Tehran, Nov 24, IRNA -- Advisor to the Iranian Football Federation (IFF) Abbas Tourabnia said here Sunday that the Iran-Brazil football friendly, scheduled to be held on December 17, has been cancelled.

He told IRNA that all of Brazil's matches are sponsored by a Brazilian advertisement company which had picked Iran, as the winner of the Asian Football Champions held in Pusan, South Korea, to play a match with World Cup Champions.

He said as is the routine in international friendlies, top football teams will generally demand a fee. The total cost including, miscellaneous expense was estimated to be about US dlrs 500,000, Tourabnia said.

Brazil's offer to play the Iranian national team was greeted with enthusiasm by the IFF officials and the Iranian football fans and discussions began in earnest about three weeks ago with domestic and foreign sponsors, in order to come up with the required amount, he stated.

But, the domestic sponsors were not prepared to go a head with the deal and their foreign counterparts said that their 2002 advertisement budget were saturated, 'hence the negotiations broke down'.

"Although the friendly will not go ahead at this time, the IFF will offer a new proposal to Brazil," the official underlined.

The proposal will consist of inviting Brazil for friendly in 2003 to be held in Tehran, Tourabnia said adding on the condition that the South American team bring all its star players to Tehran, 'just as they did in their recent match with South Korea'.

If accepted, a new date will be set and announced to the media, he said.

Meanwhile, Iran's victory over Japan in Asian football championship final in October has earned the West Asian team a chance to take on New Zealand in next year's Asian Football Confederation (AFC)/Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) Challenge Cup.

In a statement faxed to IRNA in October, AFC said Iran, who claimed their record fourth Asiad football gold with their 2-1 win over the Japanese in Pusan, will take on New Zealand's 'All Whites' in a two-leg tie tentatively scheduled for March or April 2003.

New Zealand recently scored a surprise 1-0 win over Australia to claim the Oceania Nations Cup and they will be keen to take on the Iranians as they prepare for next year's FIFA Confederations Cup.

Japan beat Australia 3-0 in the first AFC/OFC Challenge Cup match-up in Shizuoka last year.