Iran have appeared in the FIFA World Cup on seven occasions: in 1978, 1998, 2006, 2014, 2018, 2022, and 2026. They are yet to progress from the group stages.
In March 2025, they qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup following a 2–2 home draw against Uzbekistan in the third round of AFC qualification and will make a seventh finals appearance.
Record at the FIFA World Cup qualification - 1 March 2026
RankTeamPartMWDLGFGAGDPoints1171891214127453134+3194042161771064427445132+313362316167105441833998+241359 4121621033920351101+250348518197985148334191+141345615171984429293145+148338 71615496292935994+265317820143952820356105+251313 91414590371830492+2123071013154893827288116+1723051118190845353262198+64305 121813092271133670+266303132013192271231283+229303 1422155873632304153+1512971521149863031331154+177294
Record at the FIFA World Cup
FIFA World Cup finals recordFIFA World Cup qualification recordYearRoundPositionSquad 1930Not a FIFA memberNo qualification 1934Not a FIFA member 1938 1950Did not enterDid not enter 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974Did not qualify851296 1978First round14th301228Squad121020203 1982WithdrewWithdrew 1986DisqualifiedDisqualified 1990Did not qualify6501125 1994115332313 1998Group stage20th310224Squad178635717 2002Did not qualify14932369 2006Group stage25th301226Squad12912297 2010Did not qualify14581159 2014Group stage28th301214Squad16 10 4 2 30 7 201818th311122Squad181260365 202226th310247Squad181413498 2026 33rd 3 0 3 0 3 3 Squad1611413512 2030To be determinedTo be determined 2034TotalFirst round7/232137111634—1621033920351101
Argentina 1978
Group 4
France 1998
Group F
Germany 2006
Group D
Brazil 2014
Group F
Russia 2018
Group B
Qatar 2022 Simultaneous to the Mahsa Amini protests in Iran, the team declined to sing the national anthem prior to their match with England. Prior to the match, captain Ehsan Hajsafi, said that the team support protestors. In 2nd match they sing the national anthem and they won the match against Wales.
Group B
United States/Mexico/Canada 2026
Iran's participation became uncertain months before the 2026 FIFA World Cup following the 2026 Iran war with Israel and the United States conducting military operations on the country. A request to move Iran's group stage matches to Mexico was denied. The Iran team which took base in Tijuana, eventually participated however they were only allowed to stay in the United States one day prior to their match day and had to return to Mexico the same evening after each match.
Group G
By match No.World CupRoundOpponentScoreResultIran scorer(s)11978Group 40–3L21–1DDanaeifard 31–4LRowshan 41998Group F0–1L52–1WEstili , Mahdavikia 60–2L72006Group D1–3LGolmohammadi 80–2L91–1DBakhtiarizadeh 102014Group F0–0 D110–1 L121–3 LGhoochannejhad 132018Group B1–0WBouhaddouz 140–1L151–1 DAnsarifard 162022Group B2–6LTaremi 172–0WCheshmi , Rezaeian 180–1L192026Group G2–2 DRezaeian , Mohebi 200–0 D211–1 DRezaeian
Player records Most appearances RankPlayerMatchesWorld Cups1Ehsan Hajsafi112014, 2018, 2022 and 20262Alireza Jahanbakhsh102014, 2018, 2022 and 20263Mehdi Taremi92018, 2022 and 20264Alireza Beiranvand82018, 2022 and 2026Saeid Ezatolahi82018, 2022 and 2026Milad Mohammadi82018, 2022 and 2026Ramin Rezaeian82018, 2022 and 20268Saman Ghoddos72018, 2022 and 20269Mehdi Mahdavikia61998 and 2006Andranik Teymourian62006 and 2014Karim Ansarifard62014, 2018 and 2022Sardar Azmoun62018 and 2022Majid Hosseini62018 and 2022Morteza Pouraliganji62018 and 2022
Goalscorers On 7 June 1978, Iraj Danaeifard made history by scoring Iran's first-ever FIFA World Cup goal, coming in their opening match against Scotland in Córdoba.
PlayerGoals1978199820062014201820222026Ramin Rezaeian 3 12Mehdi Taremi 2 2Iraj Danaeifard 11 Hassan Rowshan 11 Hamid Estili 1 1 Mehdi Mahdavikia 1 1 Yahya Golmohammadi 1 1 Sohrab Bakhtiarizadeh 1 1 Reza Ghoochannejhad 1 1 Karim Ansarifard 1 1 Rouzbeh Cheshmi 1 1 Mohammad Mohebbi 1 1 Own goal 1 1 Total 16 2 2 2 1 2 4 3
Head-to-head record OpponentWin %Total
See also Asian nations at the FIFA World Cup Iran at the AFC Asian Cup
References
Reports
External links Profile at thesoccerworldcups.com FIFA Match Results for all Stages 1930–2006