2022 World Cup Team Profile: Iran

Iran National Team (Twitter @iranteammelli)

JAKARTA - The Iran national football team is one of the most interesting teams to watch at the 2022 World Cup. This team performed quite well against more experienced teams.

The Iranian national team have plenty of trophies in their cupboard, having won almost every continental cup in Asia. Moreover, they also have the player with the most international goals ever, Ali Daei, which was recently surpassed by Cristiano Ronaldo.

Profile overview

Team Name: Iran National Football Team Nickname: Team Melli Founded: 1920 Most Caps: Javad Nekounam Captain: Ehsan Hajsafi Coach: Dragan Skocic Top Scorer: Ali Daei (109) Biggest win: Beat Guam 19-0 (1912) Biggest loss: Lost to Turkey 1-6 (1909) 2022 World Cup provisional squad

This team has some hard working and professional players. They are focused on winning whatever trophy is in front of them.

Goalkeeper

Hamed Lak Seyed Hossein Payam Niazmand Amir Abedzadeh Mohammad Rashid Mazaheri Alireza Beiranvand

defender

Vouria Ghafouri Milad Mohammadi Shojae Khalilzadeh Mortza Pouraliganji Roozbeh Cheshmi Aref Aghasi Mehdi Tikdarinejad Pejhman Rezaeian Aref Gholami Mohammad Reza Abolfazl Jalali Sadegh Moharrami Armin Sohrabian Majid Hosseini

Midfielder

Jafar Salmani Ehsan Hajsafi Saeid Ezatolahi Masoud Shojaei Ali Gholizadeh Siamak Nemati Omid Ebrahimi Ali Karimi Mohammad Hossein Mojtaba Najarian Mehdi Shiri Akbar Imani Mehdi Torabi Ahmad Nourollahi Ashkan Dejagah

Striker

Alireza Jahanbakhsh Karim Ansarifard Ali Alipour Vahid Amiri Saman Ghoddos Sasan Ansari Reza Ghoochannejhad Mehdi Taremi Allahyar Sayyadmanesh Sardar Azmoun Omid Noorafkan Mehdi Ghaedi Sajjad Shahbazzadeh Kaveh Rezaei

Iran National Team (Twitter @temmelliiran)

Team captain

Ehsan Hajsafi played his first A national team match for the senior national team in a friendly against Zambia. He shone on his debut with two brilliant assists in Iran's 3-2 win at the Azadi Stadium.

On 2 June, he played in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers when Iran played United Arab Emirates at home. In the second match, Hajsafi came on as a substitute to help Iran win a crucial away game.

His first international goal was against Qatar in the 2008 West Asian Football Federation Championship, when Iran won 6-1. In March 2014, he was assigned as captain for the first time in his 57th national match against Kuwait.

On 1 June 2014, Hajsafi was called up to the 2014 World Cup squad by Carlos Queiroz. He played the full 90 minutes in Iran's first match against Nigeria which ended 0-0. He then started the match against Argentina and was one of the key players in the match.

He was substituted in the 88th minute and then Argentina scored their only goal through Lionel Messi. He also played 63 minutes in Iran's final match against Bosnia and Herzegovina. Iran was eliminated in the group stage.

On 11 January 2015, in the opening match of the AFC Asia Cup in Iran, Hajsafi scored the first goal and was named man of the match in a 2–0 win against Bahrain.

In May 2018 he was named in Iran's starting squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. He played his 100th international match on 15 November 2018 at the age of 28 at the Azadi Stadium against Trinidad and Tobago.

Trainer

The coach of the Iran national football team is Dragan Skocic. He was appointed head coach in 2020 ahead of Ali Daei and Amir Ghalenoei. The Croatian coach coached Sanat Naft before accepting the role of coach of the Iranian national team.

FIFA Ranking

Iran national football team has been ranked higher for many years due to their great performances. Based on data as of March 2022, they are ranked 21. Their highest rank is 15, while the lowest is 122.

Appearances at the World Cup

The Iranian national team has qualified for the World Cup six times, including the 2022 edition. Unfortunately, they have always been eliminated from the group stage.

trophy

The Iranian national team has won several trophies due to their outstanding performances. Team Melli is one of the most awarded teams in Asia. Here is a list of some of the trophies they have won:

Asian Cup: 1968, 1972 and 1976 The Asia Games: 1974, 1990, 1998 and 2004 West Asian Football Federation Championship: 2000, 2004, 2007 and 2008 ECO Cup: 1965, 1970 and 1993 AFC Challenge Cup: 2003 LG Cup: three times Nickname

They were nicknamed Team Melli, which translates to 'National Team'. They are also called the Lion of Iran, Prince of Persia and Star of Persia.

Iran's national football team is one of the best in Asia with the highest ranking on the continent for a long time. They have some hardworking and dedicated players. Despite being knocked out at the group stage in the last few World Cups, they are looking to go further in Qatar.

2022 World Cup

Iran became the thirteenth team to qualify for the 2022 World Cup after a 1-0 win at home to Iraq on 27 January 2022.

At the World Cup in Qatar, Iran finished in Group B with England, the United States and Wales. Here is the schedule for their group stage matches:

Monday, 21 November 2022England vs Iran 20:00 WIB Tuesday, 22 November 2022 United States vs Wales: 02:00 WIB Friday, 25 November 2022England vs United States: 17:00 WIB Saturday, 23 November 2022 Wales vs Iran: 02:00 WIB Wednesday, 30 November 2022 Wales vs England: 02:00 WIB Iran vs United States: 02:00 WIB

Group B is looking Comment who you think is progressing to the #Qatar2022 knockouts pic.twitter.com/NtF8cTZuTj

— Road to 2022 (@roadto2022en) June 16, 2022