Iran’s best appearances in the World Cups: five editions falling in the group stage

Ruetir.com – GENOA, Iran’s soccer team is not one of the strongest in the world, but it is number 21 in the FIFA ranking of teams.

The Iranians have won the Asian Cup three times in their history and have 5 more podium finishes, all of them in third place. In fact, in the last edition, they were third. In the World Cups, they have not had the same luck, qualifying for six editions including Qatar 2022. The following are their participation in the biggest competition at the national team level:

The 1978 World Cup was the first edition that Iran was able to play. They were unable to advance to the next round, suffering a draw and two defeats in the group stage. Iraj Danaiyfar and Hassan Rowshan were the two players who scored for the team.

After 20 years of drought, the Iranian team returned to a World Cup and this time with its first victory in the history of the team in the competition. They stayed out of the group stage anyway, with Hamid Estili and Mehdi Mahdavikia scoring the only two goals.

Since France 1998, the best time of the Iranian team in the World Cups has come, qualifying for all except South Korea/Japan 2002 and South Africa 2010. They left Germany with only one point in their locker, leaving the competition in group stage. Golmohammadi and Bakhtiarizadeh were the team’s scorers.

Once again, Iran left a World Cup without winning a game, drawing one and losing the other two they played. Reza Ghoochannejhad scored the only goal for the Iranian team.

The last edition of the competition again had Iranian participation, also being their best performance. The team got four points, leaving the goal difference to zero for the first time, coming out of the negative balance of the other participations. Karim Ansarifard was the team’s top scorer, although they did not qualify for the next round.