Team Melli will meet Uzbekistan in an international friendly warm-up match in of preparation for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The match is scheduled to be played on May 19 in Tehran’s Azadi Stadium.

“Team Melli 2018 World Cup jerseys have not been revealed yet to avoid counterfeits. The Iran national team kit will be unveiled in the match against Uzbekistan,” Mehdi Taj , the President of FFIRI said.

With less than two months left until the start of the 2018 World Cup, the Iranian federation and kit supplier Adidas have not unveiled Team Melli’s kit and the federation has been highly criticized by the media and the fans for the delay while almost all other nations have revealed their official jersey.

Although Mehdi Taj cited piracy as a reason for this delay, the truth according to insiders lies elsewhere. There has been some talk of diagreement between the Kit Supplier and FFIRI on financial terms. It is also been alleged that the quality that was offered , was not the top that the German manufacturer has in its inventory. Queiroz was not too happy with the quality on offer. However, there was no independent source to confirm these allegations.

Endangered Asiatic Cheetah was imprinted on Team Melli’s jersey during the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, but it seems the image will not be stamped on Iran’s kit in the 2018 World Cup. The Last Kit was supplied by UHLSports which had a turbulent relationship with the FFIRI. There were several accusation of inferior quality with the kit supplied by UHLSports. There were accusations by both sides and eventually the contract was not renewed.

Carlos Queiroz’s team have been drawn in Group B of the 2018 World Cup along with Spain, Morocco and Portugal. The Iran national football team will open the campaign with a match against Morocco at Saint Petersburg on June 15.