3 million people, known internationally for the Holy Shrine of Imam Reza(PBUH), Saffron, Melons and Kebabs. The city has been named by Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Iran as one of the host cities for Iran’s bid for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup. The city had produced so many athletes most notably Olympic Medalist Wrestlers Rasul Khadem and Amir Reza Khadem.

Known by Municipality Council slogan “City of Paradise”, Mashhad is also the birthplace of some of Iran’s notable footballers such as current Team Melli players Reza Ghoochannejhad, Reza Haghighi, 1996 AFC Player of the year the legendary Khodadad Azizi and former Internationals Gholamreza Enayati and Alireza Vahedi-Nikbakht.

According to Padideh FC’s official website, yesterday morning local time, Gholamreza Behravan and AFC Inspectors went on a tour of the city’s stadiums, training grounds, hotels, airport, metro, roads and public transport in order to access Iran’s bid for hosting the 2019 AFC Asian Cup.

At the conclusion of the tour, a meeting was held between FFIRI officials, AFC inspectors and provincial administrators. The Governor of Khorasan Razavi Province welcomed this important continental football event and expressed the city’s readiness to host it. Tehran, Tabriz, Esfahan, Shiraz and Kerman are Iran’s other candidate host cities.

It must be noted that last year, Mashhad hosted 2014 AFC U-14 Championship – Group D Qualification matches. Teams included Iran, Pakistan, India, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan.