One of the most successful football teams in Asian football, Iran which is recognized by FIFA as IR IRAN has a long past in football.
Many things have occurred, for instance, once they were banned by the highest governing body of the sports, and another time after the religious revolution football was cast aside but the progression of Iranian football had never halted completely.
1980- 88 during the Iran- Iraq war, they didn’t take part in any kind of competition also as they had to play on neutral ground. However, Iran is a solid football-playing nation and its people love this game. Therefore, they’re in the sport as strongly as possible. Iran secured their place in the World Cup and placed in Group B. Let’s take a look at the insights of the team.
Iran Football team information:
- Association: Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran
- Captain: Ehsan Hajasfi
- Top Scorer: Ali Daei (109 goals)
- Most Capped Player: Zaved Nekounam (151 matches)
- FIFA code: IRN
- Nickname: Team Melli
- Current FIFA ranking: 22
- Best FIFA ranking: 15
- Lowest FIFA ranking: 122
FIFA World Cup 2022: Iran Coach and Team Lineup:
Coach: Carlos Queiroz
Team players:
- Goalkeeper: Beiranvand, Abedzadeh, Niazmand.
- Defender: Hajasfi, Noorafkan, Moharrami, Hosseini, Hardani, Gholami, Aghasi, Shiri, Jalali, Sohrabian
- Midfielder: Nourollahi, Ezatulahi, Sarlak, Ibrahimi, Mehedipour, Hosseinzadeh, Hosseini, Raffei
- Attacker: Azmoun, Taremi, Zahanbaksh, Torabi, Gholizadeh, Alipour, Allahyar Sayyad, Sadeghi
Iran Football team History:
Iran qualified for the World Cup six times. In 1978, 1998, 2006, 2014, 2018 and 2022. On other occasions, they failed to secure a place sometimes while they were reluctant to compete in the qualifying rounds for political reasons on some other times. Iran didn’t go beyond the group stage ever and their best achievement in the mega event is winning just two matches. One against their bitter political rival USA in 1998 and another in 2018 against Morocco.
Iran took part in the Asian Cup 15 times. They won the trophy thrice. They competed in 1968 for their inaugural pursuit in the continental tournament and they won the title. Later they were going to win it two more times in succession in 1972 and 1976.
Iran first played in the Asian Games in 1951. Then they played in the event another 9 times. They won this event three times also. In 1974, 1990 and 1998.
Iran played in Olympic football on three occasions and their best result in the greatest show on the earth was reaching the Quarterfinal in 1976.
Group B opponents:
- England
- USA
- Wales
FIFA World Cup 2022: Iran Group stage match Fixtures:
- November 21: England vs Iran, 7.00 pm
- November 25: Wales vs Iran, 4.00 pm
- November 30: Iran vs USA, 1.00 am
