TEHRAN – Iran’s U17 national football team arrived in Laos on Saturday ahead of their participation in the AFC U17 Asian Cup Uzbekistan 2027 qualifiers.

The Young Persians have been drawn in Group D alongside hosts Laos, Jordan, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Coached by Armaghan Ahmadi, Iran will open their campaign against Pakistan on Nov. 11 at the New Laos National Stadium in Vientiane. They will then face Sri Lanka on Nov. 14 before taking on Jordan and Laos on Nov. 17 and 20, respectively.

Only the group winners will secure qualification for the AFC U17 Asian Cup Uzbekistan 2027.

The qualification campaign gets underway on Nov. 8, with 35 teams competing in the 22nd edition of the qualifiers.

The teams have been divided into seven groups, with each group competing in a centralized single round-robin format. The qualifiers will run until November 20, with only the seven group winners advancing to the final tournament, scheduled for May 2027.

They will join nine AFC representatives who have automatically qualified through their participation in the FIFA U-17 World Cup Qatar 2026: Australia, China, Japan, Korea Republic, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

Meanwhile, 13 nations will be aiming to qualify for the tournament for the first time: Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Chinese Taipei, Guam, Lebanon, Macau, Maldives, Mongolia, Northern Mariana Islands, Palestine, the Philippines and Sri Lanka.