Iran national under-23 football team

Iran under-23

Nickname(s)	Team Omid ("Team Hope")
Association	FFIRI
Confederation	AFC (Asia)
Head coach	Mohammad Khakpour
Captain	Rouzbeh Cheshmi
Home stadium	Azadi Stadium
FIFA code	IRN
First colours Second colours
First international
Iran 2–1  Kuwait (Kuwait City, Kuwait; December 3, 1977)[1]
Biggest win
Iran 10–0 Afghanistan U23 (Busan, South Korea; September 28, 2002)
Biggest defeat
Iran 2–6 Japan U23 (Tehran, Iran; February 9, 2001)
AFC U-22 Championship
Appearances	2 (first in 2013)
Best result	Quarter-finals: 2016
Asian Games
Appearances	14 (first in 1951)
Best result	Champions: 1974, 1990, 1998, 2002

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.

Tournament records

Olympic Games

Olympic Games record										Olympic Games qualifications
Hosts/year	Result	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA	Squad		GP	W	D	L	GS	GA
1992	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		8	5	2	1	19	6
1996	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		4	2	1	1	9	4
2000	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		4	1	1	2	3	6
2004	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		6	3	0	3	22	9
2008	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		6	1	2	3	6	7
2012	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		4	1	1	2	1	5
2016	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		8	5	0	3	21	9
2020	To be determined	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	0/8	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		40	18	7	15	81	46

• Prior to the 1992 Olympic Games campaign, the senior national team played in qualification.

AFC U-23 Championship

AFC U-23 Championship record										AFC U-23 qualification
Hosts/Year	Result	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA	Squad		GP	W	D	L	GS	GA
2013	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
Total	2/2	7	3	1	3	12	12	-		9	7	1	1	28	4

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

Asian Games

Asian Games record
Year	Round	PLD	W	D	L	GS	GA
Busan 2002	Champions	6	4	2	0	16	2
Doha 2006	Third place	6	4	1	1	10	6
Guangzhou 2010	Fourth place	7	5	0	2	14	8
Incheon 2014	Group Stage	2	0	1	1	2	5
Total	4/4	21	13	4	4	42	21

• Prior to 2002 Asian Games, the senior national team participated in the tournament.

Wild card players

• Busan 2002
  • Ali Daei (33)
  • Ebrahim Mirzapour (24)
  • Yahya Golmohammadi (31)
• Doha 2006
  • Hassan Roudbarian (28)
  • Arash Borhani (24)
  • Jalal Hosseini (24)
• Guangzhou 2010
  • Mehdi Rahmati (27)
  • Gholamreza Rezaei (26)
  • Jalal Hosseini (28)
• Prior to 2002 Asian Games, the senior national team participated in the tournament.

WAFF U-23 Championship

Hosts/Year	Result	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA
2015	Champions	4	3	1	0	8	3
Total	1/1	4	3	1	0	8	0

Results and fixtures

  Win   Draw   Loss

Previous matches

Date	Venue	Opponent	Competition	Result	Iranian scorers	Report
2016
12 January 2016	Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, Doha	Syria	2016 AFC U-23 Championship	2–0 (W)	Motahari  64', Mi. Mohammadi  72'	Report
15 January 2016	Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, Doha	Qatar	2016 AFC U-23 Championship	1–2 (L)	Karimi  90+1'	Report
18 January 2016	Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium, Doha	China PR	2016 AFC U-23 Championship	3–2 (W)	Motahari  38', Pahlavan  40', Torabi  48'	Report
22 January 2016	Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium, Doha	Japan	2016 AFC U-23 Championship	0–3 (a.e.t.) (L)		Report

Forthcoming matches

Date	Competition	Location	Opponent

Coaching staff

Position	Name
Head coach	Mohammad Khakpour
Assistant coach	Hadi Tabatabaei
Goalkeeping coach	Saeid Azizian
Fitness coach	Ken Stead
Analyzer	Mohammad Asghari
Doctor	Mehdi Abarashi
Technical director	Mohammad Mayeli Kohan
Technical adviser	Mojtaba Taghavi
Team manager	Habib Kashani
Executive director	Mohammad Rasaei Hossein Okhovat

Players

Current squad

• Match date: 22 January 2016
• Opposition: 2016 AFC U-23 Championship
• Caps and goals correct as of: 22 January 2016

0#0	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	GK	Mohammadreza Akhbari	15 February 1993	13	1	Tractor Sazi
12	GK	Ali Mohsenzadeh	13 February 1993	1	0	Unattached
22	GK	Amir Abedzadeh	26 April 1993	3	0	Barreirense
2	DF	Mohammad Daneshgar	20 January 1994	11	2	Naft Tehran
3	DF	Vahid Heydarieh	2 January 1993	13	3	Unattached
4	DF	Rouzbeh Cheshmi	24 June 1993	16	2	Esteghlal
5	DF	Hossein Kanaanizadegan	23 March 1994	5	1	Esteghlal
13	DF	Ali Abdollahzadeh	4 January 1993	10	1	Sanat Naft
15	DF	Mohammad Hossein Moradmand	22 June 1993	5	2	Padideh
18	DF	Saeb Mohebi	28 August 1993	4	0	Rah Ahan
21	DF	Reza Aliari	15 March 1994	5	0	Naft Tehran
6	MF	Mahan Rahmani	15 June 1996	7	0	Paykan
7	MF	Ali Karimi	11 February 1994	18	5	Dinamo Zagreb
8	MF	Farshid Esmaeili	21 February 1994	8	0	Esteghlal
9	MF	Mohsen Karimi	20 September 1994	3	0	Esteghlal
11	MF	Milad Mohammadi	29 September 1993	15	3	Terek Grozny
14	MF	Milad Kamandani	7 July 1994	13	1	Padideh
16	MF	Alireza Naghizadeh	4 March 1993	11	5	Gostaresh Foolad
17	MF	Mehdi Torabi	10 September 1994	6	1	Saipa
19	MF	Ehsan Pahlavan	25 July 1993	20	3	Zob Ahan
20	MF	Shahin Saghebi	25 August 1993	13	1	Malavan
10	FW	Amir Arsalan Motahari	10 March 1993	21	14	Naft Tehran
23	FW	Mehrdad Mohammadi	29 September 1993	7	3	Sepahan

Previous squads

AFC U-23 Championships

• AFC U-23 Championship 2013 squad
• AFC U-23 Championship 2016 squad

Honours

• 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.

• WAFF U23 Championships

Gold Medal (1): 2015

Friendly Tournaments

• Semi-finalists in 1999 Dunhill Cup
• 1st place in 2002 Asian Games
• 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

Managers

• Heshmat Mohajerani (1977)
• Iraj Soleimani (1980–1982)
• Mahmoud Yavari (1982–1984)
• Iraj Soleimani (1984–1992)
• Rudi Gutendorf (1988) (temp)
• Hassan Habibi (1992–1994)
• Enver Hadžiabdić (1994) (temp)
• 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)
• Hossein Faraki (2004) (temp)
• 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)
• Nelo Vingada (2014)
• Mohammad Khakpour (2014–present)

See also

• Iran national football team
• Iran national under-20 football team
• Iran national under-17 football team

References

1. http://www.varzesh3.com/news/1295157/%D8%A7%D9%88%D9%84%DB%8C%D9%86-%D8%AA%DB%8C%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%85%DB%8C%D8%AF-%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%B1%DB%8C%D8%AE-(%D8%B9%DA%A9%D8%B3)
2. "FIFA suspends Iran Football Federation". FIFA. Archived from the original on 2007-01-02. Retrieved 2006-11-27.
3. "FIFA President announces temporary lifting of Iran ban". the-AFC.com. Archived from the original on June 23, 2007. Retrieved 2006-11-27.

External links

• Official Website of IR Iran Football Federation
• Interview With Iran U-23 Coach Rene Simoes
• http://www.football3.ir