Honours:

• AFC Asian Cup

Winners (3): 1968, 1972, 1976
Third place (5): 1980, 1988, 1996, 2004, 2019
Fourth place (1): 1984
Semi-finals (1): 2023


COACH: Heshmat MOHAJERANI






The best ever Iranian players 23-man squad


GOALKEEPERS:

● Nasser HEJAZI
● Ahmad Reza ABEDZADEH


DEFENDERS:

● Hassan HABIBI
● Ebrahim ASHTIANI
● Andranik ESKANDARIAN
● Mohammad PANJALI
● Javad ZARINCHEH
● Mojtaba MOHARRAMI
● Jalal HOSSEINI


MIDFIELDERS:

● Parviz GHELICHKHANI
● Ali JABBARI
● Ali PARVIN
● Karim BAGHERI
● Mehdi MAHDAVIKIA
● Ali KARIMI
● Javad NEKOUNAM


FORWARDS:

● Gholam Hossein MAZLOUMI
● Hassan ROWSHAN
● Farshad PIOUS
● Ali DAEI
● Karim ANSARIFARD
● Sardar AZMOUN
● Mehdi TAREMI


__________________________________________________


RESERVES:


GOALKEEPERS:

● Aziz ASLI
● Ebrahim MIRZAPOUR
● Alireza BEIRANVAND


DEFENDERS:

● Mostafa ARAB
● Jafar KASHANI
● Hossein KAZERANI
● Hassan NAZARI
● Nader MOHAMMADKHANI
● Mohammad KHAKPOUR
● Yahya GOLMOHAMMADI
● Rahman REZAEI
● Hossein KAEBI
● Mohammad NOSRATI


MIDFIELDERS:

● Mohammad SADEGHI
● Ibrahim GHASEMPOUR
● Abdolreza BARZEGARI
● Sirous GHAYEGHRAN
● Majid NAMJOO MOTLAGH
● Hamid Reza ESTILI
● Mehrdad MINAVAND
● Masoud SHOJAEI
● Andranik TEYMOURIAN
● Ehsan HAJSAFI


FORWARDS:

● Homayoun BEHZADI
● Hossein KALANI
● Hamid ALIDOUSTI
● Hossein FARAKI
● Karim BAVI
● Vahid HASHEMIAN
● Khodadad AZIZI
● Alireza VAHEDI NIKBAKHT
● Reza GHOOCHANNEJHAD
● Alireza JAHANBAKHSH








INFO:

add should be Yahya Golmohammadi in reserves, I remember he was excellent defender.

Shall we have new linked players any time soon? (Not only for Iran, but in general for Asia&Oceania)

I would like to work on some Asian players in the future, including finishing Saudi Arabia 94 which I already started, since Asian players are quite underrepresented on this forum, however I already have quite a lot of commitments so it will probably take me some time to get around to it...

Yes mate. Its kinda difficult to reach information but there are many players from minor (in terms of football) states who should be linked. I confirmed that by checking Xtratime's AFC positional ranking. Anyways states like Saudi Arabia and Iran that belong to the most successful should be getting more information and then the rest could follow. Good luck to any of your plans!

i know iranian footballers. this is a good lineup. but it can be better. ghelichkhani won 3 asian national cup and 1 asian club championship. he should be in first xi. and ali jabbari was one of the best iranian footballer of all the time.
best in my opinion is :

GOALKEEPERS:

● Ahmad Reza ABEDZADEH
● Nasser HEJAZI


DEFENDERS:

● Hossein GAZERANI
● Ebrahim ASHTIANI
● Andranik ESKANDARIAN
● Mojtaba MOHARRAMI
● Jalal HOSSEINI
● Mohammad PANJALI
● Javad ZARINCHEH
(
additional option :
Hassan HABIBI
Hassan NAZARI
)

MIDFIELDERS:

● Karim BAGHERI
● Parviz GHELICHKHANI
● Abdulreza BARZGARI
● Ali KARIMI
● Ali JABBARI
● Javad NEKOUNAM
● Ali PARVIN
(
additional option :
Ibrahim GHASEMPOUR
Iraj DANAEIFARD
Majid NAMJOO MOTLAGH
Mohammad SADEGHI
)

FORWARDS:

● Mehdi MAHDAVIKIA
● Sardar AZMOUN
● Ali DAEI
● Gholam Hossein MAZLOUMI
● Farshad PIOUS
● Hassan ROWSHAN
● Mehdi TAREMI
(
additional option :
Homayoun BEHZADI
Alireza JAHANBAKHSH
)

GK HEJAZI
CB HOSSEINI
CB GAZERANI
RB ZARINCHEH
LB ESKANDARIAN
DMF GHELICHKHANI ©
CMF BAGHERI
LMF KARIMI
AMF PARVIN
RMF MAHDAVIKIA
CF DAEI

Thanks for the feedback!
Mohammad PANJALI seems a better option than Jafar KASHANI since I added him to the first team as I didn't really know who to add. I believe though that they both can be in reserves.
Regarding Hossein KAZERANI, I can add him to the reserves as I prefer keeping in the first team Hassan HABIBI who was in the 1960s one of the best defenders in Iran.
I'm aware that Mojtaba MOHARRAMI is regarded as one of Iran's best ever left backs. However, I believe that his behaviour, far from being exemplary, kinda affected his NT career. Instead, Mostafa ARAB had a major role during Iran's golden era, winning two Asian Cup in a row and the first one as captain.
Abdolreza BARZEGARI has an excellent scoring rate but his spell with the national team was extremely short. I may add him to the reserves at most. The same goes for Iraj DANAEIFARD.
I agree regarding Ali JABBARI. His performance in the 1972 Asian Cup could be enough to select him for the first team.
I can have Parviz GHELICHKHANI in the best XI since I took him in consideration for the spot. However, I'll make him second captain. I can't ignore the fact that Ali DAEI is the player with most caps as captain in Iran history.