Iran’s Futsal Team has been drawn in Group F 9n the FIFA Futsal World Cup2021 joining Title Holder Argentine, USA, and Serbia. In the draw that was telecast live about an hour ago, AFC Asian Champions Iran will have a difficult group to deal with Argentina being the obvious favorite to qualify, while both Serbia and the US are formidable opponents that Team Melli need to tackle.
FIFA Futsal World Cup Lithuania 2021 will be held from 12th September until 3rd October 2021
FIFA Futsal World Cup record
Arguably Asia’s most successful side at the FIFA Futsal World Cup™, Iran has qualified for the past seven editions of the global showpiece despite missing out on the inaugural tournament at Netherlands 1989. Notably, they finished in fourth place on their debut in 1992 before reaching the Round of 16 at Thailand 2012.
All the more impressive was their milestone campaign at Colombia 2016. Spearheaded by Mahdi Javid, Team Melli pulled off one of the tournament’s biggest surprises by knocking heavyweights Brazil out on penalties in the Round of 16, before edging Paraguay 4-3 after extra time to storm to the last four. Despite losing to Russia by the narrowest of margins, they prevailed against Portugal in the match for third place to make a breakthrough on the global scene.
The road to Lithuania
For the first time, Iran has made it to the global showpiece without having gone through qualification. In fact, the 2020 AFC Futsal Championship, which would also serve as Asia’s qualifying competition for Lithuania 2021, was canceled due to COVID-19. The AFC, therefore, nominated three teams, including IR Iran, to represent Asia at the global finals.
Group G
Argentina
Argentina have participated in every edition of the Futsal World Cup and will be making their ninth appearance at Lithuania 2021. Argentina won the CONMEBOL qualifying event while impressing throughout. They won all six of their games, including those against the region’s other three Lithuania 2021 qualifiers: Venezuela, in the group stage (2-1), Paraguay in the semis (2-0), and five-time world champions Brazil in the final (3-1) – a game their opponents came into with five wins of their own and no goals conceded.
Serbia
The 2012 edition in Thailand was the first time Serbia had qualified for a FIFA Futsal World Cup. In this edition, Serbia made the battle for qualification particularly exciting. After finishing as runners-up behind Spain in their group, they had to face Finland in a play-off. Following a narrow 1-0 home victory in the first leg, there was a goal-filled and nerve-jangling 5-5 draw in the return fixture in Finland that booked the Serbians’ ticket to Lithuania.
USA
USA became the first semi-finalist and can now look forward to its first World Cup appearance since 2008. USA beat Guatemala 2-0 in the final match.
Did you know…?
12 – Since participating at the inaugural AFC Futsal Asian Cup in 1999, Iran has been a largely dominant force on the continental scene, winning the title a record 12 times.