In a statement to ISNA , Ali Fathollazadeh , the CEO of Esteghlal club said that club will be traveling to Riyadh to play Al Shabab of Saudi Arabia with a full strength squad, including their Team Melli players
In order for Esteghlal to qualify for the next rounds of the 2014 AFC Champions League , it has to win the remaining two matches. The heartbroken Esteghlal which was defeated in a crucial last day of the season match by Tractorsazi, will not be competing in the premiere competition of Asian club football after missing out on the ranking. Winning this current edition of the competition is the only salvation for this proud champion pedigree team from Tehran and hence the clubs has decided to go with full force to Riyadh. Esteghlal lost the league title to Foolad Khuzestan while the cup was won by Tractorsazi this season.
With Esteghlal taking all their players, Team Melli may have to depart to South Africa without them. As it is , there will be at least 7 or 8 players missing from the Team Mellli squad already due to club commitments. Players in Kuwait and Qatar are yet to be released by their clubs , while there is no chance of any European based players joining the camp. There was no comment from the football federation or Team Melli coaching staff regarding Esteghlal decision and their refusal to release their players for the South Africa camp. Legislation does not force a club to release the players for the national team training camps, so legally the IRIFF is helpless if Esteghlal departs to Saudi Arabia with their full team.
Current Team Melli players