Team Melli All-time losses to lower FIFA ranked opponents

[Rooyintan]

FIFA rankings were first introduced in December 1992 and since then Team Melli has lost many times to opponents who had a lower FIFA ranking.
Recently there has been lots of criticism for Team Melli under Amir Ghalenoei for losing to Russia, Uzbekistan and Qatar. However, the biggest surprise is that Team Melli under likes of Carlos Queiroz, Branko Ivankovic, Miroslav Blazevic and other coaches who were popular among Iranian football fans, did far worse than Ghalenoei. There were losses at home or at times opponents were ranked in 100s.


Here's the full list of matches, flags are for non-AFC opponents.

Ali Parvin

22.10.1993 World Cup Qualifier - Second Round Iraq(59) vs Iran(58) 2:1 N Doha

Mohammad Mayeli Kohan

28.04.1996 Friendly Turkmenistan(131) vs Iran(118) 1:0 A Asgabat
25.11.1996 Friendly Iran(77) vs Turkmenistan(141) 0:1 H Tehran
05.12.1996 Asian Cup - Group B Iraq(129) vs Iran(77) 2:1 N Dubai
02.09.1997 Friendly UAE(66) vs Iran(60) 3:1 A Abu Dhabi
07.11.1997 World Cup Qualifier Qatar(96) vs Iran(49) 2:0 A Doha

Tomislav Ivic (Croatia)

28.01.1998 Carlsberg Cup 🇳🇬 Nigeria(71) vs Iran(46) 1:0 N Hong Kong
20.04.1998 LG CUP Iran(45) vs 🇭🇺 Hungary(82) 0:2 H Tehran

Mansour Pourheidari

13.10.1998 Friendly Kuwait(52) vs Iran(38) 3:0 A Kuwait City
08.12.1998 Asian Games-Group K Oman(71) vs Iran(44) 4:2 N Bangkok

Jalal Talebi

04.04.2000 Asian Cup Qualifier-Group 2 Bahrain(139) vs Iran(53) 1:0 N Aleppo
01.09.2000 Friendly 🇦🇹 Austria(42) vs Iran(38) 5:1 A Vienna
23.10.2000 Asian Cup-Quarter Finals South Korea(44) vs Iran(43) 2:1 N Tripoli

Miroslav Blazevic (Croatia)

24.04.2001 LG CUP South Korea(41) vs Iran(40) 1:0 N Cairo
26.04.2001 LG CUP 🇨🇦 Canada(65) vs Iran(40) 1:0 N Cairo
01.08.2001 Friendly Qatar(90) vs Iran(51) 2:1 A Doha
19.10.2001 World Cup Qualifier Bahrain(114) vs Iran(35) 3:1 A Riffa

Branko Ivankovic (Croatia)

06.02.2002 Friendly Iran(29) vs 🇸🇰 Slovakia(47) 2:3 H Tehran
30.08.2002 WAFF-Group 1 Jordan(96) vs Iran(33) 1:0 N Damascus
26.09.2003 Asian Cup Qualifier Jordan(83) vs Iran(45) 3:2 A Amman
02.12.2003 Friendly Kuwait(52) vs Iran(35) 3:1 A Kuwait City
09.06.2004 World Cup Qualifier Iran(18) vs Jordan(43) 0:1 H Tehran
03.08.2004 Asian Cup-Semi Finals China(51) vs Iran(24) 1:1 (4 - 3 PEN.) A Beijing
12.10.2005 Friendly South Korea(26) vs Iran(18) 2:0 A Seoul
11.11.2005 Tehran Intl. Tournament Iran(21) vs 🇲🇰 Macedonia(93) 1:2 H Tehran

Homayoun Shahrokhi

13.08.2003 LG CUP Iran(42) vs Iraq(70) 0:1 H Tehran
20.08.2003 Friendly 🇧🇾 Belarus(83) vs Iran(42) 2:1 A Minsk

Ali Daei

21.03.2008 Friendly Bahrain(82) vs Iran(41) 1:0 A Riffa
28.03.2009 World Cup Qualifier-Group 2 Iran(42) vs Saudi Arabia(55) 1:2 H Tehran

Afshin Ghotbi

01.06.2009 Friendly China(97) vs Iran(53) 1:0 A Qinhuangdo
31.08.2009 Friendly Bahrain(65) vs Iran(61) 4:2 A Riffa
22.11.2009 Asian Cup Qualifier Jordan(128) vs Iran(63) 1:0 A Amman
28.12.2009 Qatar Intl. Friendly Tournament Qatar(86) vs Iran(64) 3:2 A Doha
03.10.2010 WAFF-Final Kuwait(96) vs Iran(57) 2:1 N Amman

Carlos Queiroz (Portugal)

27.05.2012 Friendly 🇦🇱 Albania(84) vs Iran(52) 1:0 N Istanbul
11.09.2012 World Cup Qualifier Lebanon(124) vs Iran(54) 1:0 A Beirut
14.11.2012 World Cup Qualifier Iran(44) vs Uzbekistan(69) 0:1 H Tehran [NOTE: Queiroz was banned from coaching this match, it was his assistant coaches]
22.05.2013 Friendly Oman(102) vs Iran(57) 3:1 A Muscat
05.03.2014 Friendly Iran(38) vs 🇬🇳 Guinea(62) 1:2 H Tehran
23.01.2015 Asian Cup-Quarter Finals Iraq(114) vs Iran(51) 3:3 (7 - 6 PEN.) N Canberra
31.03.2015 Friendly 🇸🇪 Sweden(45) vs Iran(42) 3:1 A Solna
18.03.2017 Friendly Iraq(122) vs Iran(33) 1:0 H Tehran
28.05.2018 Friendly 🇹🇷 Turkey(37) vs Iran(36) 2:1 A Istanbul
28.01.2019 Asian Cup-Semi Final Japan(50) vs Iran(29) 3:0 N Al-Ain
16.11.2022 Friendly 🇹🇳 Tunisia(30) vs Iran(20) 2:0 N Doha

Marc Wilmots (Belgium)

15.10.2019 World Cup Qualifier Bahrain(105) vs Iran(23) 1:0 A Riffa
14.11.2019 World Cup Qualifier Iraq(74) vs Iran(27) 2:1 N Amman

Dragan Skocic (Croatia)

24.03.2022 World Cup Qualifier South Korea(29) vs Iran(21) 2:0 A Seoul
12.06.2022 Friendly 🇩🇿 Algeria(44) vs Iran(21) 2:1 N Doha

Amir Ghalenoei

07.02.2024 Asian Cup-Semi-Finals Qatar(58) vs Iran(21) 3:2 A Doha
05.06.2025 World Cup Qualifier-Third round-Group A Qatar(55) vs Iran(18) 1:0 A Doha
08.09.2025 CAFA Nations Cup-Final Uzbekistan(55) vs Iran(20) 1:0 AET A Tashkent
10.10.2025 Friendly 🇷🇺 Russia(33) vs Iran(21) 2:1 A Volgograd

[Keano]

We've historically taken our weaker opponents lightly and got punished for not showing the deserved respect to these opponents. Having said that GN still gotta go, he is just not good for TM.