6TH CHAMPIONSHIP Iran 1976

In the 1976 Championship, there was no qualifying Tournament in the Group I as Pakistan, Bahrain and Syria withdrew and Lebanon who originally agreed to host the Group Tournament had to withdraw due to conditions prevailing in the country. In accordance with the Rules the remaining two countries in the Group, Kuwait and Yemen PDR automatically qualified for the Finals.
In the 1976 Championship, a record number of 17 teams participated in the qualifying tournament. It would have been more if it were not for the conditions prevailing in Lebanon. Therefore, Kuwait and Yemen automatically qualified from group one for the finals when Bahrain, Lebanon, Pakistan and Syria pulled out. Iraq and Saudi Arabia did not have a problem qualifying from group two. In group three, Thailand was joined by newcomers Malaysia in the final round. Group four provided plenty of drama when Korea DPR edged out Hong Kong 11-10 in penalties. First-time participants, China joined Korea DPR as representatives of group four. Iran joined the group as the ninth and final team of the finals as defending champions and hosts.
The finals were left to six teams when Korea DPR, Saudi Arabia and Thailand withdrew. In the semi-finals Kuwait put Iraq away in a thriller 3-2 to set up a showdown with two-time defending champions, Iran. In the other semi-final, two-year-old member of AFC, China proved they would be a force in Asia but lost 2-0 to Iran. In the final, Iran added more silverware to their cabinets when they defeated Kuwait 1-0 in a packed Azadi Stadium for their third consecutive Asian Cup title. The three Asian Cup crowns, the gold medal in the 1974 Asian games and their participation in the 1978 World Cup Argentina guaranteed that Iran were the team of the 1970's.

The remarkable run of Iran was highlighted by the fact that since 1968 tournament, they have not lost even a single match in the Asian Championship. The run which has extended for 12 years is still unequalled in the Asia.

Team Melli Squad :
GoalKeepers
Mansour Rashidi	Esteghlal Tehran
Mehdi Asgarkhani	Abomoslem
Defense
Hasan Nazari	Esteghlal Tehran
Bijan Zolfaghar Nasab	Perspolis
Nasroullah Abdullahi	Shahbaz
Anderanik Eskandarian	Esteghlal Tehran
Hasan Nayebagha	Homa
Saham Mirfakhrae	Homa
Midfield
Ali Parvin	Perspolis
Parviz Qelichkhani	Daraei
Ebrahim Gassimpour	Sanat Naft
Mohamad Sadeghi	Pas
Alireza Azizi	Perspolis
Garnik Shahbandari	Daraei
Forwards
Alireza Khorshidi	Homa
Naser Nouraei	Homa
Gholam Hosein Mazlomi	Shahbaz
Hassan Rowshan	Esteghlal Tehran