Iran national football team

The very first Iran selection football team that traveled to Baku in 1926.

The Iranian Football Federation was founded in 1920.[10] In 1926 Tehran XI (selected players from Tehran Club, Toofan F.C. and Armenian Sports Club) 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.[7] Iran won the Asian Cup three consecutive times (1968, 1972, 1976), to which the team has not been able to add since.

Dunai and Ghelichkhani at the 1972 Summer Olympics

Additional information: 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC and OFC)

Additional information: 1978 FIFA World Cup – Group 4

Iran's squad playing in '78 World Cup match against Scotland in Cordoba, Estadio Cordoba, Argentina on 7 June 1978 (16:45)

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.[11] Team Melli managed to surprise the footballing community[12] 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.[13]

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 (1980–88) 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 (memorable victories in that tournament included a 3–0 victory against Saudi Arabia and an impressive 6–2 victory against South Korea) and their second stab at World Cup glory in 1998.[14]

Additional information: 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC–OFC play-off)

Additional information: 1998 FIFA World Cup – Group F

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.[15]

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.[14] Iran recorded their first World Cup victory in the second game,[13] 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.[16] Following defeat against Iran, the United States was eliminated from the World Cup.[17]

Iran played against Germany in the third game. The game was lost 2–0. The goals were scored by Oliver Bierhoff and Jürgen Klinsmann.[18] The one win and two losses meant Iran came third in the final group standing and failed to make it to the next round.[19] (Farhad Majidi and Mehdi Fonounizadeh were important absentees in the tournament.)

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

Additional information: 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)

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.

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.

Additional information: 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)

Additional information: 2006 FIFA World Cup Group D

Iran score against Angola during a 2006 FIFA World Cup 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.[20]

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 (penalty). 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.

Iran's squad in August 2006 against Syria, Manager: Amir Ghalenoei
Standing left to right: Nekounam, Enayati, Nikbakht, Shakouri, Fekri, Sadeghi
Sitting left to right: Taleblou, Madanchi, Khatibi, Teymourian, Mahdavikia

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.[21] The ban lasted less than a month,[22] and as a dispensation was given to allow the Iran under-23 team to participate in the football competition of the 2006 Asian Games,[23] fixtures were unaffected.

Additional information: 2007 AFC Asian Cup Group C

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.

Additional information: 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)

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.[24] 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.[25] He was replaced by Afshin Ghotbi. Iran failed to qualify for the 2010 World Cup after ranking 4th overall in its group.[26]

Additional information: 2011 AFC Asian Cup Group D

Iran's squad in July 2011 against Maldives, Manager: Carlos Queiroz
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.[27] 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.[28] 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."[29] Head coach Afshin Ghotbi also confirmed that it was a rumour and Iranian FA "has not taken any official stand on this issue."[30]

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.

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.[31] 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.[32]

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.[33][34]

Additional information: 2014 FIFA World Cup – Group F

Iran vs. Argentina, 2014 FIFA World Cup

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.[35] On 1 June 2014, Queiroz announced his 23-man squad.[36] Prior to the tournament, they founded the Central Asian Football Association.[37]

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.[38] 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.[39] 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.[40] 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.[41]

Additional information: 2015 AFC Asian Cup Group C

Iran qualified for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup as group winners, where Team Melli were the highest ranked seed.[42] Iran faced Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE in Group C. Queiroz announced his squad on 30 December 2014.[43]

With the second highest number of fans in the tournament after hosts Australia, the Iranians defeated Bahrain 2–0 with limited preparations.[44][45] 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.[46][47]

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.[48][49]

Additional information: 2018 FIFA World Cup Group B

Iran's squad in October 2016 against South Korea

Iran's squad against Portugal in Mordovia Arena at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Iran began their 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign with friendly matches against Chile and Sweden in March 2015.[50][51][52] Queiroz resigned from his managerial post thereafter due to disagreements with the Iranian Football Federation.[53] On 14 April 2015, Iran were drawn with Oman, India, Turkmenistan, and Guam in the second round of qualifiers.[54] 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,[55] after a 2–0 win at home over Uzbekistan on 12 June 2017.[56] They also clinched 1st place in their qualification group after South Korea's defeat to Qatar.[57]

Iran won the first match against Morocco after Aziz Bouhaddouz scoring an own goal.[58] The second match Iran lost against Spain with a goal scored by Diego Costa.[59] The third match against Portugal ended in a draw after the penalty scored by Karim Ansarifard,[60] and because Morocco could only manage a 2–2 draw to Spain, Iran was eliminated.[61] However, this has become Iran's best performance in the World Cup to date, when they achieved four points.

Additional information: 2019 AFC Asian Cup Group D

Having qualified for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup much earlier, Iran was drawn into group D, where they shared fate with rival Iraq and two minnows Vietnam and Yemen, the two latter was the first time Iran faced up. Iran opened their tournament against Yemen a bit slowly and almost conceded a goal, but after 10 minutes, Iran regained the ground and proved too dominant, thrashing Yemen 5–0.[62] A hard-fought 2–0 win over the brave Vietnamese side gave Iran direct qualification to the knockout stage.[63] Iran ended their group stage with a goalless draw over neighbor Iraq and took the first place of the group.[64] After the successful group stage, Iran encountered Oman, but a defending mistake almost cost Iran's chance, but Ahmed Mubarak Al-Mahaijri's penalty was saved by Alireza Beiranvand. After the early scare, Iran once again proved its dominance over Oman, beating Oman 2–0 to reach the last eight.[65] In the quarter-finals against a very defensive China, Iran outclassed the Chinese 3–0 to meet Japan in the semi-finals.[66] However, Iran missed the opportunity to reach the final once again, when they fell 0–3 to Japan due to poor second half performance.[67] Following the elimination, Carlos Queiroz announced he would resign as coach of Iran, following the failure.

Iran was the highest-ranked team to be seeded in the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification, and immediately, Iran was drawn into the second round, where they would have to deal with two old Arab rivals, Iraq and Bahrain, along with two minnows Cambodia and Hong Kong. In such a group, Bahrain and Iraq emerged as Iran's most significant adversaries. Iran, under new manager Marc Wilmots, began with an easy 2–0 win over Hong Kong away; before creating the thrashing 14–0 win over Southeast Asian minnow Cambodia, the latter game was historic as women were allowed to enter to the stadium, and it appeared that Iran's campaign would be smooth.[68][69] However, their next away encounters against Arab opponents Bahrain and Iraq went on to be nightmares, with Iran lost 0–1 and 1–2, respectively.[70][71] Following with two consecutive draws between Iraq and Bahrain, Iran was left floundering and even with the possibility of losing any chance to reach the World Cup right in the second round, and this led to the sacking of Marc Wilmots as coach.[72]

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".[73][74] 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.[75] 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.

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"[76][77][78] (entitled since the World Cup 2006) "Shiran e Iran",[79][80] meaning "The Iranian Lions" or "The Lions of Persia",[81] "Shirdelan", "Lion Hearts" and "Princes of Persia"[82][83] (used since AFC Asian Cup 2011)[84][85] 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.[86][87] A recently used nickname, due to the presence of the Asiatic cheetah on the 2014 World Cup jersey, is Youzpalangan which means 'The Cheetahs' (Persian: یوزپلنگان).[88]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Iran national football team kits.

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

The table below shows the history of kit supplier for the Iranian national football team.

Kit supplier	Period	Notes
Adidas	1978
Puma[89]	1980
Amini[90]	1981–1993
Shekari	1993–1998
Puma	1998–2000
Shekari	2000–2003
Daei Sport	2003–2006
Puma	2006–2007
Merooj	2007–2008
Daei Sport	2008–2009
Legea	2009–2012
Uhlsport	2012–2016
Givova[91]	2016
Adidas[92]	2016–2019
Uhlsport	2019–present

Iran and South Korea are sporting rivals[93][94] 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.[95] 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.[96][97] Iran leads the series with 13 wins, 7 draws and 9 losses.

Iran and Saudi Arabia are rivals.[98] The game has been ranked 9th in Bleacher Report's "International Football's 10 Most Politically-Charged Football Rivalries"[99] and 8th in Goal.com's "Football's 10 Greatest International Rivalries".[100]

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.

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.[101][102][103][104][105] In 2001, for the first time in decades, an Iran-Iraq match was not held at a neutral venue.[103] 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,[106] but the complaint was rejected.[107] Iran leads the series with 15 wins, 7 draws and 6 losses.

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.[88]

Host nation(s) / year	Round	Pld	W	D	L	GS	GA	Dif	Pts
2000	Champions	5	4	1	0	7	1	6	13
2002	Third place	4	1	2	1	4	3	1	5
2004	Champions	4	4	0	0	17	3	14	12
2007	Champions1	4	3	1	0	5	1	4	10
2008	Champions	4	4	0	0	13	2	11	12
2010	Runners-up	4	2	1	1	8	5	3	7
2012	Group Stage	3	1	2	0	2	1	1	5
2014	Did not enter
2019–onwards	Not WAFF Member
Total	7/9	28	19	7	2	56	16	40	64

¹ Iran played with B team in this tournament

  Win   Draw   Loss

Date	Venue	Opponent	Competition	Result	Iranian scorers	Captain
2019
14 November 2019	Amman International Stadium, Amman	Iraq	2022 WC qualification and 2023 AC qualification	1–2 L	Nourollahi  25'	Shojaei
2020
8 October 2020	Pakhtakor Central Stadium, Tashkent	Uzbekistan	Friendly	2–1 W	Azmoun  44' Taremi  51'	Hajsafi
12 November 2020	Koševo City Stadium, Sarajevo	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Friendly	2–0 W	Rezaei  46' Ghayedi  90+1'	Hajsafi

Date	Competition	Venue	Opponent
None scheduled
25 March 2021	2022 WC qualification and 2023 AC qualification	to be determined, TBD	Hong Kong
30 March 2021	2022 WC qualification and 2023 AC qualification	to be determined, TBD	Cambodia
07 June 2021	2022 WC qualification and 2023 AC qualification	to be determined, TBD	Bahrain
15 June 2021	2022 WC qualification and 2023 AC qualification	to be determined, TBD	Iraq

^*FIFA International match days 2018–2024[113]

^§AFC Calendar of Competitions 2019[114]

The following players have been called up for friendly match against  Bosnia and Herzegovina on 12 November 2020.

• Caps and goals correct as of 12 November 2020, after the match against  Bosnia and Herzegovina.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Rashid Mazaheri	(1989-05-18) 18 May 1989	3	0	Esteghlal
12	1GK	Payam Niazmand	(1995-04-06) 6 April 1995	1	0	Sepahan
22	1GK	Amir Abedzadeh	(1993-04-26) 26 April 1993	4	0	Marítimo
2	2DF	Sadegh Moharrami	(1996-03-24) 24 March 1996	6	0	Dinamo Zagreb
4	2DF	Shoja' Khalilzadeh	(1989-05-31) 31 May 1989	7	0	Al-Rayyan
5	2DF	Milad Mohammadi	(1993-09-29) 29 September 1993	36	0	Gent
8	2DF	Morteza Pouraliganji	(1992-04-19) 19 April 1992	42	2	Shenzhen
13	2DF	Hossein Kanaanizadegan	(1994-03-23) 23 March 1994	18	1	Persepolis
16	2DF	Mehdi Shiri	(1991-01-31) 31 January 1991	0	0	Persepolis
18	2DF	Aref Gholami	(1997-04-23) 23 April 1997	0	0	Esteghlal
19	2DF	Majid Hosseini	(1996-06-20) 20 June 1996	13	0	Trabzonspor
3	3MF	Ehsan Hajsafi (Captain)	(1990-02-25) 25 February 1990	112	6	Tractor
6	3MF	Saeid Ezatolahi	(1996-10-01) 1 October 1996	31	1	Vejle
7	3MF	Ali Gholizadeh	(1996-03-10) 10 March 1996	8	3	Charleroi
9	3MF	Ahmad Nourollahi	(1993-01-02) 2 January 1993	9	2	Persepolis
11	3MF	Vahid Amiri	(1988-04-02) 2 April 1988	54	1	Persepolis
14	3MF	Ali Karimi	(1994-02-11) 11 February 1994	13	0	Al-Duhail
15	3MF	Siamak Nemati	(1994-04-17) 17 April 1994	2	0	Persepolis
17	3MF	Akbar Imani	(1992-03-21) 21 March 1992	3	0	Tractor
21	3MF	Omid Noorafkan	(1997-04-09) 9 April 1997	3	0	Sepahan
10	4FW	Karim Ansarifard	(1990-04-03) 3 April 1990	82	26	AEK Athens
20	4FW	Kaveh Rezaei	(1992-04-05) 5 April 1992	14	2	Charleroi
23	4FW	Mehdi Ghayedi	(1998-12-05) 5 December 1998	2	1	Esteghlal

The following players have been called up for the team in the last 12 months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
DF	Mojtaba Najjarian	(1998-02-15) 15 February 1998	0	0	Foolad	v.  Bosnia and Herzegovina, 12 November 2020 PRE
MF	Saman Ghoddos	(1993-09-06) 6 September 1993	22	2	Brentford	v.  Uzbekistan, 8 October 2020
MF	Mehdi Torabi INJ	(1994-09-10) 10 September 1994	30	6	Al-Arabi	v.  Uzbekistan, 8 October 2020 PRE
FW	Sasan Ansari	(1991-05-04) 4 May 1991	0	0	Foolad	v.  Bosnia and Herzegovina, 12 November 2020 PRE
FW	Sardar Azmoun	(1995-01-01) 1 January 1995	51	33	Zenit Saint Petersburg	v.  Uzbekistan, 8 October 2020
FW	Mehdi Taremi	(1992-07-18) 18 July 1992	46	22	Porto	v.  Uzbekistan, 8 October 2020

Iran men's national team group picture on 30 May 2014 in a friendly match against Angola in Hartberg, Austria. Manager: Carlos Queiroz
Standing left to right: Mahini, Davari, Ansarifard, Alenemeh, Khanzadeh, Nekounam
Sitting left to right: Hajsafi, Beitashour, Haddadifar, Azmoun, Dejagah

Notes

• ^INJ Player withdrawn from the squad due to an injury.
• ^PRE Preliminary squad.
• ^RC Player suspended for yellow or red card accumulation.
• ^RET Player retired from the national team.
• ^SUS Player suspended.
• ^WD Player withdrew for non-injury related reasons
  .

• World Cup 2018 squad
• World Cup 2014 squad
• World Cup 2006 squad
• World Cup 1998 squad
• World Cup 1978 squad

• 1964 Olympic Games
• 1972 Olympic Games
• 1976 Olympic Games

• Asian Cup 2019 squad
• Asian Cup 2015 squad
• Asian Cup 2011 squad
• Asian Cup 2007 squad
• Asian Cup 2004 squad
• Asian Cup 2000 squad
• Asian Cup 1996 squad
• Asian Cup 1992 squad
• Asian Cup 1988 squad
• Asian Cup 1984 squad
• Asian Cup 1980 squad
• Asian Cup 1976 squads
• Asian Cup 1972 squads
• Asian Cup 1968 squads

See also Category:Iran international footballers

Asian Games

• 1998 Asian Games squad
• 1994 Asian Games squad
• 1990 Asian Games squad
• 1986 Asian Games squad
• 1982 Asian Games squad
• 1974 Asian Games squad

Since 2002, the Asian Games has been part of the under-23 team's record.

Ali Karimi, Maradona of Asia with 127 caps and 38 goals.

As of 13 November 2020[115]

As of 13 November 2020

Ali Daei is the world's all-time leading goalscorer in international matches, having scored 109 goals in 149 matches

Karim Bagheri is the world's most scoring midfielder of all-time with 50 goals in 87 matches.

As of 13 November 2020[115]

As of 8 October 2020, the 10 players with the most matches as captain:

• Asian Cup

Champions: 1968, 1972, 1976

Third place: 1980, 1988, 1996, 2004, 2019

Fourth place: 1984

• Asian Games

Gold Medal: 1974, 1990, 1998

Silver Medal: 1951, 1966

• West Asian Football Federation Championship

Champions: 2000, 2004, 2007*, 2008

Runners-up: 2010

Third place: 2002

• West Asian Games : 1 Champions, 1 Runners-up, 1 Third place
• ECO Cup

Champions: 1965, 1970, 1993

Runners-up: 1967, 1969, 1974

^* as B Team

• AFC/OFC Challenge Cup

Champions: 2003

• Afro-Asian Cup of Nations

Runners-up: 1991

• LG Cup (association football) : 3 Champions, 3 Third place
• Minor Tournament : 5 Champions, 6 Runners-up, 4 Third place