Foxsportsasia - Ahead of the AFC Asian Cup 2019, Iran’s Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Masoud Soltanifar hopes that players who are due to undergo military services could be exempted as they take part in the competition.
A total of seven players, namely Sardar Azmoun, Saeid Ezatolahi, Alireza Beiravand, Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Majid Hosseini, Ali Gholizadeh and Mehdi Torabi have yet to serve the country in the military and they’re due to complete two years in the Iran military.
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According to Mousa Kamali, spokesperson for the Conscription department of Iranian Armed Forces, players who have won medals in the Olympic Games, Asian Games and finalists in World Championships can be exempted from military service, and these seven names are not qualified.
However, Team Melli are heavily considered as one of the favourites in the competition and are in Group D of the competition as they go up against Iraq, Vietnam and Yemen.