Team Melli will start its campaign in the qualifying round of the FIFA World Cup 2026 with a home game in Group E of the Asian Zone qualifiers against Hong Kong. Meanwhile, Turkmenistan will be hosting Uzbekistan in Ashgabad half an hour earlier in the second match of the four-team group.

Team Melli has a 100% record against Chinese Hong Kong as it has never dropped a point in their 6 matches. The first encounter between the two in 1968 was in Amjadieh Stadium when Hong Kong was one of the better Asian Teams while Iran had a young ambitious and powerful team. Team Melli ended up lifting the Asian trophy for the first time and defeating Hong Kong 2-0 in the run for the championship, the goals being scored by the two young and upcoming stars, Homayoun Behzadi and Ali Jabbari.

It took Hong Kong 47 years to manage some success against Iran and that was in Bahrain in 2021 in the same competition when the Far Eastern team managed to score the only goal against Iran in 6 previous meeting.

That is as far as one can call success of the Chinese against one of the powerful teams of Asia.

This time, it will be one of the same, however, Hong Kong has never been a minnow in Asian Football. It has a rich tradition and has been playing top level football with a professionally organized league foe over half a century. Hong Kong will certainly make Team Melli work hard and goals will not be scored easily.

Ghalenoei will stick to the tried and trusted and most probably will start Azmoun and Taremi up front as the center forwards while Jahanbakhsh, Mohebbi will work the flanks and Ezzatollahi and Nourollahi be the holding midfielders. There is a good chance that Ghoddos will replace one of the two. Ezzatollahi and Nourollahi have been the weakest performers in the Team and frankly one wonders if there are footballing reasons for them to be regular starters while several young and upcoming players could very well be given the chance to perform at this level of competition.
Ghalenoei, however, has made it quite clear that is not a believer in youth energy for Team Melli at this time. Although he does occasionally praise the ability and quality off young players even selects a few, for good measure, and let them experience cameo appearances quite late in the games. And that is as far as it goes.

Despite the aging back four, it is probably the most reliable of the 4 lines. However, lack of pace and confusion has been known to occur in this line as well. Beiranvand has not been the start that he was a few years back. Niazmand at this time is a better keeper, but Ghalenoei may prefer the experience of the Persepolis keeper on the skill of agility of Sepahan;s gate keeper.

Taremi is experiencing a soft patch in the last few weeks with Porto. He has been profligate and not the sharp goal scorer of last season. Hong Kong defenders, however, will have a tough time containing him.

In contrast, Azmoun, has been at the top of his game lately and that first header goal he scored for his club, was world class. Another source of trouble for Hong Kong defenders.

Head to Head Iran v. Hong Kong

In the pre-match press conference against Hong Kong in the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers, Amir Ghalenoei, started by congratulating the Iran U-17 team for their epic victory against defending champions Brazil. then continued “We Welcome the Hong Kong team and Mr. Andersen. Although Hong Kong is ranked 150 in FIFA ranking, but they have invested in the basic infrastructure and set-up. Hong Kong players play a tight defense very well and are very strong in the counterattack. In the games we analyzed, we saw that they work well on dead ball situations. They have three legionnaires and five hybrid players. “

“Yesterday, we had half and half tactical training. We had to reduce the legionnaires due to fatigue. We must continue our work that starts tomorrow with strength. We must also start our work well for the AFC Asian Cup and the World Cup qualifiers. We look at this game as an important game and play this game with all our heart.”

About the expectations from the national team under his leadership, Ghaleneoi said: “The most important thing we had for the team was to unite the players. To be united and on the same track means succeeding. Many teams are not united and do not succeed. One of the problems of the national team was that it was not as it should be and maybe it was not unanimous. We had some new attitudes. We have a good generation in the national team. We had an informal meeting with the players, and each player almost agreed that regardless to the fact that if I was there as a coach or in my absence, they would qualify to the two stages of the World Cup. Thanks God we have a united team.”

Commenting on the youth in Team Melli “We have two ages group; A birth certificate age and a physical age. For example, if you test Ronaldo now, he might be 30 years old. When Mr. Haj Safi plays against Marseille in the Europa Cup, it shows that you should use these precious experiences. Iranian football has paid for these and we should use them as long as they are able. I am grateful for the opinions of the critics and they are respectful to me, but we have done good work.”

Ghalenoei said “Our medical team is in contact with domestic and foreign teams. In addition, our analysis group also analyzes videos. We do great things and we have a claim in this work. As long as these loved ones can help the national team, we will use them. Now we have brought some good players to the national team. Let me tell you a memory of Yasin Samani. I brought Salmani once with Sepahan to see the Azadi Stadium and the stadium’s grass because it was the future of Iranian football. I introduced many players in a club and I don’t want to promote myself. I did this in the 2006 national team. Now we have a special look at the youth. For example, Muhammad Ghorbani should come and watch Saeed Ezatollahi. Because we have little time, we work this model, but we definitely have a special look at the youth and we do this. Now, because the calendar is full, we cannot have a B team like in 2006, but I am happy that the national team coaches have a good view of the league, and we choose the best. For example, where did Sardar Azmoun go to Europe? From the Iranian league. So we have people like him in Iran and we should have a special look at the youth and the league.”

Considering the 48 teams of the World Cup, many expect Iran to be among the top 16 teams in the world. Ghalenoei said: “I mentioned the previous World Cup qualifiers, when we got very bad results against Bahrain and Iraq. The focus of our meeting today was that life first punishes and then teaches. I told the boys that names don’t play on the field, it is quality that distinguishes them. We must move forward with strength. In harder games, the players have their own self-motivation, but in these games, the players have to step up.”

Ghalenoei was asked about how it feels to be hack at the helm after 16 years. He described his departure form the team was the result of a political rivalry between Safahi-Farahani , head of FFIRI and Aliabadi, head of government’s sport apparatus, in which he(Ghalenoei) and Team Melli were victimized. He reminded the everyone that he left Team Melli undefeated.

Amir Ghalenoei named a provincial squad of 20 players that are invited to Team Melli training camp in preparation for the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifying rounds that starts on 16th November by facing Hong Kong at home, then a tricky match away to Uzbekistan.

Players from Sepahan and Persepolis were excluded until the conclusion of their match before being added to the list of 20

Just to defy his critics, Ghaleneoi added the 36 years old Omid Ebrahimi and in addition to Karim Ansarifard who is approaching 34. The average age of this selection is 28.75 years.

However, the head coach to Team Melli also added 20 years old Amin Hazbavi , who has already established himself with Al-Sadd in Qatar Star league and an unknow forward, Saeid Saharkhizan who plays for Havadar.

Player (Age)

Seyed Hossein Hosseini 31

Shojaa Khalilzadeh 34
Seyed Majid Hosseini 25
Mohammad Amin Hazbavi 20
Sadegh Moharrami 27
Ehsan Haj Safi 33
Milad Mohammadi 30
Rozbeh Cheshmi 28

Ali Nozar Karimi 29
Saeed Ezzatollahi 25
Ahmad Nourollahi 30
Omid Ebrahimi 36
Mohammad Mohebbi 25
Alireza Jahanbakhsh 30
Saman Ghoddos 30

Mehrdad Mohammadi 30
Mehdi Tarimi 31
Sardar Azmoun 28
Karim Ansarifard 33
Saeed Saharkhizan 20

AVERAGE AGE: 28.75