1960 Asian Championship Qualifiers (December 1959)

For qualification for the second edition of the Asian Championship, Iran was drawn into a group with Israel, India and Pakistan. Qualification began in the summer of 1959 in Kochi, India where due to the high humidity, matches were played for 80 minutes each. Iran had an ideal start to qualification, defeating the defending champion Israel 3-0 courtesy of goals by Hajari, Barmaki and Dehdari.

This win was followed by two defeats against Pakistan and India, 4-1 and 3-1 respectively with goals coming from Haji-Mokhtar and Dehdari. The return matches, also in Kochi, began with a 1-1 tie with Israel and Hajari scoring. Iran avenged both first leg losses by defeating Pakistan 4-1 (hat trick by Hajari and a goal by Jamali) and India 2-1 (brace by Dehdari).

In spite of these victories, Iran finished in second place, trailing Israel by a single point and failed to qualify for the Asian Championship.  

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