Tehrantimes - Cordial Cup chief organizer Hans Grubler said that Iran’s Kia Football Academy deservedly advanced to the final of the Cordial Cup held in Austria in late May.

The KIA Football Academy founded by former Iran winger Mehdi Mahdavikia surprised the big teams such as Bayern Munich, VfB Stuttgart and Bayer 04 Leverkusen in the tourney and finished in second place among 64 teams.

Kia Football Academy lost to TSV 1860 Munchen 7-6 on penalties in the final match.

“The cordial cup is now 18-year-old and a lot of players, who played at the Cordial Cup as young players, are playing now in the different national leagues and national teams. The best examples are Sami Khedira, David Alaba, Thomas Müller etc,” Cordial Cup chief organizer Hans Grubler told Teamiran.net.

“The quality level of the Iranian team was very high and the team lost to TSV 1860 München in the final in penalty shootout. Already in the friendly matches before the tournament, Kia Football Academy showed that the outfit will be a strong team,” he added.

“Kia Football Academy won its matches in the group stage and finally advanced to the Big Final. The Iranian team for example defeated Bayern Munich in the group stage. It was very good! Big honor for us and our tournament that we could welcome the KIA Academy Football and we hope that Mehdi Mahdavikia’s team comes here again next year,” Grubler said.