Iran national under-23 football team

Iran under-23
Nickname(s)	Team Melli Omid (The Hope National Team)
Association	FFIRI
Confederation	AFC (Asia)
Captain	Hossein Hosseini
Home stadium	Azadi Stadium
FIFA code	IRN
First colours	Second colours
First international
	Iran 2–1 Kuwait ; (Kuwait City, Kuwait; 3 December 1977)
Biggest win
	Iran 10–0 Afghanistan ; (Busan, South Korea; 28 September 2002)
Biggest defeat
	Iran 2–6 Japan ; (Tehran, Iran; 9 February 2001)
AFC U-23 Championship
Appearances	4 (first in 2013)
Best result	Quarter-finals (2016)
Asian Games
Appearances	6 (first in 2002)
Best result	Gold Medal (2002)
Medal record
Asian Games
WAFF U-23 Championship
West Asian Games

Iran national under-23 football team, also known as Iran U-23 or Iran Olympic Team; represents Iran in international football competitions in Olympic Games, Asian Games and AFC U-22 Asian Cup, as well as any other under-23 international football tournaments. It is controlled by the Iran Football Federation.

History

The winner of the gold medal at the 2002 Asian Games, the team was prepared to defend its championship title at the football tournament of the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar. Despite a suspension by FIFA, preventing Iran to enter any international football competition,^[2] the Iran under-23 team was given special permission to participate in the Asian Games,^[3] where they won the bronze medal.

Wild cards

Football at the Asian Games has required that under-23 players enter the competitions, but they have allowed three over-age players can be included in the squad. Iran used three players, known as the "Wild cards", in three versions of the games in 2002, 2006, 2010 And 2022:

Competition	Wild card 1	Wild card 2	Wild card 3
2002 Asian Games	Ali Daei (C)	Yahya Golmohammadi	Ebrahim Mirzapour (GK)
2006 Asian Games	Hassan Roudbarian (C/GK)	Arash Borhani	Jalal Hosseini
2010 Asian Games	Mehdi Rahmati (C/GK)	Gholamreza Rezaei	Jalal Hosseini
2022 Asian Games	Hossein Hosseini (C/GK)	Amir Arsalan Motahari

Results and fixtures

Legend

Win Draw Loss Fixture

2021

25 October 2021 (2021-10-25) 2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification	Iran	4–0	Nepal	Dushanbe, Tajikistan
16:00 UTC+5	Limouchi 46' Nokhodkar 77', 79' Salmani 90+3'	Report		Stadium: Pamir Stadium Attendance: 250 Referee: Suhaizi Shukri

28 October 2021 (2021-10-28) 2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification	Lebanon	0–2	Iran	Dushanbe, Tajikistan
16:00 UTC+5	Limouchi 5' Kor 90+4'	Report		Stadium: Pamir Stadium Attendance: 450 Referee: Tejas Nagvenkar

31 October 2021 (2021-10-31) 2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification	Iran	3–2	Tajikistan	Dushanbe, Tajikistan
16:00 UTC+5	Salmani 13', 19', 45'	Report	Zoirov 10' Panjshanbe 22' (pen.)	Stadium: Pamir Stadium Attendance: 7,200 Referee: Kim Woo-sung

2022

1 June 2022 (2022-06-01) 2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup	Iran	1–1	Qatar	Tashkent, Uzbekistan
18:00 UTC+5	Shahriari 90'	Report	Al-Ganehi 87'	Stadium: Pakhtakor Stadium Referee: Yusuke Araki (Japan)

4 June 2022 (2022-06-04) 2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup	Turkmenistan	2–1	Iran	Tashkent, Uzbekistan
18:00 UTC+5	Sapargulýyew 28' (pen.) Çaryýew 80'	Report	Bavieh 8'	Stadium: Milliy Stadium Attendance: 539 Referee: Alex King (Australia)

7 June 2022 (2022-06-07) 2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup	Uzbekistan	1–1	Iran	Qarshi, Uzbekistan
22:00 UTC+5	Jurakuziyev 22'	Report	Yousefi 62'	Stadium: Markaziy Stadium Referee: Ahmed Al-Kaf (Oman)

2023

14 June 2023 (2023-06-14) 2023 WAFF U-23 Championship	Iran	3–1	Syria	Karbala, Iraq
19:45 UTC+3	Salmani 9' 45+4' Shariatzadeh 15'		Al-Aswad 15'	Stadium: Karbala Stadium

16 June 2023 (2023-06-16) 2023 WAFF U-23 Championship	Palestine	1–1	Iran	Karbala, Iraq
19:45 UTC+3	Qunbor 62'		Barzegar 90+7'	Stadium: Karbala Stadium

18 June 2023 (2023-06-18) 2023 WAFF U-23 Championship Semi-finals	Iran	0–0 (4–3 pen.)	Jordan	Baghdad, Iraq
18:00 UTC+3				Stadium: Al-Madina Stadium
	Penalties
	Y. Salmani Hazbavi A. Bavieh M. Ghorbani Hashemnejad		Al-Diabat Abualnadi Al-Haj Al-Shanaineh Abu Taha

20 June 2023 (2023-06-20) 2023 WAFF U-23 Championship Finals	Iran	1–1 (4–5 pen.)	Iraq	Baghdad, Iraq
20:00 UTC+3	Goudarzi 31'		Abdullah 45+3'	Stadium: Al-Madina Stadium
	Penalties
	Y. Salmani Fallah Irankhah M. Ghorbani Hashemnejad		K. Mohammed Tahseen Abdullah M. Mohammed Maknzi

6 September 2023 (2023-09-06) 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification	Iran	3–0	Hong Kong	Tashkent, Uzbekistan
17:00 UTC+5	Hazbavi 2' Ghorbani 45' Sayyadmanesh 88'			Stadium: Lokomotiv Stadium (Tashkent)

9 September 2023 (2023-09-09) 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification	Afghanistan	0–4	Iran	Tashkent, Uzbekistan
17:00 UTC+5			Ghorbani 29' Goudarzi 38' Sayyadmanesh 59' Hosseinnejad 75'	Stadium: Lokomotiv Stadium (Tashkent)

12 September 2023 (2023-09-12) 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification	Uzbekistan	1–0	Iran	Tashkent, Uzbekistan
19:00 UTC+5	Feyzullaev 47'			Stadium: JAR Stadium (Tashkent)

19 September 2023 (2023-09-19) 2022 Asian Games	Iran	0–0	Saudi Arabia	Hangzhou, China
19:30 UTC+8				Stadium: Linping Sports Centre Stadium (Hangzhou)

21 September 2023 (2023-09-21) 2022 Asian Games	Vietnam	0–4	Iran	Hangzhou, China
19:30 UTC+8			Motahari 4' Touranian 46' Mamizadeh 51' Barzegar 90+1'	Stadium: Linping Sports Centre Stadium (Hangzhou) Referee: Mohammed Ahmed Al-Shammari (Qatar)

24 September 2023 (2023-09-24) 2022 Asian Games	Mongolia	0–3	Iran	Hangzhou, China
19:30 UTC+8			Mamizadeh 1' Omri 45+1' Barzegar 57'	Stadium: Linping Sports Centre Stadium (Hangzhou) Attendance: 8,692 Referee: Thoriq Alkatiri (Indonesia)

27 September 2023 (2023-09-27) 2022 Asian Games	Thailand	0–2	Iran	Hangzhou, China
19:30 UTC+8			Motahari 15' Salmani 82' (pen.)	Stadium: Shencheng Attendance: 9,410 Referee: Nazmi Nasaruddin (Malaysia)

1 October 2023 (2023-10-01) 2022 Asian Games	Iran	0–1	Hong Kong	Hangzhou, China
19:30 UTC+8			Poon Pui Hin 47'	Stadium: Shencheng Attendance: 10,198 Referee: Kim Hee-gon (South Korea)

Coaching staff

Current coaching staff

As of 05 September 2023

Position	Name
Head coach	Eurico Pinhal
Assistant coaches	Javad Manafi Mohammad Hassan Rajabzadeh Meisam Rezapour Milton Mendes
Goalkeeping coach	Mohammad Amin Sanayaei
Fitness coach	Salar Amini
analyzer	Majid Karimi
Team Supervisor	Mehran Farghani
Physiotherapist
Team doctor
Team manager	Habib Kashani

Manager history

Hassan Habibi (1991–1994)
Enver Hadžiabdić (1994)
Hans-Jürgen Gede (1994–1995)
Hassan Habibi (1995)
Ebrahim Ghasempour (1997–1999)
Egon Coordes (1999)
Mehdi Monajati (1999–2002)
Branko Ivanković (2002–2003)
Mohammad Mayeli Kohan (2003–2004)
Renê Simões (2005–2006)
Vinko Begović (2006–2007)
Nenad Nikolić (2007–2008)
Gholam Hossein Peyrovani (2009–2010)
Human Afazeli (2010–2011)
Ali Reza Mansourian (2011–2014)
Human Afazeli (2014)
Nelo Vingada (2014)
Mohammad Khakpour (2014–2016)
Amir Hossein Peiravani (2017)
Zlatko Kranjčar (2018–2019)
Farhad Majidi (2019)
Hamid Estili (2019–2021)
Mehdi Mahdavikia (2021–2022)
Reza Enayati (2023)
Eurico Pinhal (2023–)

Players

Current squad

2022 Asian Games squad

The following 22 players were called up for the 2022 Asian Games.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Club
1	1GK	Hossein Hosseini*	(1992-06-30) 30 June 1992 (age 32)	Esteghlal
	1GK	Alireza Rezaei	(1999-12-11) 11 December 1999 (age 24)	Nassaji
	1GK	Sina Saeidifar	(2001-04-12) 12 April 2001 (age 23)	Esteghlal

2	2DF	Saman Touranian	(2001-12-12) 12 December 2001 (age 22)	Esteghlal
3	2DF	Hossein Goudarzi	(2001-05-04) 4 May 2001 (age 23)	Shams Azar
4	2DF	Saman Fallah	(2001-05-12) 12 May 2001 (age 23)	Gol Gohar
14	2DF	Amir Jafari	(2002-01-18) 18 January 2002 (age 22)	Gol Gohar
	2DF	Sina Shahabbasi	(2001-04-14) 14 April 2001 (age 23)	Foolad
	2DF	Majid Nasiri	(2000-05-14) 14 May 2000 (age 24)	Mes
	2DF	Mohammad Reza Bordbar	(2004-08-26) 26 August 2004 (age 20)	Malavan

	3MF	Mohammad Hossein Eslami	(2001-04-13) 13 April 2001 (age 23)	Zob Ahan
	3MF	Omid Hamedifar	(2000-08-19) 19 August 2000 (age 24)	Esteghlal
	3MF	Mohammad Khodabandelou	(1999-09-07) 7 September 1999 (age 25)	Persepolis
	3MF	Mohammad Omri	(2000-03-11) 11 March 2000 (age 24)	Malavan
	3MF	Yasin Salmani	(2002-02-27) 27 February 2002 (age 22)	Persepolis
	3MF	Gholamreza Sabet Imani	(2000-04-06) 6 April 2000 (age 24)	Paykan
	3MF	Fardin Yousefi	(2000-10-13) 13 October 2000 (age 24)	Zob Ahan
	3MF	Mehdi Mamizadeh	(2000-04-15) 15 April 2000 (age 24)	Gol Gohar
	3MF	Mohammad Reza Ghobeishavi	(2000-01-24) 24 January 2000 (age 24)	Foolad

	4FW	Amir Arsalan Motahari*	(1993-03-10) 10 March 1993 (age 31)	Tractor
11	4FW	Aria Barzegar	(2002-10-10) 10 October 2002 (age 22)	Nassaji

* Over-aged player

2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification squad

The following 24 players were called up for the 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Club
1	1GK	Mohammad Reza Khaledabadi	(2001-04-30)30 April 2001 (aged 22)	Esteghlal
12	1GK	Sina Saeidifar	(2001-04-12)12 April 2001 (aged 22)	Shams Azar
22	1GK	Payam Parsa	(2002-07-22)22 July 2002 (aged 20)	Sanat Naft

2	2DF	Saman Touranian	(2001-12-12)12 December 2001 (aged 21)	Esteghlal
3	2DF	Hossein Goudarzi	(2001-05-04)4 May 2001 (aged 22)	Shams Azar
4	2DF	Daniel Airy	(2003-10-26)26 October 2003 (aged 19)	Zob Ahan
5	2DF	Amin Hazbavi	(2003-05-06)6 May 2003 (aged 20)	Al Sadd
13	2DF	Aria Yousefi	(2002-04-22)22 April 2002 (aged 21)	Sepahan
14	2DF	Amir Jafari	(2002-01-18)18 January 2002 (aged 21)	Gol Gohar
17	2DF	Mohammad Mehdi Ahmadi	(2001-01-10)10 January 2001 (aged 22)	Persepolis
21	2DF	Sina Ghasemi	(2004-03-17)17 March 2004 (aged 19)	KIA
23	2DF	Mohammadreza Bordbar	(2004-08-26)26 August 2004 (aged 18)	Malavan
	2DF	Saman Fallah	(2001-05-12)12 May 2001 (aged 22)	Gol Gohar

6	3MF	Alireza Bavieh	(2002-08-21)21 August 2002 (aged 20)	Foolad
8	3MF	Mohammad Javad Hosseinnejad	(2003-10-26)26 October 2003 (aged 19)	Sepahan
10	3MF	Yasin Salmani (captain)	(2001-12-20)20 December 2001 (aged 21)	Persepolis
11	3MF	Aria Barzegar	(2002-11-10)10 November 2002 (aged 20)	Nassaji
16	3MF	Mohammad Ghorbani	(2001-05-21)21 May 2001 (aged 22)	Sepahan
18	3MF	Ali Asghar Sadeghi	(2001-02-01)1 February 2001 (aged 22)	Mes Rafsanjan
19	3MF	Ali Pourdara	(2001-11-21)21 November 2001 (aged 21)	Kuwait

7	4FW	Mohammadhossein Eslami	(2001-04-13)13 April 2001 (aged 22)	Zob Ahan
9	4FW	Allahyar Sayyadmanesh	(2001-06-20)20 June 2001 (aged 21)	Hull City
15	4FW	Mohammad Taha Tabatabaei	(2002-05-02)2 May 2002 (aged 21)	Saipa
20	4FW	Mehdi Hashemnejad	(2001-10-27)27 October 2001 (aged 21)	Tractor

Previous squads

AFC U-23 Asian Cup


Asian Games

Honours

Continental

Asian Games^†

Gold Medal (1): 2002

Bronze Medal (1): 2006

4th place (1): 2010

^†U-23 teams were favoured by AFC and the IOC since 2002 Asian Games.The Senior team competed in the games before 2002.

Regional

WAFF U-23 Championship

Winners (1): 2015

Runners-up (1): 2023

West Asian Games

Champions (1): 1997.

Runners-up (1): 2002.

3rd place (1): 2005.

Other

Semi-finalists in 1999 Dunhill Cup
1st place in 2006 VTV-T&T Cup (Spring Cup)
3rd place in 2008 Turkmenistan President's Cup
1st place in 2010 Velayat Cup
2nd place in 2010 Ho Chi Minh City Cup
1st place in 2013 International Friendship Youth Tournament
1st place in Antalya Tournament

Competitive record

Olympic Games

Summer Olympic Games Record									Qualification record
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1908–1988	See Iran national team								See Iran national team
1992	Did not qualify								8	5	2	1	19	6
1996									4	2	1	1	9	4
2000									4	1	1	2	3	6
2004									6	3	0	3	22	9
2008									6	1	2	3	6	7
2012									4	1	1	2	1	5
2016									8	5	0	3	21	9
2020									6	3	2	1	9	4
2024									3	2	0	1	7	1
2028	To be determined								To be determined
2032	To be determined								To be determined
Total	—	0/7	–	–	–	–	–	–	46	21	9	16	90	50

AFC U-23 Asian Cup

AFC U-23 Asian Cup record									Qualification record
Year	Result	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA	Squad	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA
2014	Group Stage	3	1	1	1	6	5	Squad	5	4	1	0	13	2
2016	Quarter-finals	4	2	0	2	6	7	Squad	4	3	0	1	15	2
2018	Did not qualify								2	1	0	1	2	3
2020	Group stage	3	1	1	1	3	3	Squad	3	2	1	0	6	1
2022	Group stage	3	0	2	1	3	4	Squad	3	3	0	0	9	2
2024	Did not qualify								3	2	0	1	7	1
2026	To be determined
Total	4/5	13	4	4	5	18	19	—	20	15	2	3	52	11

*Denotes draws which include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

Asian Games

Asian Games record
Year	Round	PLD	W	D	L	GS	GA	Squad
1951 to 1998	See Iran national team
2002	Champions	6	4	2	0	16	2	Squad
2006	Third Place	6	4	1	1	10	6	Squad
2010	Fourth Place	7	5	0	2	14	8	Squad
2014	Group Stage	2	0	1	1	2	5	Squad
2018	Round of 16	4	1	1	2	3	4	Squad
2022	Quarter-finals	5	3	1	1	9	1	Squad
2026	To be determined
2030
2034
Total	5/5	30	17	6	7	54	26	—

WAFF U-23 Championship

WAFF U-23 Championship record
Year	Result	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA
2015	Champions	4	3	1	0	8	3
2021	Not a WAFF member
2022	Not a WAFF member
2023	Runners-up^[a]	4	1	3	0	5	3
Total	2/4	8	4	4	0	13	6

^ Not a WAFF member, participated as invitee.

West Asian Games

West Asian Games record
Year	Round	PLD	W	D	L	GS	GA
1997	Champions	4	3	1	0	8	4
2002	Runners-up	4	1	3	0	5	4
2005	Third place	4	3	1	0	10	2
Total	3/3	12	7	5	0	23	10

Islamic Solidarity Games

Islamic Solidarity Games record
Year	Round	PLD	W	D	L	GS	GA
2005	See Iran B national team
2010	Cancelled
2013	Did not enter
2017	Did not enter
2021	Group Stage^[a]	3	0	0	3	0	9
2025	To be determined
Total	1/4	3	0	0	3	0	9

^ Iran withdrew before the start of the tournament. However, all results were announced as 3–0 in favor of Iran's opponents.

References

^ "اولین تیم امید تاریخ (عکس) :: ورزش سه" (in Persian). Varzesh3. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
^ "FIFA suspends Iran Football Federation". FIFA. Archived from the original on 2 January 2007. Retrieved 27 November 2006.
^ "FIFA President announces temporary lifting of Iran ban". the-AFC.com. Archived from the original on 23 June 2007. Retrieved 27 November 2006.

External links

[4] Not a WAFF member, participated as invitee.

[5] Iran withdrew before the start of the tournament. However, all results were announced as 3–0 in favor of Iran's opponents.

[1] "اولین تیم امید تاریخ (عکس) :: ورزش سه" (in Persian). Varzesh3. Retrieved 13 August 2018.

[2] "FIFA suspends Iran Football Federation". FIFA. Archived from the original on 2 January 2007. Retrieved 27 November 2006.

[3] "FIFA President announces temporary lifting of Iran ban". the-AFC.com. Archived from the original on 23 June 2007. Retrieved 27 November 2006.

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