Carlos Queiroz, coach of Iran, has released a provisional list of 30 players for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, holding in Brazil from June 12 to July 13.
Iran are in Group F of the competition alongside Nigeria’s Super Eagles, as well as Argentina and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
They will face the Super Eagles, who are the reigning African champions, in their opening match of the championship on June 16.
In the Iran list released on FIFA’s website on Wednesday, Queiroz named Fulham midfielder Ashkan Dejageh and Charlton Athletic striker Reza Ghoochannejad among 10 foreign-based players in the squad.
Other foreign-based players are Pejman Montazeri (Umm Salal/Qatar), Steven Beitashour (Vancouver Whitecaps/Canada), Daniel Davari (Eintracht Braunschweig/Germany) and Alireza Haqiqi (Sporting da Covilha/Portugal).
The rest are Javad Nekounam (Kuwait SC/Kuwait), Masoud Shojaei (UD Las Palmas/Spain), Alireza Jahanbakhsh (NEC/Netherlands) and Sardar Azmoun (FC Rubin Kazan/Russia).
The squad comprised five goalkeepers, 10 defenders, eight midfielders and seven attackers.
The list has goalkeepers Davari, Rahman Ahmadi (Sepahan Isfahan), Haqiqi, Sosha Makani (Foolad) and Ali Biranvand (Naft Tehran).
It also has defenders Hossein Mahini (Persepolis), Jalal Hosseini (Persepolis), Ehsan Hajsafi (Sepahan Isfahan), Amir Sadeqi (Esteghlal), Hashem Beykzadeh (Esteghlal) and Khosrow Heidari (Esteghlal).
The rest defenders are Ahmad Alenemeh (Naft, Tehran), Mohammad Khanzadeh (Zob Ahan, Isfahan), Montazeri and Beitashour.
The midfielders are Mehrdad Pouladi (Persepolis), Reza Haghighi (Persepolis), Andranik Teymourian (Esteghlal), Ghasem Hadadifar (Zob Ahan Isfahan), Bakhtiar Rahmani (Foolad), Nekounam and Dejagah.
Shojaei, Mohammad Khalatbari (Persepolis), Mehdi Sharifi (Sepahan, Isfahan), Karim Ansarifard (Tractor, Sazi), Ghoochannejhad, Jahanbakhsh, Azmoun and Reza Norouzi (Naft, Tehran) are the attackers.
Iran have had a troubled build-up to the tournament, which culminated in Queiroz starting a training camp in South Africa in April with only 12 players.
Iran’s participation in the 2014 World Cup finals is their fourth after 1978, 1998 and 2006.
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