Iran national under-23 football team

Iran under-23
Nickname(s)	Team Melli Omid (The Hope National Team)
Association	FFIRI
Confederation	AFC (Asia)
Head coach	Omid Ravankhah
Home stadium	Azadi Stadium
FIFA code	IRN
First colours	Second colours
First international
	2–1 Kuwait ; (Kuwait City, Kuwait; 3 December 1977)
Biggest win
	10–0 Afghanistan ; (Busan, South Korea; 28 September 2002)
Biggest defeat
	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	7 (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		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		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		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		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		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		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		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		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		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		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		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		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		Tashkent, Uzbekistan
19:00 UTC+5	Feyzullaev 47'			Stadium: JAR Stadium (Tashkent)

19 September 2023 (2023-09-19) 2022 Asian Games		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		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		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		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		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

2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification squad

The following 26 players were called up for the 2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification.^[4]

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Club
1	1GK	Arsha Shakouri	(2006-10-01)1 October 2006 (aged 18)	Lusail
	1GK	Mohammad Khalifeh	(2004-08-19)19 August 2004 (aged 21)	Aluminium Arak
	1GK	Amir Mahdi Maghsoudi		KIA
	1GK	Mohammad Ali Shakiba		Gol Gohar

2	2DF	Seyed Mehdi Mahdavi	(2005-09-30)30 September 2005 (aged 19)	Aluminium Arak
3	2DF	Farzin Moamelehgari		Shams Azar
4	2DF	Danial Eiri	(2003-10-26)26 October 2003 (aged 19)	Malavan
5	2DF	Mohammadmehdi Zare	(2003-01-24)24 January 2003 (aged 22)	Akhmat Grozny
	2DF	Arshia Vosoughifar		Fajr Sepasi
	2DF	Soheil Sahraei		Persepolis
	2DF	Masoud Mohebbi		Kheybar

	3MF	Pouria Latififar		Gol Gohar
8	3MF	Mohammad Javad Hosseinnejad (captain)	(2003-10-26)26 October 2003 (aged 19)	Dynamo Makhachkala
	3MF	Yadegar Rostami	(2004-01-02)2 January 2004 (aged 21)	Fajr Sepasi
	3MF	Abbas Habibi		Malavan
	3MF	Amirreza Sheykhirad		Nassaji
	3MF	Mahdi Goudarzi	(2003-12-09)9 December 2003 (aged 21)	Kheybar
	3MF	Amir Mohammad Razzaghinia	(2006-04-11)11 April 2006 (aged 19)	Esteghlal
	3MF	Mahdi Jafari		Malavan
	3MF	Alireza Safari		Chadormalou

7	4FW	Esmaeil Gholizadeh	(2006-02-18)18 February 2006 (aged 19)	Esteghlal
	4FW	Reza Ghandipour	(2006-01-13)13 January 2006 (aged 19)	Shabab Al Ahli
	4FW	Kasra Taheri	(2006-08-06)6 August 2006 (aged 19)	Paykan
	4FW	Mohammad Hossein Sadeghi		Persepolis
	4FW	Erfan Jamshidi		Paykan
	4FW	Saeid Saharkhizan	(2003-08-26)26 August 2003 (aged 22)	Esteghlal

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	Rank	M	W	D	L	GF	GA	Squad	M	W	D	L	GF	GA	Link
1908–1988	See Iran national team									See Iran national team
1992	Did not qualify									8	5	2	1	19	6	Link
1996										4	2	1	1	9	4	Link
2000										4	1	1	2	3	6	Link
2004										6	3	0	3	22	9	Link
2008										6	1	2	3	6	7	Link
2012										4	1	1	2	1	5	Link
2016										Via AFC U-23 Asian Cup
2020
2024
2028
Total	—	0/9	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	32	13	7	12	53	36	Link

AFC U-23 Asian Cup

AFC U-23 Asian Cup Record										Qualification Record
Year	Result	Rank	M	W	D	L	GF	GA	Squad	M	W	D	L	GF	GA	Link
2014	Group Stage	9th	3	1	1	1	6	5	Squad	5	4	1	0	13	2	Link
2016	Quarter-finals	6th	4	2	0	2	6	7	Squad	4	3	0	1	15	2	Link
2018	Did not qualify									2	1	0	1	2	3	Link
2020	Group stage	9th	3	1	1	1	3	3	Squad	3	2	1	0	6	1	Link
2022	Group stage	12th	3	0	2	1	3	4	Squad	3	3	0	0	9	2	Link
2024	Did not qualify									3	2	0	1	7	1	Link
2026
Total	4/6	6th	13	4	4	5	18	19	—	20	15	2	3	52	11	Link

Asian Games

Asian Games Record
Year	Round	M	W	D	L	GF	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
Total	7/7	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.
^ "روانخواه 26 بازیکن را به اردوی تدارکاتی دعوت کرد". Iran Football Federation Website (in Persian). 12 August 2025. Retrieved 17 August 2025.

External links

Head-to-head record

The following table shows Iran's head-to-head record in the AFC U-23 Asian Cup.

Opponent	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Australia	1	0	0	1	0	1	−1	000.00
China	2	2	0	0	4	2	+2	100.00
Japan	2	0	1	1	3	6	−3	000.00
Kuwait	1	1	0	0	3	1	+2	100.00
Qatar	2	0	1	1	2	3	−1	000.00
South Korea	1	0	0	1	1	2	−1	000.00
Syria	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2	100.00
Turkmenistan	1	0	0	1	1	2	−1	000.00
Uzbekistan	2	0	2	0	2	2	+0	000.00
Total	13	4	4	5	18	19	−1	030.77

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

[6] 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.

[4] "روانخواه 26 بازیکن را به اردوی تدارکاتی دعوت کرد". Iran Football Federation Website (in Persian). 12 August 2025. Retrieved 17 August 2025.

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[2]

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[4]

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[a]

Iran national football team
General	Football Federation of Iran History Managers Notable matches
Venues	Azadi Stadium (1972–present), Amjadieh Stadium (1942–1972) National Football Camp (training)
Statistics	All-time match results All-time record Records All-time goalscorers
Players	Players (by caps) Captains International players Expatriate players
Goals	Ali Daei Sardar Azmoun Mehdi Taremi
World Cup Finals	Summary 1978 1998 2006 2014 2018 2022 2026
AFC Asian Cup Finals	Summary 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023 2027
Other tournaments	The Olympics Asian Games West Asian Championship CAFA Nations Cup ECO Cup LG Cup West Asian Games Afro-Asian Cup of Nations Confederations Cup Iran Cup Cyrus Cup AFC–OFC Challenge Cup
Culture	Rivalries Iraq Saudi Arabia Political protests
Senior	Men's results 1941–59 1960–79 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s
Other Iran teams	Women's (Results) Men's B Men's U20 Women's U20 Men's U17 Women's U17 Men's futsal Women's futsal Men's beach soccer

Football in Iran
League competitions	Persian Gulf Pro League Azadegan League League 2 League 3 Provincial Leagues Ardabil Provincial League Bushehr Province League East Azarbaijan Province League Gilan Province League Golestan Province League Khuzestan Premier League Tehran Province League Kowsar league (women's) Futsal Beach soccer
Cup competitions	Hazfi Cup Super Cup
Defunct competitions	Takht Jamshid Cup
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Lists and categories	League system Champions List of clubs List of venues Managers List of managers League winners Cup winners football award winners List of highest payments Top goalscorers all-time by season Clubs in the AFC Champions League
Records List of clubs List of venues International players Men Women

National under-23 football teams of Asia (AFC)
AFC U-23 Asian Cup
West Asia (WAFF)	Bahrain Iraq Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Oman Palestine Qatar Saudi Arabia Syria United Arab Emirates Yemen
Central Asia (CAFA)	Afghanistan Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan Turkmenistan Uzbekistan
South Asia (SAFF)	Bangladesh Bhutan India Maldives Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka
East Asia (EAFF)	China Chinese Taipei¹ Guam Hong Kong Japan Macau Mongolia North Korea Northern Mariana Islands² South Korea
Southeast Asia (AFF)	Australia Brunei Cambodia Indonesia Laos Malaysia Myanmar Philippines Singapore Thailand Timor-Leste Vietnam
¹ Taiwan, officially the Republic of China, competes as "Chinese Taipei" ² Not a member of FIFA