2026 World Cup (June 2026)

To say Iran’s preparations for the 2026 World Cup were less than ideal is an understatement. Having a full year to prepare, friendlies were hard to come by. The 2025 CAFA Nations Cup provided games against central Asian teams and while Iran would reach the final and finish in second place, however, conceding against Afghanistan, tying Tajikistan and losing against Uzbekistan was cause for concern. Iran would close out the year by losing to Russia, defeating Tanzania and with a couple of scoreless ties against Cape Verde and Uzbekistan.

Problems began surfacing towards the end of the year. The volatile internal situation accompanied by mass demonstrations and many civilian deaths across the country would ultimately morph into a full blown war between Iran, Israel and the US. The Iranian domestic league would shut down in February and only foreign based players would be receiving regular game time. While Iran had made arrangements for matches against Spain, Portugal, Angola, Macedonia and Puerto Rico, all of them would go unfulfilled.

With no domestic league actions and scarce friendlies, much of the preparation became scrimmages within the camp amongst the invitees. At the same time Iran’s presence in the World Cup was no certainty due to the ongoing war. In addition Iran threatened to withdraw unless its demands were met regarding visa issues, treatment of the players once in the US and ensuring the Iranian national anthem and flag were respected by spectators.

While two of Iran’s games were in Southern California, Iran had initially chosen Tucson, Arizona as its base. However, anticipating visa issues, the IFF negotiated a late base camp change to Tijuana, Mexico prior to the tournament kick-off to navigate both visa complications and the U.S. restriction that prevented the team from remaining stateside outside of match days. Under this new arrangement the team could only arrive in the U.S. just before a match, flying in from their Tijuana camp, and would leave immediately afterwards. The U.S. later eased these rules slightly, allowing the squad to travel into the country two days early for Iran’s final match in Seattle.

As part of preparation Iran had accepted an invitation to the Jordan International Tournament, however, military action in the region forced it to be moved to Antalya, Turkey, where Iran would ultimately spend much of its training camp at. A close 2-1 at the hands of Nigeria was followed by a 5-0 thrashing of Costa Rica. Taremi would score 3 goals although two of them where from the penalty spot. Iran would play two more games in Turkey defeating Gambia 3-1 and Mali 2-0 before heading to Mexico.

Iran’s final roster definitely raised a few eyebrows. A team that had seemingly gone through minimal roster changes over the past 4 years (although some would argue 8 years) was beginning to show the passing of time as it had the oldest roster of all teams at the World Cup with an average age of 29.81 years. Yousefi and Nemati would play bit parts as the only under-30 defenders but for the most part the defensive line ranged from 32 to 37. The midfield and forward lines fared slightly better although youngsters Eiri and Razzaghnia would not get any playing time. Standard Liège forward Dennis Eckert who was born and raised in Bonn to a Galician mother and a German father of Iranian descent had been spoken about for years finally received his first national team call up for the matches against Nigeria and Costa Rica, however, he was unable to make a debut appearance due to administrative issues and the absence of FIFA approval. Eckert was named in Iran's final squad for the World Cup, without having received his FIFA Change of Association approval and ultimately would not take the field. Amongst absences was Gholizadeh who tore his ACL in May playing for Lech Poznań. Midfieldier Hosseinnejad would not make the cut in favor of more experienced players. Sayyadmanesh would also fail to make the squad in spite of a strong club campaign where he contributed heavily with goals and assists in the Belgian Pro League. His surprising absence was attributed to non-sporting reasons, including his tattoos and past political stances. The most surprising omission was Azmoun (who at the time ranked as Iran's third all-time leading scorer with 57 goals) who was dropped after sharing an Instagram post that pictured him meeting with the ruler of Dubai and prime minister of the UAE, a country regarded by Iran as an antagonist. The goal once again seemed to be to advance from the group stage although with the World Cup expanding to 48, qualifying to the round of 32 would simply be equivalent to Iran’s position in the past few World Cups.

In a game where a win was both expected and a must, Iran opened its World Cup campaign against the lowest ranked team in the tournament, New Zealand. 

Knowing that even a solitary win might possibly be enough to snag one of the 8 third-placed wildcard spots, Iran started at a blistering pace although it was New Zealand who struck against the run of play in the seventh minute. Wood expertly brought down a long punt forward from his goalkeeper, continued his run into the area, and his next touch teed up Elijah Just to juggle the ball before he volleyed into the roof of the net.

In the 15^th minute Wood found himself at the edge of the six-yard box and only a last ditch effort by Moghanlou prevented him from having a clear shot. Beiranvand would have to come up big to save another shot on goal before Taremi set off on a run from midfield and came agonizingly close to equalizing as his shot hit the post. 

Minutes later Mohebbi felt like he had a case for a penalty kick as he went down challenging the keeper for the ball.

In the 32^nd minute Rezaian, one of several players who had not played club football since February, initiated an attack and after a quick combo play between Ghoddoos and Moghanlou, Rezaian reacted quickest to a blocked shot and poked the ball past the advancing goalkeeper to tie the game. 

Both teams would threaten each other’s goal before halftime, most notably Nemati after heading Rezaian’s free-kick home but only to be ruled out due to being offside.

The second half was barely nine minutes old when Wood and Just played a give-and-go before putting a shot past Beiranvand who should have reacted better. 

Iran would respond 10 minutes later with a superb goal from Mohebbi, who headed Rezaian’s perfect cross in off the far post to make it 2-2. 

Ultimately the teams would settle for a point apiece, a result that left neither of them satisfied while Rezaian would be named man of the match. Immediately following the game the team flew back to Mexico.

Iran would next face seeded team Belgium. 

With all four teams locked on one point after their first fixture, defeat for either side could bring on an early exit. Iran began the match with an extra defender and it was Belgium who threatened first. Lukaku aggressively collided with Beiranvand after attempting to score inside the box in the third minute and ended up hurting with his studs up challenge and receiving a yellow, although some thought that it should have been a sending off. 

Minutes later Hardani was beat on the left wing and the ball was played back to De Bruyne, whose side-footed effort was blocked, but only as far as De Cuyper, who poked the ball back goalwards from close range but it went straight at Beiranvand. Iran first threatened after a long throw bounced around the penalty area before dropping to Kananizadegan who hit a powerful volley which Courtois’ dove to save. Ezzatolahi headed narrowly wide from the resulting corner. Beiranvand made another save at the near post and then minutes later it seemed like Iran had taken the lead. Hajsafi took a free kick from about 35 yards but instead of going to goal, he pushed the ball through the Belgium wall to Taremi, who took a clean first touch, then put a left-footed shot between Belgian keeper Thibaut Courtois and the left post. The celebration was short-lived, however, with Argentine referee Darío Herrera taking the goal off the board when a lengthy video review determined Taremi to be offside.

Iran would get close again early in the second half when Jahanbakhsh launched a long throw in from the right which was flicked onto Taremi inside the penalty area. Taremi hit a clean volley goalwards, forcing Courtois to react well. Minutes later De Bruyne brought the ball down on the endline and cut the ball across the six-yard box where De Cuyper launched it on goal from a matter of yards only for Beiranvand to block the initial shot and smother the rebound. 

The match drastically shifted in the 66th minute when Belgium defender Nathan Ngoy mishit a weak back pass, launching Taremi on a breakaway with only Courtois to beat. Ngoy reached out and grabbed Taremi by the shirt, pulling him to the ground and earning a red card for his trouble. 

Iran would not be able to benefit from the man advantage and while both keepers would be tested in the final 10 minutes but ultimately the teams would settle for a scoreless tie. Beiranvand would be chosen as man of the match.

With two points from two games Iran controlled its own fate as it faced Egypt. 

A win against Egypt would guarantee advancement while a tie could potentially be enough based on the results in other groups. The match began in the worst possible fashion for Iran as in the fifth minute, Mahmoud Saber capitalized on an unsuccessful clearance by Beiranvand to hit a first-time finish through the goalkeeper's legs and into the bottom-left corner and give Egypt an early lead. 

Iran responded almost immediately. Four minutes later Taremi won a penalty after being brought down inside the box, but his spot kick was saved by keeper. 

Just three minutes later, Mohammadi forced Shobeir into a brilliant save, but the rebound fell to Rezaian at the far post, who fired into the roof of the net. 

Iran could have taken the lead right before halftime after Shobeir’s unsuccessful exit but Khalilzadeh’s header trickled past the left post.

Iran continued to push for a winner after the break and created several dangerous chances. In the 88^th minute Taremi connected with a left-wing corner but his header crashed against the woodwork. Had it gone in it would not have counted anyway as the referee awarded a freekick to Egypt after the keeper was fouled. 

The most dramatic moment came deep into stoppage time when Egypt players failed to clear their lines and the ball fell to Khalilzadeh at the back post who fired into the roof of the net. However, following a VAR review, the goal was ruled out for offside for the slightest of margins. 

Iran’s frustration continued moments later when Ezzatolahi’s powerful header from a Jahanbakhsh cross crashed against the crossbar, denying the team what would have been a decisive winning goal. 

The match ended 1–1, leaving Iran unbeaten in the group stage with three consecutive draws and three points, but only enough to finish third in Group G and face an anxious wait to see if they would qualify for the knockout stages for the first time in their history as one of 8 third placed teams. Once again Rezaian would be chosen as man of the match.

At the conclusion of the game, Sweden, Ecuador, Paraguay and Bosnia all had 4 points while being third in their group. Iran was ahead of 2 other third paced teams (South Korea and Scotland) and just needed two more of the remaining 5 third placed teams to do worse than 3 points and a zero goal difference. With Uruguay losing to Spain and Saudi Arabia failing to beat Cape Verde, one more team fell below Iran. Senegal, who had no points, hammered Iraq 5-0 in their last game to leapfrog Iran with a +2 goal difference. Uzbekistan needed to avoid defeat against DR Congo but in spite of taking a first half lead ultimately they would lose 3-1. Ghana failed to defeat Croatia and thus it would come down to the last game of Austria against Algeria. Level on 3 points each, a tie would guarantee advancement for both of them. By the 60^th minute each team had scored twice and with aimless passing and preserving possession becoming a priority, it seemed like both were satisfied with a tie. But suddenly Algeria would take the lead in the 93^rd minute, thus pushing Austria below Iran in third placed team standings. With a goal so late it appeared that Iran would finally advance to the knockout round for the first time but against all odds Austria would score an equalizer in the 96^th minute and condemn Iran to another group stage exit.