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Persianfootball.com – MOSCOW, Iran’s official 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup has been announced on Monday.

Despite a lot of rumours that one of the stand-by players – Hossein Hosseini, Jalal Hosseini, Vouria Ghafouri and Kaveh Rezaei – would make a surprise return to the squad, Queiroz kept 23 of his previously announced 24-man roster and only dropped youngster Ali Gholizadeh as surplus player.

The 22-year-old winger, who just signed with Belgian club Charleroi, will, however, accompany the rest of the squad to the final training camp in Russia, and would be the first candidate to replace an injured player.

With 12 European based players it is the highest amount of legionnaires from the strongest football contintent in an Iranian World Cup squad ever, doubling the number in comparison to the two previous appearances in 2014 and 2006.

Iran will play a final friendly match versus Lithuania behind closed doors on Friday, before they will face Morocco in their first game at the 2018 World Cup finals.

Below comes the full squad.

Goalkeepers:

Alireza Beiranvand – Persepolis

Rashid Mazaheri – Zob Ahan

Amir Abedzadeh – Maritimo, POR

Defenders:

Ramin Rezaeian – Oostende, BEL

Mohammad-Reza Khanzadeh – Padideh

Morteza Pouraliganji – Al Sadd, QAT

Pejman Montazeri – Esteghlal

Rouzbeh Cheshmi – Esteghlal

Majid Hosseini – Esteghlal

Milad Mohammadi – FC Akhmat, RUS

Midfielders:

Saeid Ezatollahi – Amkar, RUS

Ehsan Hajsafi – Olympiacos, GRE

Omid Ebrahimi – Esteghlal

Masoud Shojaei – AEK Athens, GRE

Ashkan Dejagah – Nottingham Forest, ENG

Wingers:

Alireza Jahanbakhsh – AZ Alkmaar, NED

Mehdi Taremi – Al Gharaffa, QAT

Saman Ghoddos – Oestersunds, SWE

Vahid Amiri – Persepolis

Mehdi Torabi – Saipa

Strikers:

Sadar Azmoun – Rubin Kazan, RUS

Karim Ansarifard – Olympiacos, GRE

Reza Ghoochannejhad – Heerenveen, NED