The is the national team of
Iran and is controlled by the
Islamic Republic Of Iran Football Federation and is one of the strongest teams in
Asia . 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. Iranian national football team is also known as ''Team Melli''.
Iran won the
Asian Cup three times in a row (
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 shocker by drawing against the famous
Scotland side 1-1 on 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. 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 beating
Australia in a controversial playoff series. Both games finished undecided, but Iran qualified due to the away goals rule. Iran held Australia to a 1-1 draw at home, and a 2-2 draw in
Melbourne . Because Iran scored more away goals than Australia, they qualified for the 1998 World Cup. Iran recorded their first win in the World Cup final tournament in
1998 , 2-1 against the
USA .
This Iran vs USA World Cup match was preheated with much excitement on both sides because of the countries' political stance on each other after the
Revolution in Iran. However, in an act of defiance against all forms of hatred or politics in sports both sides took ceremonial pictures embracing each other and gave each other gifts and flowers before kickoff. With the american president present and shaking everyone's hand.
The number of "footy fanatics" in Iran has increased exponentially in the last two decades. Football can be seen everywhere in Iran. Kids playing football in narrow streets is a very common sight, particularly south and east of
Tehran . This style of football named "gol-koocheak" ("small-net") is normally played with the signature purple or red and white balls sold almost in every Iranian "dokoon" or convenience store. Street football is usually played with "dolayeh" ("two-layered") or "selayeh" (triple-layered) plastic balls, because the single rubber ball alone is hard to control. One plastic ball is cut and the other is forced into its hard plastic shell to make a "dolayeh" plastic ball. Because street football is played in small and closed areas (and often with very small nets), children who play football in Iran's streets and similarly Iranian footballers are technically gifted.
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.
Iran are, as of 2006, ranked within the edge of Top 20 of the
FIFA World Rankings with its current ranking at #22.
- 1930 to 1970 - ''Did not enter''
- 1974 - ''Did not qualify''
- 1978 - Round 1
- 1982 - ''Withdrew''
- 1986 - ''Disqualified for refusal to play at neutral sites''
- 1990 - ''Did not qualify''
- 1994 - ''Did not qualify''
- 1998 - Round 1
- 2002 - ''Did not qualify''
- 2006 - Qualified
- 2 - Mehdi Mahdavikia - Hamburger SV , Germany
- 6 - Javad Nekounam - Sharjah FC , UAE
- 7 - Ferydoon Zandi - Kaiserslautern , Germany
- 8 - Ali Karimi - Bayern Munich , Germany
- 14 - Moharram Navidkia - VfL Bochum , Germany
- 18 - Mojtaba Jabbari - Esteghlal, Iran
- 24 - Andranik Teymourian - Abu Muslem , Iran
- 36 - Mehrzad Madanchi - Persepolis , Iran
- - Meysam Maniei - Pas, Iran
- - Mehdi Rajabzadeh - Zob Ahan , Iran
- - Masoud Shojaei - Saipa , Iran
