The Iran World Cup 2026 squad will be the fourth in a row to represent the nation at the finals.
They've failed to make it past the group stage in any of their previous appearances and will be hoping they can change that at World Cup 2026 despite having one of the more inexperienced squads in the tournament.
Belgium will be the Group G favourites and Iran will need a result against Egypt or New Zealand to achieve their best-ever World Cup performance.
Iran's participation is in doubt. The outbreak of war, the devastating human impact and the fact that one of the World Cup host nations is bombing their cities and openly aggressive to the idea of their presence at the tournament puts the whole tournament into perspective.
Their last three matches were against World Cup debutants Cape Verde and Uzbekistan and a Nigeria team that failed to qualify. Having beaten none of those teams, Iran's prospects in the summer would appear meagre.
Much of their squad plays their football in the Middle East, with a few players playing in Europe, notably captain Mehdi Taremi. He now plays for Olympiacos and is Iran's third all-time top scorer with 56 goals.
Ali Daei is their all-time top goalscorer, with 108 goals in 148 games, and he is also the third highest scorer in international football history behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
Squad
Iran World Cup 2026 squad: The March selection
- GK: Alireza Beiranvand (Tractor)
- GK: Payam Niazmand (Persepolis)
- GK: Hossein Hosseini (Sepahan)
- GK: Mohammad Khalife (Aluminium Arak)
- DF: Saleh Hardani (Esteghlal)
- DF: Ali Nemati (Foolad)
- DF: Shojae Khalilzadeh (Tractor)
- DF: Milad Mohammadi (Persepolis)
- DF: Hossein Kanaanizadegan (Persepolis)
- DF: Aria Yousefi (Sepahan)
- DF: Danial Esmaeilifar (Tractor)
- DF: Ehsan Hajsafi (Sepahan)
- DF: Ramin Rezaeian (Foolad)
- DF: Abolfazl Jalali (Esteghlal)
- DF: Saman Fallah (Esteghlal)
- DF: Hossein Abarghouei (Persepolis)
- MF: Saeid Ezatolahi (Shabab Al Ahli)
- MF: Saman Ghoddos (Kalba)
- MF: Mohammad Ghorbani (Al Wahda)
- MF: Mehdi Hashemnejad (Tractor)
- MF: Omid Noorafkan (Sepahan)
- MF: Hadi Habibinejad (Chadormalou)
- MF: Alireza Jahanbakhsh (Dender)
- MF: Mahdi Torabi (Tractor)
- MF: Ali Gholizadeh (Lech Poznan)
- MF: Mohammad Mohebi (Rostov)
- MF: Amirmohammad Razzaghinia (Esteghlal)
- FW: Mehdi Taremi (Olympiacos)
- FW: Amirhossein Hosseinzadeh (Tractor)
- FW: Ali Alipour (Persepolis)
- FW: Mehdi Ghayedi (Al-Nasr)
- FW: Shahriyar Moghanlou (Kalba)
- FW: Dennis Eckert (Standard Liege)
- FW: Amirhossein Mahmoudi (Persepolis)
- FW: Ehsan Mahroughi (Foolad)
Fixtures
- June 15, 2026: Iran vs New Zealand, SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, United States
- June 21, 2026: Belgium vs Iran, SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, United States
- June 27, 2026: Egypt vs Iran, Lumen Field, Seattle, United States
Recent Results
- March 27, 2026: Iran 1-2 Nigeria, Corendon Airlines Park, Antalya, Turkey
- November 18, 2025: Uzbekistan 0-0 Iran (4-3 pens), Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain, UAE
- November 13, 2025: Cape Verde 0-0 Iran (4-5 pens), Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain, UAE
- October 14, 2025: Iran 2-0 Tanzania, Azadi Stadium, Tehran, Iran
- October 10, 2025: Russia 2-1 Iran, VTB Arena, Moscow, Russia
- June 10, 2025: Iran 3-0 North Korea, Imam Reza Stadium, Mashhad, Iran
- June 05, 2025: Qatar 1-0 Iran, Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, Doha, Qatar
- March 25, 2025: Iran 2-2 Uzbekistan, Azadi Stadium, Tehran, Iran
- March 20, 2025: Iran 2-0 United Arab Emirates, Azadi Stadium, Tehran, Iran
Manager
Who is Iran's manager?
Amir Ghalenoei is in his second stint in charge of the Iranian national football team.
His first spell saw him in the dugout for 17 games between 2007 and 2008, of which he only lost one. His second has seen him lose only a handful of games, though Iran's more recent fortunes have been affected by more serious matters..
Italian analyst and coach Antonio Gagliardi, who has been part of Italy and Juventus’ backroom staff, has been added to the staff with the expectation he will take over after the World Cup.
Star player
Who is Iran's star player?
Mehdi Taremi now plays for Olympiacos having moved to Greece last summer in search of regular minutes ahead of the World Cup.
In 35 appearances for his club he has scored 16 goals, firing in 10 goals in 19 league games and netting in the Champions League against Real Madrid.
If Iran want to get out of the group stage for the first time ever, they will need him at his best.
