Daei: Dejagah will not play for Iran

PTV - Ali Daei, Iran's national soccer head coach, says he has no intention of calling upon the services of Iranian-born Ashkan Dejagah.

“I never intended to invite him to play for Iran,” the former captain of the national team told reporters on Monday. “Besides, FIFA rules set an age limit for players switching nationality.”

FIFA allows a soccer player to change nationality if he has dual citizenship and makes the request under the age of 21, rendering Dejagah, 22, ineligible.

“Dejagah considers himself a German and is currently playing for German teams,” Daei, Iran's all-time leading scorer with 109 goals, added.

In 2007, Dejagah sparked an outcry in Germany after the VFL Wolfsburg player announced he would not accompany Germany's under-21 national soccer team to Tel Aviv, out of respect for his homeland.

"I have more Iranian blood than German in my veins," Dejagah said.

In October 2007, Iran's Vice-president Mohammad Aliabadi had expressed willingness to have the Iranian-born German soccer player join the Iranian squad.

Ferydoon Zandi, another Iranian-German soccer player, is currently playing for the national Iranian team.