| | |||
| Nickname | Team Melli Omid (The Hope National Team) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Association | FFIRI | ||
| Confederation | AFC (Asia) | ||
| Head coach | Omid Ravankhah | ||
| Captain | Mohammad Javad Hosseinnejad | ||
| Home stadium | Azadi Stadium | ||
| FIFA code | IRN | ||
| |||
| First international | |||
(Kuwait City, Kuwait; 3 December 1977) [1] | |||
| Biggest win | |||
(Busan, South Korea; 28 September 2002) | |||
| Biggest defeat | |||
(Tehran, Iran; 9 February 2001) | |||
| AFC U-23 Championship | |||
| Appearances | 5 (first in 2013 ) | ||
| Best result | Quarter-finals (2016) | ||
| Asian Games | |||
| Appearances | 7 (first in 2002 ) | ||
| Best result | | ||
Medal record | |||
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.
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.
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 | |
| 2022 Asian Games | Hossein Hosseini (C/GK) | Amir Arsalan Motahari |
Win Draw Loss Fixture
| 29 August 2025 Friendly | Iran | 5–1 |
| 3 September 2026 AFC U-23 ACQ | Iran | 4–0 | Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates | |
| 17:30 UTC+4 |
| Report | Stadium: Al Nahyan Stadium Attendance: 145 Referee: Kim Yu-jeong (South Korea) |
| 6 September 2026 AFC U-23 ACQ | Guam | 0–6 | Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates | |
| 17:30 UTC+4 | Report |
| Stadium: Al Nahyan Stadium Attendance: 70 Referee: Sashanka Madushanka (Sri Lanka) |
| 9 September 2026 AFC U-23 ACQ | United Arab Emirates | 2–3 | Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates | |
| 17:30 UTC+4 |
| Report |
| Stadium: Al Nahyan Stadium Attendance: 467 Referee: Zaid Thamer Mohammed (Iraq) |
| 7 January 2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup GS | South Korea | 0–0 | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | |
| 14:30 UTC+3 | Report | Stadium: Al-Shabab Club Stadium Attendance: 127 Referee: Ammar Mahfoodh (Bahrain) |
| 10 January 2026 2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup GS | Iran | 0–0 | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | |
| 17:00 | Report | Stadium: Prince Faisal bin Fahd Sports City Stadium Attendance: 140 Referee: Abdullah Jamali (Kuwait) |
| 13 January 2026 2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup group stage | Iran | 0–1 | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | |
| 14:30 UTC+3 | Report | Stadium: Al-Shabab Club Stadium Attendance: 122 Referee: Faisal Al-Balawi (Saudi Arabia) |
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Head coach | |
| Assistant coaches | |
| Goalkeeping coach | |
| Fitness coach | |
| analyzer | |
| Team Supervisor | |
| Physiotherapist | |
| Team doctor | |
| Team manager | |
The following 23 players were called up for the 2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup. [4]
†U-23 teams were favoured by AFC and the IOC since 2002 Asian Games.The Senior team competed in the games before 2002.
| Summer Olympic Games | Qualification | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Result | Rank | M | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Squad | M | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Link | |
| 1908–1988 | See Iran national team | See Iran national team | |||||||||||||||||
| | Did not qualify | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 19 | 6 | +13 | Link | ||||||||||
| | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 4 | +5 | Link | |||||||||||
| | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | -3 | Link | |||||||||||
| | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 22 | 9 | +13 | Link | |||||||||||
| | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 7 | -1 | Link | |||||||||||
| | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | -4 | Link | |||||||||||
| | Via AFC U-23 Asian Cup | ||||||||||||||||||
| | |||||||||||||||||||
| | |||||||||||||||||||
| | |||||||||||||||||||
| Total | — | 0/9 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 32 | 13 | 7 | 12 | 53 | 36 | +17 | Link | |
| AFC U-23 Asian Cup | Qualification | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Result | Rank | M | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Squad | M | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Link | |
| | Group Stage | 9th | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 5 | +1 | Squad | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 2 | +11 | Link | |
| | Quarter-finals | 6th | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 7 | -1 | Squad | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 2 | +13 | Link | |
| | Did not qualify | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -1 | Link | ||||||||||
| | Group stage | 9th | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | Squad | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | +5 | Link | |
| | 12th | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -1 | Squad | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 2 | +7 | Link | ||
| | Did not qualify | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 1 | +6 | Link | ||||||||||
| | Group stage | 14th | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 | Squad | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 2 | +11 | Link | |
| Total | 5/7 | 16 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 18 | 20 | -2 | — | 23 | 18 | 2 | 3 | 65 | 13 | +52 | Link | ||
| Asian Games Record | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Result | Rank | M | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Squad |
| 1951 to 1998 | See Iran national team | |||||||||
| | Champions | 1st | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 16 | 2 | +14 | Squad |
| | Third Place | 3rd | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 6 | +4 | Squad |
| | Fourth Place | 4th | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 8 | +6 | Squad |
| | Group Stage | 22nd | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | -3 | Squad |
| | Round of 16 | 13th | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | -1 | Squad |
| | Quarter-finals | 6th | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 1 | +8 | Squad |
| | To be determined | |||||||||
| Total | 7/7 | - | 30 | 17 | 6 | 7 | 54 | 26 | +28 | — |
| WAFF U-23 Championship record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Result | M | W | D | L | GF | GA |
| | Champions | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 3 |
| | Not a WAFF member | ||||||
| | |||||||
| | Runners-up [a] | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 3 |
| Total | 2/4 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 13 | 6 |
| West Asian Games record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Result | M | W | D | L | GF | GA |
| | Champions | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 4 |
| | Runners-up | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 4 |
| | Third place | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 2 |
| Total | 3/3 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 23 | 10 |
| Islamic Solidarity Games record | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Result | M | W | D | L | GF | GA | |
| | See Iran B national team | |||||||
| | Cancelled | |||||||
| | Did not enter | |||||||
| | ||||||||
| | Group Stage [a] | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 9 | |
| | To be determined | |||||||
| Total | 1/4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 9 | |
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 % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −1 | 0.00 | |
| 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 100.00 | |
| 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 6 | −3 | 0.00 | |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 100.00 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −1 | 0.00 | |
| 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 0.00 | |
| 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 0.00 | |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | +2 | 100.00 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 0.00 | |
| 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | +0 | 0.00 | |
| Total | 16 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 18 | 20 | −2 | 25.00 |