Iran at the FIFA World Cup

Iran have appeared in the group stage of the FIFA World Cup on five occasions: in 1978, 1998, 2006, 2014 and 2018. They never managed to get through the group stage.

Record at the World Cup

World Cup finals										World Cup qualifications
Hosts/Year	Result	Position	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA	Squad	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
1930 to 1970	Did not enter	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1974	Did not qualify	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	8	5	1	2	9	6
1978	Round 1	14th	3	0	1	2	2	8	Squad	12	10	2	0	20	3
1982	Withdrew	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1986	Banned	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1990	Did not qualify	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	6	5	0	1	12	5
1994	Did not qualify	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	11	5	3	3	23	13
1998	Round 1	20th	3	1	0	2	2	4	Squad	17	8	6	3	57	17
2002	Did not qualify	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	14	9	3	2	36	9
2006	Round 1	25th	3	0	1	2	2	6	Squad	12	9	1	2	29	7
2010	Did not qualify	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	14	5	8	1	15	9
2014	Round 1	28th	3	0	1	2	1	4	Squad	16	10	4	2	30	7
2018	Round 1	18th	3	1	1	1	2	2	Squad	18	12	6	0	36	5
2022	To be determined
Total	—	5/21	15	2	4	9	9	24	—	128	78	34	16	267	81

Argentina 1978

Group 4

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Peru	3	2	1	0	7	2	+5	5
Netherlands	3	1	1	1	5	3	+2	3
Scotland	3	1	1	1	5	6	−1	3
Iran	3	0	1	2	2	8	−6	1

3 June 1978

16:45 ART

Netherlands	3–0	Iran
Rensenbrink 40' (pen.), 62', 78' (pen.)	Report

Estadio Ciudad de Mendoza, Mendoza

Attendance: 33,431

Referee: Alfonso González Archundia (Mexico)

7 June 1978

16:45 ART

Scotland	1–1	Iran
Eskandarian 43' (o.g.)	Report	Danaeifard 60'

Estadio Chateau Carreras, Córdoba

Attendance: 7,938

Referee: Youssou N'Diaye (Senegal)

11 June 1978

16:45 ART

Peru	4–1	Iran
Velásquez 2' Cubillas 36' (pen.), 39' (pen.), 79'	Report	Rowshan 41'

Estadio Chateau Carreras, Córdoba

Attendance: 21,262

Referee: Alojzy Jarguz (Poland)

France 1998

Group F

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Germany	3	2	1	0	6	2	+4	7
FR Yugoslavia	3	2	1	0	4	2	+2	7
Iran	3	1	0	2	2	4	−2	3
United States	3	0	0	3	1	5	−4	0

14 June 1998

17:30

FR Yugoslavia	1–0	Iran
Mihajlović 72'	(Report)

Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Étienne

Attendance: 30,600

Referee: Alberto Tejada (Peru)

21 June 1998

21:00

United States	1–2	Iran
McBride 87'	(Report)	Estili 40' Mahdavikia 84'

Stade Gerland, Lyon

Attendance: 39,100

Referee: Urs Meier (Switzerland)

25 June 1998

21:00

Germany	2–0	Iran
Bierhoff 50' Klinsmann 57'	(Report)

Stade de la Mosson, Montpellier

Attendance: 29,800

Referee: Epifanio González (Paraguay)

Germany 2006

Group D

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Portugal	3	3	0	0	5	1	+4	9
Mexico	3	1	1	1	4	3	+1	4
Angola	3	0	2	1	1	2	−1	2
Iran	3	0	1	2	2	6	−4	1

11 June 2006

18:00

Mexico	3–1	Iran
Bravo 28', 76' Zinha 79'	(Report)	Golmohammadi 36'

FIFA WM Stadion Nürnberg, Nuremberg

Attendance: 41,000

Referee: Roberto Rosetti (Italy)

17 June 2006

15:00

Portugal	2–0	Iran
Deco 63' Ronaldo 80' (pen.)	(Report)

FIFA WM Stadion Frankfurt, Frankfurt

Attendance: 48,000

Referee: Éric Poulat (France)

21 June 2006

16:00

Iran	1–1	Angola
Bakhtiarizadeh 75'	(Report)	Flávio 60'

Zentralstadion, Leipzig

Attendance: 38,000

Referee: Mark Shield (Australia)

Brazil 2014

Group F

Template:2014 FIFA World Cup Group F table

16 June 2014

16:00 UTC−3

Iran	0–0	Nigeria
	Report

Arena da Baixada, Curitiba

Attendance: 39,081

Referee: Carlos Vera (Ecuador)

21 June 2014

13:00 UTC−3

Argentina	1–0	Iran
Messi 90+1'	Report

Estádio Mineirão, Belo Horizonte

Attendance: 57,698

Referee: Milorad Mažić (Serbia)

25 June 2014

13:00 UTC−3

Bosnia and Herzegovina	3–1	Iran
Džeko 23' Pjanić 59' Vršajević 83'	Report	Ghoochannejhad 82'

Arena Fonte Nova, Salvador

Attendance: 48,011

Referee: Carlos Velasco Carballo (Spain)

Russia 2018

Group B

Template:2018 FIFA World Cup Group B table

15 June 2018

18:00 MSK (UTC+3)

Morocco	0–1	Iran
	Report	Bouhaddouz 90+5' (o.g.)

Krestovsky Stadium, Saint Petersburg

Attendance: 62,548

Referee: Cüneyt Çakır (Turkey)

20 June 2018

21:00 MSK (UTC+3)

Iran	0–1	Spain
	Report	Costa 54'

Kazan Arena, Kazan

Attendance: 42,718

Referee: Andrés Cunha (Uruguay)

25 June 2018

21:00 MSK (UTC+3)

Iran	1–1	Portugal
Ansarifard 90+3' (pen.)	Report	Quaresma 45'

Mordovia Arena, Saransk

Attendance: 41,685

Referee: Enrique Cáceres (Paraguay)

Records

Most appearances

No.	Name	Matches	World Cups
1	Mehdi Mahdavikia	6	1998 and 2006
	Andranik Teymourian	6	2006 and 2014
	Alireza Jahanbakhsh	6	2014 and 2018
	Ehsan Hajsafi	6	2014 and 2018
5	Ali Daei	5	1998 and 2006
	Javad Nekounam	5	2006 and 2014
	Masoud Shojaei	5	2006,2014 and 2018
8	Karim Ansarifard	4	2014 and 2018

Most goals

There are eight Iranian players who have scored one goal each at FIFA World Cups:

No.	Name	Goals	World Cups
1	Iraj Danaeifard	1	1978
	Hassan Rowshan	1	1978
	Hamid Estili	1	1998
	Mehdi Mahdavikia	1	1998
	Yahya Golmohammadi	1	2006
	Sohrab Bakhtiarizadeh	1	2006
	Reza Ghoochannejhad	1	2014
	Karim Ansarifard	1	2018

References

External links

v t e Iran national football team
General	Football Federation of Iran History Managers Notable matches
Venues	Azadi Stadium (1972–present), Amjadieh Stadium (1942–1972) National Football Camp (training)
Statistics	All-time match results All-time record Records All-time goalscorers
Players	Players (by caps) Captains International players Expatriate players
Goals	Ali Daei Sardar Azmoun
World Cup Finals	Summary 1978 1998 2006 2014 2018 2022
AFC Asian Cup Finals	Summary 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023 2027
Other tournaments	The Olympics Asian Games West Asian Championship CAFA Nations Cup ECO Cup LG Cup West Asian Games Afro-Asian Cup of Nations Confederations Cup Iran Cup Cyrus Cup
Culture	Rivalries Iraq Saudi Arabia Political protests
Senior	Men's results 1941–59 1960–79 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s
Other Iran teams	Women's (Results) Men's B Men's U23 Men's U20 Women's U20 Men's U17 Women's U17 Men's futsal Women's futsal Men's beach soccer

v t e Countries at the FIFA World Cup
Team appearances All-time table
AFC	Australia² China Indonesia¹ Iran Iraq Japan Kuwait North Korea Qatar Saudi Arabia South Korea United Arab Emirates
CAF	Algeria Angola Cameroon DR Congo¹ Egypt Ghana Ivory Coast Morocco Nigeria Senegal South Africa Togo Tunisia
CONCACAF	Canada Costa Rica Cuba El Salvador Haiti Honduras Jamaica Mexico Panama Trinidad and Tobago United States
CONMEBOL	Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador Paraguay Peru Uruguay
OFC	New Zealand
UEFA	Austria Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Czech Republic¹ Denmark East Germany³ England France Germany¹ Greece Hungary Iceland Israel² Italy Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Russia¹ Scotland Serbia¹ Slovakia¹ Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Wales
¹ Considered a successor team by FIFA, or have competed under another name(s). ² Have been member of multiple confederations. ³ Team and national federation no longer exist.