Iran national football team

Iran
	Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s)	Team Melli; ("The National Team")
Association	I.R.I.F.F.
Confederation	AFC (Asia)
Head coach	vacant
Captain	Mehdi Mahdavikia
Most caps	Ali Daei (149)
Top scorer	Ali Daei (109)
Home stadium	Azadi Stadium
FIFA code	IRN
First colours	Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	40
Highest	15 (July 2005)
Lowest	122 (May 1996)
First international
	Afghanistan 0 - 0 Iran ; (Kabul, Afghanistan; January 1, 1941)
Biggest win
	Iran 19 - 0 Guam ; (Tabriz, Iran; November 24, 2000)
Biggest defeat
	Turkey 6 - 1 Iran ; (Istanbul, Turkey; May 28, 1950) ; South Korea 5 - 0 Iran ; (Tokyo, Japan; May 28, 1958) ; Hungary 5 - 0 Iran ; (Munich, Germany; August 27, 1972)
World Cup
Appearances	3 (first in 1978)
Best result	Round 1, 1978, 1998, 2006
AFC Asian Cup
Appearances	11 (first in 1968)
Best result	Winners, 1968, 1972, 1976

The Iran national football team represents Iran in international football competitions and is controlled by the Islamic Republic of Iran Football Federation. The Iranian national football team is known as Team Melli. It is one of the strongest teams in Asia, the second highest ranking Asian team in FIFA's latest World Rankings. As of September 2007, Iran is ranked 40 in the FIFA World Rankings and 20 in the World Football Elo Ratings. Iran was, at its peak, ranked 15th in both FIFA and Elo world rankings.

History

Iran have won the Asian Cup three consecutive times (1968, 1972, 1976) and have finished third four times. In 1978, Iran made its first appearance in the World Cup and lost two of their three group stage games against the Netherlands and Peru. However, they managed to create a surprise by drawing 1-1 against Scotland with a late Iraj Danaeifard goal.

After the 1979 Revolution, football was somewhat neglected and cast aside during the mid 1980s due to internal unrest and the Iran-Iraq War although rumors saying that Iran didn't play football during that time are untrue. ^{[citation needed]} Football managed to make its revival in the early 1990s with new talents like Ali Daei, Mehdi Mahdavikia, Khodadad Azizi and Karim Bagheri.

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. Iran also recorded their first World Cup victory in that tournament, beating the United States 2-1. The Iran vs USA World Cup match was preheated with much excitement because of each country's political stance after the Iranian revolution. 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. ^{[citation needed]}

On June 8, 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 was the highest attended qualifying match among all confederations.

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.^[1] The ban lasted less than a month, ^[2] and as a dispensation was given to allow the Iran under-23 team to participate in the football competition of the 2006 Asian Games, ^[3] fixtures were unaffected.

Stadium

Iran play their home games in the massive Azadi (Freedom) Stadium which was built in the mid 1970s with a capacity of over 100,000. A Record was set in Azadi for the home match of the World Cup Qualifying campaign against Japan, where the whole stadium was filled.

Kit

Iran's current jersey is provided by Puma. Iran's previous jersey was manufactured by Ali Daei's company Daei Sport's Wears & Equipments

Tournament records

World Cup record

Year	Round	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	Scorers
1930 to 1970	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1974	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1978	Round 1	3	0	1	2	2	8	Danaeifard / Rowshan / Eskandarian(OG) (1)
1982	Withdrew	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1986	Disqualified for refusal to play at neutral sites	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1990	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1994	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1998	Round 1	3	1	0	2	2	4	Estili / Mahdavikia (1)
2002	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2006	Round 1	3	0	1	2	2	6	Golmohammadi / Bakhtiarizadeh (1)
Total	Best: Round 1	9	1	2	6	6	18	-

Olympic Games record

Year	Round	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	Scorers
1964	Round 1	3	0	1	2	1	6	Nirlou
1968	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1972	Round 1	3	1	0	2	1	9	Halvaei
1976	Quarter Finals	3	1	0	2	4	5	Mazloomi/Parvin/Rowshan/Ghelichkhani
1980	Qualified but boycotted the games	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1984	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1988	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	Best: Quarter Finals	9	2	1	6	6	20	-

As of 1992 Olympic Games campaign onwards U23 Team played in qualification.

Asian Cup record

1956 - Did not enter
1960 - Did not qualify
1964 - Did not enter
1968 - Champions
1972 - Champions
1976 - Champions
1980 - Third place
1984 - Fourth place
1988 - Third place
1992 - Round 1
1996 - Third place
2000 - Quarterfinals
2004 - Third place
2007 - Quarterfinals

Asian Games record

1951 - Runners-Up
1954 - Did not enter
1958 - Round 1
1962 - Did not enter
1966 - Runners-Up
1970 - Round 1
1974 - Champions
1978 - Did not enter
1982 - Quarterfinals
1986 - Quarterfinals
1990 - Champions
1994 - Round 1
1998 - Champions

As of 2002 Asian Games Campaign onwards U23 Team participated in the Tournament.

West Asian Football Federation Championship record

2000 - Winners
2002 - Third Place
2004 - Winners
2007 - Winners

ECO Cup (RCD Cup 1965-1974 & ECO Cup in 1993) record

1965 - Winners
1967 - Runners-Up
1969 - Runners-Up
1970 - Winners
1974 - Runners-Up
1993 - Winners

Last and next games

June 20, 2007, Amman, Jordan - Iran 2 - 0 Palestine 2007 West Asian Championship

June 22, 2007, Amman, Jordan - Jordan 0 - 1 Iran 2007 West Asian Championship

June 24, 2007, Amman, Jordan - Iran 2 - 1 Iraq 2007 West Asian Championship

July 2, 2007, Tehran, Iran - Iran 8 - 1 Jamaica Friendly

July 11, 2007, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Iran 2 - 1 Uzbekistan Asian Cup 2007

July 15, 2007, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - China 2 - 2 Iran Asian Cup 2007

July 18, 2007, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Malaysia 0 - 2 Iran Asian Cup 2007

July 22, 2007, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Iran 0 - 0 South Korea (2 - 4 on penalties) Asian Cup 2007

Managers

Name	Period	Matches	Wins	Draws	Losses	Honours
Hossein Sadaghiani	1941-1950
Mostafa Salimi	1950-1952
Edmund Masayufskei	1955-1957
Ferenc Sas	1957-1959
Hossein Fekri	1962-1966
Gyorgy Szucs	1966-1967
Zdravko Rajkov	1968-1970
Igor Netto	1970-1971
Parviz Dehdari	1971-1972
Mahmoud Bayati	1972-1974
Frank O'Farrell	1974-1976
Heshmat Mohajerani	1976-1978					Winner of 1976 Asian Cup, Qualification to 1978 FIFA World Cup
Hassan Habibi	1979-1980
Parviz Aboutaleb	1981-1982	2	1	0	1
Hossein Abshenasan	1982-1983
Fereydoun Asgharzadeh	1984-1986
Parviz Dehdari	1986-1989					Third place at 1988 Asian Cup
Ali Parvin	1989-1993					Gold Medal at 1990 Asian Games
Stanko Poklepovic	1993-1994
Mohammad Mayeli Kohan	1995-1997					Third place at 1996 Asian Cup
Valdeir Vieira	Nov-Dec 1997	3	0	2	1	Qualification to 1998 FIFA World Cup
Tomislav Ivic	Jan-May 1998	5	1	2	2
Jalal Talebi	May-Jul 1998	4	1	0	3
Mansour Pourheidari	Oct 1998 2000					Gold Medal at 1998 Asian Games
Jalal Talebi	2000					Quarterfinals at 2000 Asian Cup
Ademar Braga	Nov 2000 Feb 2001	3	3	0	0
Miroslav Blazevic	Mar-Nov 2001	19	10	4	5
Branko Ivankovic	Feb-Sep 2002	9	4	3	2
Homayoon Shahrokhi	Feb-Sep 2003	6	2	1	3
Branko Ivankovic	Oct 2003 Jul 2006	41	28	6	7	Third place at 2004 Asian Cup, Qualification to 2006 FIFA World Cup
Amir Ghalenoei	Aug 2006 July 2007	21	13	7	1	Quarterfinals at 2007 Asian Cup

Players

Current squad

Goalkeepers

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Club
1	1GK	Hassan Roudbarian	(1978-07-06) July 6, 1978 (age 46)	18	Persepolis F.C.
22	1GK	Vahid Talebloo	(1982-05-26) May 26, 1982 (age 42)	5	Esteghlal F.C.
30	1GK	Mehdi Rahmati	(1983-02-02) February 2, 1983 (age 41)	10	Mes Kerman F.C.

Defenders

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
3	2DF	Amir Hossein Sadeghi	(1981-09-06) September 6, 1981 (age 43)	9	0	Esteghlal F.C.
12	2DF	Jalal Hosseini	(1982-02-03) February 3, 1982 (age 42)	11	1	Saipa F.C.
13	2DF	Hossein Kaebi	(1985-09-23) September 23, 1985 (age 39)	51	1	Leicester City F.C.
15	2DF	Hadi Aghili	(1981-01-15) January 15, 1981 (age 43)	5	0	Sepahan F.C.
20	2DF	Mohammad Nosrati	(1982-01-10) January 10, 1982 (age 42)	56	4	Persepolis F.C.

Midfielders

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
2	3MF	Mehdi Mahdavikia (captain)	(1977-07-24) July 24, 1977 (age 47)	102	12	Eintracht Frankfurt
4	3MF	Andranik Teymourian	(1983-03-06) March 6, 1983 (age 41)	23	2	Bolton Wanderers
6	3MF	Javad Nekounam	(1980-09-07) September 7, 1980 (age 44)	86	18	CA Osasuna
7	3MF	Ferydoon Zandi	(1979-04-26) April 26, 1979 (age 45)	18	2	Apollon Limassol
8	3MF	Ali Karimi	(1978-11-08) November 8, 1978 (age 46)	103	35	Qatar SC
11	3MF	Mehrzad Madanchi	(1985-01-10) January 10, 1985 (age 39)	19	5	Al-Shaab
14	3MF	Iman Mobali	(1982-11-03) November 3, 1982 (age 42)	40	1	Al-Shabab
17	3MF	Javad Kazemian	(1981-04-23) April 23, 1981 (age 43)	33	1	Al-Shabab
19	3MF	Ebrahim Sadeghi	(1979-02-04) February 4, 1979 (age 45)	4	1	Saipa F.C.
24	3MF	Masoud Shojaei	(1984-06-19) June 19, 1984 (age 40)	8	0	Al-Sharjah

Forwards

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
9	4FW	Vahid Hashemian	(1976-07-21) July 21, 1976 (age 48)	40	13	Hannover 96
10	4FW	Rasoul Khatibi	(1978-09-22) September 22, 1978 (age 46)	24	5	Emirates
16	4FW	Reza Enayati	(1976-09-23) September 23, 1976 (age 48)	28	7	Emirates
18	4FW	Mehdi Rajabzadeh	(1978-06-21) June 21, 1978 (age 46)	15	4	Emirates

Notable players

Previous squads

Most capped players

As of July 22, 2007, the players with the most caps for Iran are:

#	Player	Career	Caps	Goals
1	Ali Daei	1993 - 2006	149	109
2	Ali Karimi*	1998 - 2007	103	35
3	Mehdi Mahdavikia*	1996 - 2007	102	12
4	Javad Nekounam*	2000 - 2007	86	18
5	Hamid Reza Estili	1990 - 2000	82	12
6	Karim Bagheri	1993 - 2001	80	47
	Javad Zarincheh	1987 - 2000	80	1
8	Ahmad Reza Abedzadeh	1987 - 1998	79	0
9	Ali Parvin	1970 - 1980	76	13
10	Yahya Golmohammadi	1993 - 2006	74	5

The records are collected based on data from FIFA and RSSSF.
* denotes a player still playing or available for selection.

Top goalscorers

As of July 22, 2007, the players with the most goals for Iran are:

#	Player	Career	Goals (Caps)	Ratio
1	Ali Daei	1993 - 2006	109 (149)	0.73
2	Karim Bagheri	1993 - 2001	47 (80)	0.59
3	Ali Karimi*	1998 - 2007	35 (103)	0.34
4	Gholam Hossein Mazloomi	1969 - 1977	19 (40)	0.48
	Farshad Pious	1984 - 1994	19 (34)	0.56
6	Ali Asghar Modir Roosta	1990 - 1998	18 (32)	0.56
	Javad Nekounam*	2000 - 2007	18 (86)	0.21
8	Ali Parvin	1970 - 1980	13 (76)	0.17
	Hassan Rowshan	1974 - 1980	13 (39)	0.33
	Alireza Vahedi Nikbakht*	2000 - 2007	13 (64)	0.20
	Vahid Hashemian*	1998 - 2007	13 (40)	0.33
12	Mehdi Mahdavikia*	1996 - 2007	12 (102)	0.12
	Parviz Ghelichkhani	1964 - 1977	12 (64)	0.19