Abdi set for Iran U23 job, Taj says
Hossein Abdi is set to be appointed as the head coach of the Iranian under-23 national team, Mahdi Taj, the chairman of the Iranian Football Federation, confirmed on Friday.
Abdi, 59, will take over from Omidreza Ravankhah, who parted ways with the national governing body following a dreadful U23 Asian Cup in January, which saw Iran finish bottom of Group C with two points, failing to find the net across three games in Saudi Arabia against eventual semifinalists South Korea, Uzbekistan, and Lebanon.
“Hossein Abdi has been chosen to take charge of the under-23 national team. We held positive talks with him, and the appointment was well received by the federation’s board as well,” Taj told IRIB TV.
The appointment will mark the third age-group national team job for Abdi, following decent spells with the U17 and U20 teams over the past three years.
He led Iran to a last-four finish at the U17 Asian Cup in Thailand in 2023, securing qualification for the U-17 World Cup later that year in Indonesia.
Iran began its World Cup campaign with a memorable 3-2 comeback victory over Brazil and went on to finish third in the group and progress to the round of 16 before falling to a shootout defeat against Morocco.
Abdi’s second spell was not quite as impressive as the first, as Iran made a clean sweep of three group victories at the U20 Asian Cup in China last year but crashed out after a shootout setback against Japan in the quarterfinals, missing out on a place at the 2025 U-20 World Cup in Chile.
“In many countries around the world, there is an established framework for developing youth teams, and we followed the same path. We appointed Abdi as the head coach of the under-17 team, and he built a squad from 300 to 400 players. That team managed to defeat Brazil at the World Cup and lost 2-1 to England in the dying minutes,” Taj said.
“That generation of players then stepped up to the under-20s and were unlucky to lose to Japan on penalties. Now we have decided to stay the course and move the entire team, still led by Abdi, up to the under-23 level,” added the FFIRI chief.
Abdi’s first test in the new role will come at the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games in September.
Iran will be hoping to secure a first football berth at the Olympics since 1976 when they take part in the 2028 U23 Asian Cup, where the two finalists will qualify for the LA 2028 Games.