Iran will play Bahrain on Thursday in its opening match in the U23 West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) Championship.

Iran has been scheduled to face Saudi Arabia in Group B on Sunday.

“I think the tournament is a strong one, we have a strong group. Teams like Saudi Arabia and Qatar have the ability to be in the final. We are looking to perform well and look at the performance of our young players,” Iran coach Mohamed Khakpour said.

“The reason we are here is because we are trying to make a model of the U23 Asian Cup,” he added.

WAFF is being held in Doha, Qatar from September 30 to October 14.

The competition will be used as a warm up for the 2016 AFC U23 Championship which is also held in Qatar. This competition is used as qualification for the Olympics football tournament of which these sides participating in the WAFF championship qualify for the Rio Olympic Games 2016 football competition.