Iran will play in group “A” of  Valentine Granatkin Memorial football tournament

the draw XXVI Valentine Granatkin Memorial was held in the headquarters of Russian Football federation. The 16 teams were divided in to four groups:

Group “A”: Belarus, I.R. Iran, Slovakia, Finland.
Group “B”: Slovenia, Estonia, Russia, Moldova.
Group “C”: Japan, Czech Republic, Greece, Azerbaijan.
Group “D”: Ukraine, Turkey, Saint-Petersburg, Latvia.

The tournament will begin January 3, 2014 in Saint-Petersburg, Russia

The Valentin Granatkin Memorial – tournament which traditionally features invited national teams composed of under-19 players.

the first Granatkin Memorial was held in Moscow in 1981d  – the International youth football tournament initiated by the FIFA President Joao Havelange to perpetuate the memory of the FIFA First Vice-President Valentin Granatkin.

Granatkin tournament always was a place of young talents discoveries. Memorial was a place were several future world stars played such as – Andreas Moeller, Oliver Bierhoff, Kirsten Janker, Marsel Desai, Igor Kolyvanov and Alexandr Mostovoy.

Iran was invited and participated in 2 previous tournaments. In 2012 Iran sent the U-19 team , while this current year 2013, Iran delegated its U-17 team. In 2012 Iran was ranked fifth while a year later , the U17 dropped to seventh.