Three-time continental champions IR Iran are Asian football royalty, but they are still to replicate that regional success on the global stage, having been unable to progress from the group in their six FIFA World Cup™ outings to date.
Hopes are high that things are about to change. Having stormed through qualification for the North American showpiece and blessed with a fine generation of established talent, Team Melli head to the global extravaganza well placed to reach the knockout phase and make a deep World Cup run.
Iran coach: Amir Ghalenoei
Now in his second stint at the Team Melli helm, the vastly experienced Ghalenoei is one of his nation’s most highly regarded tacticians.
Known as ‘the general’ during his playing days patrolling the midfield for both domestic giants Esteghlal and the national team, the Tehran-native wasted little time in transitioning to the touchline following his retirement in the late 1990s.
Having impressed in a three-year stint in charge of his former club side, Ghalenoei had a brief spell with the national side from 2006-07 before returning to the club game. There he enjoyed an exceptional period of success, winning the domestic league twice with both Esteghlal and Sepahan in a five-year span from 2008-2013.
Returning to the national set-up in March 2023, less than year later Ghalenoei steered Team Melli to the semi-finals of the AFC Asian Cup. A superb World Cup qualification campaign then followed as Iran lost just once in 16 matches as they waltzed into a fourth straight global finals.
Iran’s World Cup 26 fixtures and group
Iran will learn their group stage opponents when the Final Draw for the tournament takes place in Washington DC on 5 December at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The draw will commence at 12:00 local time (18:00CET).
Full World Cup 26 match schedule
How Iran qualified for World Cup 26
Having entered in the second round of the AFC preliminaries, Iran drew both home and away with fellow World Cup 26 qualifiers Uzbekistan but otherwise steamrolled their way through the group with big wins over Turkmenistan and Hong Kong, China.
Mehdi Taremi, Sardar Azmoun, Mohammad Mohebi & co were equally as dominant in the third round. Having won six of their first eight matches, they secured qualification courtesy of a Taremi brace in a 2-2 draw against the Uzbeks at the iconic Azadi Stadium on 25 March 2025.
Iran’s World Cup history
Iran’s best World Cup
While the nation has been a regular World Cup participant, success on the global stage has been hard to come by, with 11 of Iran’s 18 World Cup outings ending in defeat.
Unquestionably the most impressive campaign came at Russia 2018 where they came within a point of progressing from a daunting group that contained a recent title-winner in the shape of Spain, Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal and a Morocco side that would reach the semi-finals in the subsequent edition.
Having seen off the Atlas Lions in a 1-0 Saint Petersburg opener, they suffered defeat by the same scoreline five days later in Kazan at hands of Spain. That meant the group closer would pit head coach Carlos Queiroz against his homeland in Saransk with a win required to book a historic knockout stage berth.
Ricardo Quaresma, making his World Cup debut at the age of 34, scored a stunning opener on the stroke of half-time before Iran threw everything at the reigning European champions after the break.
A fine penalty save from Alireza Beiranvand to deny Ronaldo only furthered Iranian belief before Karim Ansarifard dispatched a spot kick of his own late on to make it 1-1.
With Morocco leading Sapin in the other section closer there was still a progression window open, one though that Iago Aspas slammed shut in stoppage time in Kaliningrad. Even then, Taremi had a last gasp chance to win it but could only ripple the side netting as things finished 1-1 and Iran’s wait for a knockout berth continued.
Iran’s last World Cup
Despite a famous win against Wales, that long wait would continue as Team Melli once again struck out in the groups at Qatar 2022. With ten of the XI that started that Portugal clash four years earlier named in the squad, and Queiroz once again in charge, there was a sense that perhaps the side was close to the end of its cycle. A 6-2 humbling at the hands of England in the Al Rayyan opener did little to dispel that thought.
Two goals, in the 98th and 101st minutes, in a 2-0 win over Wales restored some confidence, only for a Christian Pulisic strike in the section settler to hand them a 1-0 loss against the USA and yet another early exit.
Iran’s first World Cup
In what was just the nation’s second attempt to qualify, Iran emerged from a taxing campaign to secure the lone spot reserved for Asia and Oceania at Argentina 1978. Matches in Saudi Arabia, Syria, Hong Kong, Korea Republic, Australia and Kuwait culminated with a Ghafour Jahani strike against the Socceroos at a heaving Azadi securing qualification.
Heavy defeats against the Netherlands and Peru in the first group stage at the finals saw Team Melli start what would become a trend of early exits, although they did secure a creditable 1-1 draw against Scotland in the second fixture. That match saw the late Iraj Danaeifard mark his name in the record books as Iran’s first scorer at the global finals.
Iran’s World Cup top scorer
Only 11 Iranians have scored at a World Cup and only one has done it more than once. It’s perhaps fitting that is a player widely regarded as one of the finest that the nation has produced, in the form of the clinical striker Mehdi Taremi.
Both of those goals came in a heavy 6-2 defeat against England in the nation’s Qatar 2022 opener, the first a typical poacher’s effort from the top of the six-yard box, the second a well-placed late penalty.
Iran’s record World Cup appearance maker
One of a trio of Iranian players to have featured in three separate editions of the global finals, the versatile Ehsan Hajisafi is his nation’s record appearance maker at the World Cup, having started in all of Iran’s group stage matches at Brazil 2014, Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022.
Equally capable as a left winger, left-back and central midfielder, Hajisafi played in all three of those roles at the World Cup and is still going strong at club level with Sepahan into his mid-thirties.
Iran’s memorable World Cup moments
Set against the backdrop of tension between two nations that had differences off the pitch, the second Group F outing at France 1998 caught the attention as Iran prepared to face the USA in Lyon.
The teams locked arms pre-match in a sign of solidarity before the Iranian players handed their American counterparts bouquets of white flowers in a symbol of peace.
Those gestures of friendship continued post-match after Iran had earned a famous 2-1win. A looping first half header from Hamid Estili and a slick Mehdi Mahdavikia finish on the end of a second-half counter-attack set up a victory that is still fondly remembered.
Iran’s biggest World Cup win
There are only three times Iran have secured a World Cup win, the first that memorable 2-1 result against the USA before downing Morocco 1-0 in their Russia 2018 opener.
A 2-0 win against Wales at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium at Qatar 2022 stands as the nation’s best result, although it took two late, late strikes to secure the points on that occasion.
With things still scoreless as the clock ticked over to the eighth of nine second-half stoppage minutes Rouzbeh Cheshmi uncorked a stunning effort from 25 yards to spark pandemonium among the travelling fans.
Three minutes later Ramin Rezaeian sent them delirious as he chipped substitute keeper Danny Ward to settle things in Al Rayyan.
