Iran's seventh qualification to the World Cup

The March FIFA Day ended and the Iranian national football team was able to secure its qualification for the 2026 World Cup by obtaining the necessary results. The national team played in two important matches, first defeating the UAE national football team 2-0 at Azadi Stadium.

In the second match held yesterday, Iran drew 2-2 against Uzbekistan. This draw increased the gap between Iran and the third-placed UAE to 7 points and secured the national team's direct qualification for the World Cup. The national team won 6 victories in this qualifying round and drew with Uzbekistan in two home and away matches to secure its qualification without defeat.

With this, the Iranian national football team managed to qualify for the World Cup for the seventh time in its history.

Iran first qualified for the World Cup in 1978. After that, it participated in the competitions in 1998, 2006, 2014, 2018 and 2022, and now, by qualifying for the 2026 World Cup, it will be participating in the most prestigious football tournament in the world for the fourth consecutive time.

The 23rd FIFA World Cup is scheduled to be held jointly in the three countries of Canada, the United States and Mexico from June 11 to July 18, 2026. This is the first time in history that the World Cup has been shared between three countries. The matches will be held in 16 different cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Mexico City and Toronto.

In addition to qualifying for the World Cup, the Iranian national football team also faced changes in the FIFA rankings. After a 2-0 win over the UAE, Iran earned 6.86 points, but a draw against Uzbekistan reduced this achievement by 4.78 points. In total, the national team managed to earn 2.08 points, bringing its number of points to 1,637.

This caused the Iranian national football team to climb one place compared to the previous official FIFA ranking, reaching 17th place in the world. Of course, if Iran had managed to defeat Uzbekistan, it could have climbed to 16th place in the world for the first time in history, but this opportunity was missed and the Mexican national team, which had a better performance in the recent FIFA Day, took this position.