Iran national football team


The Iran national football team, also known as Team Melli, represents Iran in international football and is controlled by the Iran Football Federation. From December 2014 until May 2018, the men's national football team of Iran remained the highest-ranked team in Asia, representing the longest continuous period of time a team has been top of the continent in the rankings.
Iran is one of the most successful men's national teams in Asia with three Asian Cup championships. Iran's best performance at the Olympics was reaching the quarterfinals in the 1976 Montreal Games. Iran has qualified for the World Cup five times but has never advanced past the group stage. They have, however, won two matches in the World Cup, one against the United States in 1998, and their opener against Morocco in 2018.

History

Early years

The Iranian Football Federation was founded in 1920. In 1926 Tehran XI traveled across the border to Baku, USSR, this was the first away football match for an Iranian team. This Tehran Select team is the predecessor of Iran's national football team and Azerbaijan national football team.
The first match that Team Melli played was on 23 August 1941, away at Kabul in a 1–0 win against British India, while Iran's first FIFA international match was on 25 August 1941, away at Afghanistan. Iran won the Asian Cup three consecutive times, to which the team has not been able to add since.

1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina

In 1978, Iran made its first appearance in the World Cup after defeating Australia in Tehran. Iran lost two of three group stage matches against the Netherlands and Peru. Team Melli managed to surprise the footballing community by securing one point in its first ever World Cup appearance against Scotland which saw Iraj Danaeifard cancel out an own goal scored by Andranik Eskandarian for the 1–1 draw.

After the Revolution

After the 1979 Revolution, football was somewhat neglected and cast aside. During the 1980s, the Iranian national team did not feature in World Cup competitions due to the Iran–Iraq War and domestic football suffered the inevitable effects of conflict. The national team withdrew from the Asian qualifiers for the 1982 World Cup, and refused to participate in the qualifiers for the 1986 World Cup because of having to play on neutral ground. The war and political upheavals left Iran without major club competitions until 1989 when the Qods League was established. A year later, the Qods League was renamed the Azadegan League. Despite failing to qualify for either the 1990 or the 1994 World Cups, it was during this period that a number of quality players burst onto the Iranian football scene, laying the foundation for third place in the 1996 AFC Asian Cup and their second stab at World Cup glory in 1998.

1998 FIFA World Cup in France

In November 1997, Iran qualified for the 1998 World Cup after eliminating Australia in a close playoff series. Both games finished undecided, but Iran managed to qualify due to the away goals rule. Iran held Australia to a 1–1 draw at home, and a 2–2 draw in Melbourne; however, since Iran had scored more away goals, they were able to qualify for the Cup.
At their first game of the Group F at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, Iran played well against Yugoslavia, losing narrowly 1–0, only to a free kick goal by Siniša Mihajlović. Iran recorded their first World Cup victory in the second game, beating the United States 2–1, with Hamid Estili and Mehdi Mahdavikia scoring goals for Iran. The Iran vs USA World Cup match was preheated with much excitement because of each country's political stance after the Iranian revolution and the Iran hostage crisis. However, in an act of defiance against all forms of hatred or politics in sports, both sides presented one another with gifts and flowers and took ceremonial pictures before the match kickoff. Following defeat against Iran, the United States was eliminated from the World Cup.
Iran played against Germany in the third game. The game was lost 2–0. The goals were scored by Oliver Bierhoff and Jürgen Klinsmann. The one win and two losses meant Iran came third in the final group standing and failed to make it to the next round.

2000 AFC Asian Cup

Iran finished first in the group stage of the tournament, but lost to South Korea in the quarter-finals.

2002 FIFA World Cup qualification

Iran failed to qualify for World Cup 2002 after an aggregate defeat to the Republic of Ireland, losing 2–0 in Dublin and winning 1–0 in Tehran. The elimination saw manager Miroslav Blažević step down from the top spot to be replaced by his assistant Branko Ivanković, who stepped up from assistant coach.

2004 AFC Asian Cup

After qualifying to the Asian Cup 2004, Iran was drawn with Thailand, Oman, and Japan in the tournament. Iran finished second in this group. In quarter-final clash against South Korea, Iran won 4–3 in normal time. In the semi-final, Iran lost to the host, China on penalty kicks. Iran won against Bahrain 4–2 to finish third place in the tournament.

2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany

match.
On 8 June 2005, Iran together with Japan became the first country to qualify for the 2006 World Cup, making it Iran's 3rd appearance on the world stage of football. The qualification round both in 2001 and 2004–05 resulted in mass celebrations, hysteria and rioting, causing internal chaos and unrest between youth and government officials. The Iran versus Japan leg of the 2006 World Cup qualifiers in Tehran, played on 24 March 2005, was the highest attended qualifying match among all confederations. The match ended in tragedy with 5 fans killed and several others injured as they left the Azadi Stadium at the end of the match.
Iran started their 2006 FIFA World Cup appearance with high expectations from fans and media. Their first match was against Mexico in Group D. The game was level 1–1 at the half-time, but Iran lost at the end because of a defensive mistake. The final score, 3–1, was brought about by goals from Omar Bravo and Sinha for Mexico, with Yahya Golmohammadi scoring the only Iran goal.
Iran played against Portugal in the second game. The game was lost 2–0. The goals were scored by Deco and Cristiano Ronaldo. The two losses meant Iran was eliminated from the competition, before their third and final game against Angola. Iran drew 1–1 with Angola on 21 June 2006, Sohrab Bakhtiarizadeh scoring the Iran goal.

Temporary suspension

In November 2006, Iran was suspended by FIFA from all participation in international football, on the grounds of governmental interference in the national football association. The ban lasted less than a month, and as a dispensation was given to allow the Iran under-23 team to participate in the football competition of the 2006 Asian Games, fixtures were unaffected.

2007 AFC Asian Cup

IRIFF appointed Amir Ghalenoei as head coach of the Iran national football team on 17 July 2006 to succeed Branko Ivanković. After finishing first in the qualifying round 2 points ahead of South Korea and then finishing first in the group stage of the final tournament in Malaysia, Iran lost to South Korea in a penalty shoot-out of the quarterfinal match and was eliminated from the 2007 Asian Cup. Ghalenoei was heavily criticized by the press. After a period of discussion in the Iranian football federation, his contract was not renewed and Team Melli was left with a caretaker manager for several months.

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification

Ali Daei was chosen to become the new coach after Spanish coach Javier Clemente had been close to signing on as Iran's national team manager but talks collapsed when he refused to live full-time in the country. Iran was in the same FIFA World Cup qualifying group as Kuwait, Syria and United Arab Emirates in the third round. They played home and away against each of the other three teams in group 5. In the middle of the fourth round, Ali Daei was let go from his position as the Iranian national coach on 29 March 2009. He was replaced by Afshin Ghotbi. Iran failed to qualify for the 2010 World Cup after ranking 4th overall in its group.

2011 AFC Asian Cup


Standing left to right: Aghili, Hosseini, Haddadifar, Ansarifard, Zare, Pooladi

Sitting left to right: Heydari, Norouzi, Rahmati, Khalatbari, Karimi
Iran renewed the contract with Afshin Ghotbi until the end of 2011 AFC Asian Cup and the team qualified to the tournament with 13 points as the group winners.
During the final qualification match against South Korea, several Iranian players started the match wearing green armbands or wristbands, a symbol of protest at the outcome of the Iranian presidential election. Most removed them at half-time. The newspaper Iran reported that Ali Karimi, Mehdi Mahdavikia, Hosein Kaebi, and Vahid Hashemian had received life bans from the Iranian FA for the gesture. However, the Iranian FA denied this claim in a response to FIFA's inquiry saying that "the comments in foreign media are nothing but lies and a mischievous act." Head coach Afshin Ghotbi also confirmed that it was a rumour and Iranian FA "has not taken any official stand on this issue."
Afshin Ghotbi was able to qualify for 2011 Asian Cup and finished second in West Asian Football Federation Championship 2010 just a few months before the 2011 Asian Cup. Iran was able to gain all nine points in the group stage of the 2011 Asian Cup but after an extra time goal from South Korea, Iran was yet again unable to get to the semifinals of the competition.

2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil

Qualification

On 4 April 2011, former Real Madrid manager Carlos Queiroz agreed to a two-and-a-half-year deal to coach the Iranian national team until the end of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Under Queiroz, Iran began their World Cup qualification campaign successfully, defeating the Maldives 4–0 in the first leg of their second round of qualifiers. After winning 5–0 on aggregate, Iran advanced to the third round of qualifiers, where they were drawn with Indonesia, Qatar and Bahrain. Iran highlighted their position at the top of their group by defeating Bahrain 6–0 at home in the Azadi Stadium, as well as inviting former German youth international, Ashkan Dejagah, who scored twice on his debut against Qatar. After a 4–1 win at Indonesia, Iran qualified for the final round of direct qualifiers, the fourth round. In the fourth round, Iran was drawn with South Korea, Qatar, Uzbekistan, and Lebanon in their group. Queiroz made new foreign-based additions to his squad, adding players such as Reza Ghoochannejhad to his team. Iran started their fourth round of Asian qualifiers with a 1–0 win in Uzbekistan. Team Melli then drew Qatar and lost in Lebanon before defeating South Korea at the Azadi on 16 October with a goal from captain Javad Nekounam. After a 1–0 loss in Tehran against Uzbekistan, Iran defeated Qatar 1–0 in Doha and Lebanon 4–0 at home. In their last qualification match, Iran defeated South Korea 1–0 in Ulsan Munsu with a goal from Ghoochannejhad, resulting in their qualification to the 2014 FIFA World Cup as group winners with 16 points. Thus, Iran became the third team that Queiroz has managed to qualify for the World Cup, having reached the 2002 edition with South Africa and the 2010 edition with Portugal, leading the latter to a knockout stage finish. Iran continued their winning streak, securing qualification to the 2015 Asian Cup months later as well.

Foreign-based call-ups

Since Queiroz's role as manager of the Iranian national team, he has been renowned for introducing players from the Iranian diaspora to the national squad. These players include German-Iranians Daniel Davari and Ashkan Dejagah, Dutch-Iranian Reza Ghoochannejhad, Swedish-Iranians Omid Nazari and Saman Ghoddos, and Iranian-American Steven Beitashour among others.

Finals

Iran qualified for the 2014 FIFA World Cup as group winners and competed in Group F alongside Argentina, Nigeria, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The sold out Argentina match tickets were among the eight most purchased for this edition of the tournament. On 1 June 2014, Queiroz announced his 23-man squad. Prior to the tournament, they founded the Central Asian Football Association.
In the opening match of the tournament on 16 June, Iran drew Nigeria 0–0, making it their first clean sheet of the FIFA World Cup. In their next match, Iran was defeated by Argentina 1–0 with a late goal from Lionel Messi, and received praise after holding Argentina for 90 minutes while creating some attacking opportunities of their own. Iran was eliminated from the tournament in their next game, a 3–1 defeat to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Iran's lone goal was scored by Reza Ghoochannejhad. After the tournament, Queiroz declared he would resign as manager of Iran, but later switched and extended his contract until the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

2015 AFC Asian Cup

Iran qualified for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup as group winners, where Team Melli were the highest ranked seed. Iran faced Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE in Group C. Queiroz announced his squad on 30 December 2014.
With the second highest number of fans in the tournament after hosts Australia, the Iranians defeated Bahrain 2–0 with limited preparations. A defensive minded Iran then defeated Qatar 1–0 thanks to a Sardar Azmoun goal before defeating the UAE by the same scoreline to reach the top of their group.
In the quarter-finals Iran faced Iraq, who they had beaten weeks prior in a friendly match. Having received a controversial red card in the first half, Iran competed with ten men, managing to score goals late in extra time to draw the match 3–3. In the ensuing penalty shootout, Iran lost 7–6 in sudden death.

2018 FIFA World Cup

Iran began their 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign with friendly matches against Chile and Sweden in March 2015. Queiroz resigned from his managerial post thereafter due to disagreements with the Iranian Football Federation. On 14 April 2015, Iran were drawn with Oman, India, Turkmenistan, and Guam in the second round of qualifiers. On 26 April, Queiroz announced that he would continue as the manager of Iran for their 2018 World Cup campaign.
Iran became the second team to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, after a 2–0 win at home over Uzbekistan on 12 June 2017. They also clinched 1st place in their qualification group after South Korea's defeat to Qatar.
Iran won the first match against Morocco after Aziz Bouhaddouz scoring an own goal. The second match Iran lost against Spain with a goal scored by Diego Costa. The third match against Portugal ended in a draw after the penalty scored by Karim Ansarifard, and because Morocco could only manage a 2–2 draw to Spain, Iran was eliminated. However, this has become Iran's best performance in the World Cup to date, when they achieved four points.

Political protests

2009 presidential election protests

During the final game of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against South Korea in Seoul on 17 June 2009, seven members of the team, Javad Nekounam, Ali Karimi, Hossein Kaebi, Masoud Shojaei, Mohammad Nosrati, Vahid Hashemian, and captain Mehdi Mahdavikia wore green wristbands in support of the Iranian Green Movement during the 2009 Iranian election protests. Initial rumors and false reports were that all seven players were banned for life by the Iranian Football Federation, however, state-run media claimed that all seven had "retired". On 24 June 2009, FIFA wrote to Iran's Football Federation asking for clarification on the situation. The Iranian Football Federation replied that no disciplinary action has been taken against any player. As of 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification, many of the above players have played again for the national team, notably Javad Nekounam, Masoud Shojaei, Mehdi Mahdavikia, and Ali Karimi.

Team image

Nicknames

The Iranian national team has received several nicknames by supporters and media. The most common one used is "Team Melli", which literally means "The National Team" in Persian language. Although the Iranian supporters have popularized "Team Melli", other nicknames for the team include "Persian Stars" "Shiran e Iran", meaning "The Iranian Lions" or "The Lions of Persia", "Shirdelan", "Lion Hearts" and "Princes of Persia" have been used in media as well. Iran's slogan for the 2014 FIFA World Cup was Honour of Persia, selected in an internet poll held by FIFA. A recently used nickname, due to the presence of the Asiatic cheetah on the 2014 World Cup jersey, is Youzpalangan which means 'The Cheetahs'.

Kits and crests

The Iran national football team's kit traditionally utilizes white.

Kit suppliers

The table below shows the history of kit supplier for the Iranian national football team.
Kit supplierPeriodNotes
Adidas1978
Puma1980
Amini1981–1993
Shekari1993–1998
Puma1998–2000
Shekari2000–2003
Daei Sport2003–2006
Puma2006–2007
Merooj2007–2008
Daei Sport2008–2009
Legea2009–2012
Uhlsport2012–2016
Givova2016
Adidas2016–2019
Uhlsport2019–present

Rivalries

South Korea

Iran and South Korea are sporting rivals and have played against each other officially since 1958, totally 29 matches as of October 2016, including eight World Cup qualifiers. These two teams were among the strongest Asian national football teams during the 1960s and 1970s. Since then, the teams have developed one of Asia's greatest rivalries. Although the teams only had one chance to play against each other in the final match of the AFC Asian Cup, in 1972, they faced each other five consecutive times at the quarterfinals stage from 1996–2011. Iran leads the series with 13 wins, 7 draws and 9 losses.

Saudi Arabia

Iran and Saudi Arabia are rivals. The game has been ranked 9th in Bleacher Report's "International Football's 10 Most Politically-Charged Football Rivalries" and 8th in Goal.com's "Football's 10 Greatest International Rivalries".
Iran and Saudi Arabia have had 15 matches so far. All of their matches have been competitive and they have never played a friendly match. The first match was played on 24 August 1975, with Iran defeating Saudi Arabia 3–0. Iran leads the series with 5 wins, 6 draws and 4 losses.

Iraq

According to the Malay Mail, "Emotions are always high when Iran and Iraq meet on the football pitch". The rivalry is not such a football-inspired ill-feeling between the two, but more of geography, religion and history. Iran and Iraq are neighboring countries, sharing a long history. In the contemporary era, especially during the reign of Saddam Hussein, the two countries had bad relations and fought the Iran–Iraq War for 8 years. In 2001, for the first time in decades, an Iran-Iraq match was not held at a neutral venue. The rivalry was escalated after Iraq knocked Iran out of the 2015 AFC Asian Cup in controversial circumstances; Iran lodged a complaint to the AFC that one of Iraq's players had submitted a positive doping test months before, hoping to see Iraq removed from the tournament and themselves reinstated in their place, but the complaint was rejected. Iran leads the series with 15 wins, 7 draws and 6 losses.

Stadiums

Since 1972, Iran's national stadium is Tehran's Azadi Stadium with a nominal capacity of 78,116 spectators. Azadi Stadium is the 28th largest association football stadium in the world, 7th in Asia and 1st in West Asia. A record was set in Azadi for the 1998 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Australia with over 128,000 in attendance. The government restricts Iranian women from entering the stadiums. However, FIFA condemned the move and wrote to Iranian Football Federation in June 2019. The federation in their letter gave deadline to uplift the restrictions and let women enter the stadiums.On 25 August 2019, deputy Sports Minister Jamshid Taghizadeh allowing the entry to stadiums said:"Women can go to Tehran’s Azadi stadium to watch the match between Iran’s national team and Cambodia in October for the Qatar World Cup qualifier.”
From 1942 to 1972, Amjadieh Stadium was Iran's national stadium. The other stadiums that Iran has been played international games are Takhti and Yadegar Emam Stadium, Takhti Stadium, Enghelab Stadium, Hafezieh Stadium and Takhti Stadium.
The Iran National Football Camp is home to Iran's trainings.

Sponsorship

Primary sponsors include Adidas, Bank Pasargad, 9090, Golrang, Oila and Kaspid.

Asiatic cheetah

On 1 February 2014, Iran announced the addition of the endangered Asiatic cheetah on their 2014 FIFA World Cup kits in order to bring attention to its conservation efforts.

Tournament records

World Cup

Asian Cup

Olympic Games

Asian Games

West Asian Championship

Central Asian Championship

West Asian Games

Host nation / yearRoundPldWDLGSGADifPts
1997Champions ????????
2002Runners-up41305416
2005Third place4310102810
Total3/38440156916

RCD Cup / ECO Cup

Host nation / yearRoundPldWDLGSGADifPts
1965Champions21104134
1967Runners-up21012113
1969Runners-up21014623
1970Champions21108174
1974Runners-up21012203
1993Champions 4400101912
Total6/61492330121829

Results and fixtures

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

Previous matches

Forthcoming matches

Records versus other nations

Coaching staff

Head Coach Dragan Skočić
Assistant Coach Anton Usnik
Vahid Hashemian
Goalkeeping Coach Mladen Žganjer
Fitness Coach
Analyst Mehdi Hosseinpour
Physiotherapist Dr. Alireza Shahab
Team Doctor Dr. Parhan Khanlari

Players

Current squad

The following players have been called up for World Cup qualifiers match against on 14 November 2019
The following players have been called up for the team in the last 12 months.
. Manager: Carlos Queiroz

Standing left to right: Mahini, Davari, Ansarifard, Alenemeh, Khanzadeh, Nekounam

Sitting left to right: Hajsafi, Beitashour, Haddadifar, Azmoun, Dejagah
;Notes

World Cups

;Asian Games

Most capped players

, the 10 players with the most caps:
#NameCareerCapsGoals
1Javad Nekounam2000–201515139
2Ali Daei1993–2006149109
3Ali Karimi1998–201212738
4Jalal Hosseini2007–20181158
5Mehdi Mahdavikia1996–200911113
6Ehsan Hajsafi2008–1096
7Andranik Teymourian2005–20161019
8Karim Bagheri1993–20108750
8Masoud Shojaei2004–878
10Hossein Kaebi2002–2010841

Most capped goalkeepers

, the 5 goalkeepers with the most caps:
#NameCareerCaps
1Ahmad Reza Abedzadeh1987–199879
2Mehdi Rahmati2004–201276
3Ebrahim Mirzapour2001–201171
4Nasser Hejazi1968–198062
5Alireza Beiranvand2014–40

The records are collected based on data from and .
Bold names denote a player still playing or available for selection.

Top goalscorers

, the 10 players with the most goals:
#NameCareerGoalsCapsAvg/game
1Ali Daei 1993–20061091490.73
2Karim Bagheri1993–201050870.57
3Javad Nekounam2000–2015391510.26
4Ali Karimi1998–2012381270.30
5Sardar Azmoun2014–32490.66
6Karim Ansarifard2009–26810.30
7Mehdi Taremi2015–21440.48
8Gholam Hossein Mazloumi1969–197719400.48
9Farshad Pious1984–199418340.53
10Reza Ghoochannejhad2012–201817440.39

The records are collected based on data from , & .
Bold names denote a player still playing or available for selection.

Iran captains

#ReignPlayerCaps Years activeMatches as captain
11965–1967Mohammad Ranjbar23 1959–19679
21967–1970Hassan Habibi31 1958–197010
31970–1972Mostafa Arab48 1959–197213
41972–1977Parviz Ghelichkhani64 1964–197726
51977–1980Ali Parvin76 1970–198031
61980Nasser Hejazi62 1968–19807
71980–1984Mehdi Dinvarzadeh26 1977–19849
81984–87
1989–91		Mohammad Panjali45 1978–199127
91987–89
1991–93		Sirous Ghayeghran43 1986–199322
101993Hamid Derakhshan41 1980–199312
111993–1994Farshad Pious35 1984–19944
121996Mojtaba Moharrami37 1988–19962
131996–1998Ahmad Reza Abedzadeh79 1988–199838
141998–1999Nader Mohammadkhani64 1988–19999
151999–2000Javad Zarincheh80 1987–20008
162000–2006Ali Daei149 1993–200680
172006–2009Mehdi Mahdavikia110 1996–200917
182009–2015Javad Nekounam151 2000–201556
192015–2016Andranik Teymourian101 2005–20168
202016–Masoud Shojaei87 2004–10
212016–Ashkan Dejagah59 2012–17
222016–Ehsan Hajsafi109 2008–16

Most matches as captain

As of 14 November 2019, the 10 players with the most matches as captain:
#PlayerCapsYears activeMatches as captain
1Ali Daei1491993–200680
2Javad Nekounam1512000–201556
3Ahmad Reza Abedzadeh791988–199838
4Ali Parvin761970–198031
5Mohammad Panjali451978–199127
6Parviz Ghelichkhani641964–197726
7Sirous Ghayeghran431986–199322
8Ashkan Dejagah592012–18
9Mehdi Mahdavikia1101996–200917
10Ali Karimi1271998–201216

Iran World Cup captains

Iran Asian Cup captains

Honours

Summary

Continental

* as B Team

Intercontinental