Iran national under-23 football team

Iran under-23
Nickname(s)	Team Melli Omid ("The Hope National Team")
Association	FFIRI
Confederation	AFC (Asia)
Head coach	Hamid Estili
Captain	Omid Noorafkan
Home stadium	Azadi Stadium
FIFA code	IRN
First colours	Second colours
First international
	Iran 2–1 Kuwait; (Kuwait City, Kuwait; 3 December 1977)
Biggest win
	Iran 10–0 Afghanistan U23 ; (Busan, South Korea; 28 September 2002)
Biggest defeat
	Iran 2–6 Japan U23 ; (Tehran, Iran; 9 February 2001)
AFC U-22 Championship
Appearances	3 (first in 2013)
Best result	Quarter-finals: 2016
Asian Games
Appearances	6 (first in 2002)
Best result	Gold Medal (2002)

Iran national under-23 football team, also known as Iran U-23 or Iran Olympic Team; represents Iran in international football competitions in Olympic Games, Asian Games and AFC U-22 Asian Cup, as well as any other under-23 international football tournaments. It is controlled by the Iran Football Federation.

History

The winner of the gold medal at the 2002 Asian Games, the team was prepared to defend its championship title at the football tournament of the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar. Despite a suspension by FIFA, preventing Iran to enter any international football competition,^[2] the Iran under-23 team was given special permission to participate in the Asian Games,^[3] where they won the bronze medal.

Tournament records

Olympic Games record

Summer Olympic Games Record									Qualifications record
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1908–1988	See Iran national team
1992	Did Not Qualify								8	5	2	1	19	6
1996									4	2	1	1	9	4
2000									4	1	1	2	3	6
2004									6	3	0	3	22	9
2008									6	1	2	3	6	7
2012									4	1	1	2	1	5
2016									8	5	0	3	21	9
2020	To be determined								3	2	1	0	6	1
2024									-	-	-	-	-	-
2028									-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	-	0 / 7	-	-	-	-	-	-	43	20	8	15	87	47

AFC U-23 Championship record

AFC U-23 Championship record									AFC U-23 qualification
Year	Result	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA	Squad	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA
2014	Group Stage	3	1	1	1	6	5	Squad	5	4	1	0	13	2
2016	Quarter-finals	4	2	0	2	6	7	Squad	4	3	0	1	15	2
2018	Did not qualify								2	1	0	1	2	3
2020	Qualified	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	2	1	0	6	1
Total	3/4	7	3	1	3	12	12	-	14	10	2	2	36	8

*Denotes draws which include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

Asian Games record

Asian Games record
Year	Round	PLD	W	D	L	GS	GA	Wildcard (Overage) Players
1951 to 1998	See Iran national team
2002	Champions	6	4	2	0	16	2	Ali Daei (33); Ebrahim Mirzapour (24); Yahya Golmohammadi (31)
2006	Third Place	6	4	1	1	10	6	Hassan Roudbarian (28); Arash Borhani (24); Jalal Hosseini (24)
2010	Fourth place	7	5	0	2	14	8	Mehdi Rahmati (27); Gholamreza Rezaei (26); Jalal Hosseini (28)
2014	Group Stage	2	0	1	1	2	5
2018	Round of 16	4	1	1	2	3	4
2022	Qualified
Total	6/6	25	14	5	6	45	25

WAFF U-23 Championship record

Year	Result	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA
2015	Champions	4	3	1	0	8	3
Total	1/1	4	3	1	0	8	3

Results and fixtures

Win Draw Loss

Previous matches

Date	Venue	Opponent	Competition	Result	Iranian scorers	Report
2019
15 January 2019	Aspire Zone, Doha	Tajikistan	4-team Tournament	1–2 (L)	Namdari 3'
18 January 2019	Aspire Zone, Doha	Kuwait	4-team Tournament	5–0 (W)	Arta 3', Sayyadmanesh 40', Delfi 50', Hosseinzadeh 54', Noorafkan 72'
21 January 2019	Aspire Zone, Doha	Qatar	4-team Tournament	2–1 (W)	Mehdikhani 3', Sayyadmanesh 17'
22 March 2019	Azadi Stadium, Tehran	Turkmenistan	2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification	3–1 (W)	Bashimov 35' (o.g.), Noorafkan 54', Jabireh 90+2'	Report
24 March 2019	Azadi Stadium, Tehran	Yemen	2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification	3–0 (W)	Shekari 55', Jabireh 67', Mehdikhani 75'	Report
26 March 2019	Azadi Stadium, Tehran	Iraq	2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification	0–0 (D)		Report
6 September 2019	AGMK Stadium, Olmaliq	Uzbekistan	Friendly	0–1 (L)
9 September 2019	Pakhtakor Stadium, Tashkent	Uzbekistan	Friendly	1–4 (L)	Ghaedi 48'
12 October 2019	National Football Camp, Tehran	Shahr Khodro F.C.	Unofficial Friendly	1–1 (D)	Delfi 37'
14 October 2019	Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium, Doha	Australia	Friendly	2–1 (W)	Aghasi 4', Shojaei 25'

Forthcoming matches

Date	Competition	Location	Opponent
2020
9 January 2020	2020 AFC U-23 Championship	Tinsulanon Stadium, Songkhla	Uzbekistan
12 January 2020	2020 AFC U-23 Championship	Tinsulanon Stadium, Songkhla	South Korea
15 January 2020	2020 AFC U-23 Championship	Tinsulanon Stadium, Songkhla	China

Coaching staff

Position	Name
Head coach	Hamid Estili
Assistant coaches	Reza Shahroudi Alireza Emamifar
Goalkeeping coach	Mohammad Habibi
Fitness coach	—
Physiotherapist	Shahid Oryani
Analyst	Mehdi Hosseinpour
Team doctor	Mohammad Hossein Moghaddam
Team manager	—

Players

Current squad

The following players were selected to compete in the 2018 Asian Games.^[4]
Match date: 23 August 2018
Opposition: South Korea

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Club
1	1GK	Meraj Esmaeili (Captain)	(1996-05-16)16 May 1996 (aged 22)	Paykan
2	2DF	Mohammad Aghajanpour	(1997-04-20)20 April 1997 (aged 21)	Padideh
3	2DF	Mohammad Moslemipour	(1997-05-25)25 May 1997 (aged 21)	Sepahan
4	2DF	Mehdi Rahimi	(1999-05-02)2 May 1999 (aged 19)	Sepahan
5	2DF	Alireza Arta	(1997-02-04)4 February 1997 (aged 21)	Mes Kerman
6	3MF	Mohammad Soltani Mehr	(1999-02-04)4 February 1999 (aged 19)	Saipa
7	4FW	Younes Delfi	(2000-10-02)2 October 2000 (aged 17)	Charleroi
8	4FW	Mohammad Amin Asadi	(1998-12-24)24 December 1998 (aged 19)	Persepolis
9	4FW	Mohammad Mehdi Mehdikhani	(1997-07-26)26 July 1997 (aged 21)	Varaždin
10	4FW	Mohammad Reza Azadi	(1999-12-07)7 December 1999 (aged 18)	Tractor Sazi
11	4FW	Mehdi Ghaedi	(1998-12-05)5 December 1998 (aged 19)	Esteghlal
12	1GK	Shahab Adeli	(1997-01-19)19 January 1997 (aged 21)	Sepahan
13	2DF	Abolfazl Razzaghpour	(1997-09-17)17 September 1997 (aged 20)	Paykan
14	4FW	Reza Jabireh	(1997-07-07)7 July 1997 (aged 21)	Sanat Naft Abadan
15	4FW	Ahmadreza Ahmadvand	(1999-06-02)2 June 1999 (aged 19)	Persepolis
16	4FW	Amir Roostaei	(1997-08-05)5 August 1997 (aged 21)	Persepolis
17	4FW	Sina Zamehran	(1997-03-10)10 March 1997 (aged 21)	Padideh
18	2DF	Shahin Abbasian	(1997-06-16)16 June 1997 (aged 21)	Persepolis
19	3MF	Mohammad Khodabandelou	(1999-09-07)7 September 1999 (aged 18)	Paykan
20	2DF	Aref Aghasi	(1997-01-02)2 January 1997 (aged 21)	Foolad

Recent call-ups

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

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Nima Mirzazad	(1997-02-27) 27 February 1997 (age 27)	Nassaji	AFC U-23 CQ, July 2017
GK	Ali Keykhosravi	(1999-01-13) 13 January 1999 (age 25)	Sepahan	AFC U-23 CQ, July 2017

DF	Sadegh Moharrami	(1996-03-01) 1 March 1996 (age 28)	Dinamo Zagreb	AFC U-23 CQ, July 2017
DF	Mohammad Naderi	(1996-10-05) 5 October 1996 (age 28)	Persepolis	AFC U-23 CQ, July 2017
DF	Ali Shojaei	(1997-01-08) 8 January 1997 (age 27)	Saipa	AFC U-23 CQ, July 2017
DF	Aref Gholami	(1997-04-19) 19 April 1997 (age 27)	Sepahan	AFC U-23 CQ, July 2017
DF	Majid Hosseini	(1996-06-20) 20 June 1996 (age 28)	Trabzonspor	AFC U-23 CQ, July 2017
DF	Mehran Derakhshan Mehr	(1998-09-10) 10 September 1998 (age 26)	Zob Ahan	AFC U-23 CQ, July 2017
DF	Milad Sarlak	(1995-03-26) 26 March 1995 (age 29)	Sepahan	AFC U-23 CQ, July 2017
DF	Nima Taheri	(1997-04-15) 15 April 1997 (age 27)	Zob Ahan	AFC U-23 CQ, July 2017
DF	Taha Shariati	(2000-03-03) 3 March 2000 (age 24)	Saipa	AFC U-23 CQ, July 2017

MF	Mahan Rahmani	(1996-06-15) 15 June 1996 (age 28)	Paykan	AFC U-23 CQ, July 2017
MF	Reza Shekari	(1998-05-31) 31 May 1998 (age 26)	Tractor	AFC U-23 CQ, July 2017
MF	Nima Mokhtari	(1998-05-10) 10 May 1998 (age 26)	Gostaresh Foolad	AFC U-23 CQ, July 2017
MF	Omid Noorafkan	(1997-04-09) 9 April 1997 (age 27)	Charleroi	AFC U-23 CQ, July 2017
MF	Sina Moridi	(1996-05-05) 5 May 1996 (age 28)	Foolad	AFC U-23 CQ, July 2017
MF	Hamidreza Taherkhani	(1999-03-27) 27 March 1999 (age 25)	Persepolis	AFC U-23 CQ, July 2017
MF	Saeid Hosseinpour	(1998-10-12) 12 October 1998 (age 26)	Persepolis	AFC U-23 CQ, July 2017
MF	Mohammad Khorram	(1997-04-07) 7 April 1997 (age 27)	Gostaresh Foulad	AFC U-23 CQ, July 2017
MF	Saber Hardani	(1996-10-27) 27 October 1996 (age 28)	Foolad	AFC U-23 CQ, July 2017
MF	Ali Taheran	(1997-04-07) 7 April 1997 (age 27)	Tractor Sazi	AFC U-23 CQ, July 2017
MF	Reza Dehghani	(1998-01-07) 7 January 1998 (age 26)	Sepahan	AFC U-23 CQ, July 2017

FW	Reza Mirzaei	(1996-04-14) 14 April 1996 (age 28)	Sepahan	AFC U-23 CQ, July 2017
FW	Reza Jafari	(1997-01-11) 11 January 1997 (age 27)	Saipa	AFC U-23 CQ, July 2017
FW	Mohammadreza Abbasi	(1996-07-27) 27 July 1996 (age 28)	Zob Ahan	AFC U-23 CQ, July 2017
FW	Hossein Mehraban	(1996-05-12) 12 May 1996 (age 28)	Padideh	AFC U-23 CQ, July 2017
FW	Ali Gholizadeh	(1996-03-10) 10 March 1996 (age 28)	Charleroi	AFC U-23 CQ, July 2017

Previous squads

AFC U-23 Championships

Honours

Asian Games^†

Gold Medal (1): 2002

Bronze Medal (1): 2006

4th place (1): 2010

^†U-23 teams were favoured by AFC and the IOC since 2002 Asian Games.The Senior team competed in the games before 2002.

WAFF U23 Championships

Winners (1): 2015

Friendly tournaments

Semi-finalists in 1999 Dunhill Cup
1st place in 2006 VTV-T&T Cup (Spring Cup)
3rd place in 2008 Turkmenistan President's Cup
1st place in 2010 Velayat Cup
2nd place in 2010 Ho Chi Minh City Cup
1st place in 2013 International Friendship Youth Tournament
1st place in Antalya Tournament

Managers

Hassan Habibi (1992–1994)
Hans-Jürgen Gede (1994–1995)
Hassan Habibi (1995)
Ebrahim Ghasempour (1997–1999)
Egon Coordes (1999)
Mehdi Monajati (1999–2002)
Branko Ivanković (2002–2003)
Mohammad Mayeli Kohan (2003–2004)
Renê Simões (2005–2006)
Vinko Begović (2006–2007)
Nenad Nikolić (2007–2008)
Gholam Hossein Peyrovani (2009–2010)
Human Afazeli (2010–2011)
Ali Reza Mansourian (2011–2014)
Human Afazeli (2014)
Nelo Vingada (2014)
Mohammad Khakpour (2014–2016)
Amir Hossein Peiravani (2017)
Zlatko Kranjčar (2018–2019)
Farhad Majidi (2019)
Hamid Estili (2019–Present)

References

^ "اولین تیم امید تاریخ (عکس) :: ورزش سه" (in Persian). Varzesh3. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
^ "FIFA suspends Iran Football Federation". FIFA. Archived from the original on 2 January 2007. Retrieved 27 November 2006.
^ "FIFA President announces temporary lifting of Iran ban". the-AFC.com. Archived from the original on 23 June 2007. Retrieved 27 November 2006.
^ "اسامی تیم ملی امید اعلام شد" (in Persian). Varzesh3. Retrieved 13 August 2018.

External links

Template:IRN fb natteams

[1] "اولین تیم امید تاریخ (عکس) :: ورزش سه" (in Persian). Varzesh3. Retrieved 13 August 2018.

[2] "FIFA suspends Iran Football Federation". FIFA. Archived from the original on 2 January 2007. Retrieved 27 November 2006.

[3] "FIFA President announces temporary lifting of Iran ban". the-AFC.com. Archived from the original on 23 June 2007. Retrieved 27 November 2006.

[4] "اسامی تیم ملی امید اعلام شد" (in Persian). Varzesh3. Retrieved 13 August 2018.

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v t e Iran national football team
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v t e National under-23 football teams of Asia (AFC)
AFC U-23 Asian Cup
West Asia (WAFF)	Bahrain Iraq Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Oman Palestine Qatar Saudi Arabia Syria United Arab Emirates Yemen
Central Asia (CAFA)	Afghanistan Iran Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan Turkmenistan Uzbekistan
South Asia (SAFF)	Bangladesh Bhutan India Maldives Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka
East Asia (EAFF)	China Chinese Taipei¹ Guam Hong Kong Japan Macau Mongolia North Korea Northern Mariana Islands² South Korea
Southeast Asia (AFF)	Australia Brunei Cambodia Indonesia Laos Malaysia Myanmar Philippines Singapore Thailand Timor-Leste Vietnam
¹ Taiwan, officially the Republic of China, competes as "Chinese Taipei" ² Not a member of FIFA