Iran | |
Nickname: | Iranian lionesses ("Shirzanan") Persian ladies |
Association: | Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran (FFIRI) |
Fifa Trigramme: | IRN |
Confederation: | AFC (Asia) |
Sub-Confederation: | CAFA (Central Asia) |
Coach: | Elena Fomina |
Captain: | Zahra Ghanbari |
Most Caps: | Sara Ghomi (34) |
Top Scorer: | Zahra Ghanbari (13)[1] |
Home Stadium: | Ararat Stadium |
Fifa Max: | 48 |
Fifa Max Date: | September 2008 – March 2009 |
Fifa Min: | 72 |
Fifa Min Date: | June – August 2021 |
Kit Alt1: | white jersey with red pinstripes, white shorts, white socks with light red band --> |
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First Game: | Iran 0–5 (Tehran, Iran; 9 May 1971) First FIFA International 5–0 (Amman, Jordan; 23 September 2005) |
Largest Win: | 13–0 (Amman, Jordan; 3 September 2007) |
Largest Loss: | 8–1 (Bangkok, Thailand; 8 July 2009) 7–0 (Mumbai, India; 23 January 2022) |
Olympic Best: | --> |
Regional Name: | Asian Cup |
Regional Cup Apps: | 1 |
Regional Cup First: | 2022 |
Regional Cup Best: | Group stage (2022) |
2Ndregional Name: | CAFA Championship |
2Ndregional Cup Apps: | 2 |
2Ndregional Cup First: | 2018 |
2Ndregional Cup Best: | Runners-up (2018, 2022) |
Type: | women |
The Iran women's national football team, nicknamed the Lionesses, represents Iran in international women's football around the world, and is controlled by the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran (FFIRI). The Iran women's team played its first international match in May 1971 against Italy and first FIFA international in September 2005 against Syria.
In 1969, a group of Iranian women attended FIFA coaching classes for women's football in South Korea, Singapore and India. During their time in those countries they also watched women's football matches. Upon their return home, Iran Football Federation after many meetings decided to kick start women's football in Iran. Soon after, clubs such as Taj, Persepolis, Deyhim, Oghab, and PAS formed women's football teams and a women's football league was established in Tehran. Persepolis women football team was coached by Alan Rogers whose assistant was Ali Parvin.[2]
On 7 May 1971, visitors to Tehran, Italy took to the field and won against Iranian club side Taj S.C[3] 2-0. The goals were scored by Medri and Bertolo. The Italians also missed a penalty kick by Nonni. It was the first time an Iranian women's team faced a foreign opponent. Two days later there was the second match which was between Iran women's national football team and Italy, with the Azzurre scoring five goals. Nonni, Gerwien, who scored a brace, Pesenti and Gualdi scored.[4]
Both matches were organized by Pari Abasalti editor-in-chief of Ettelaat-e Banuvan magazine who was also the president of Iran's Damsels and Ladies Association. The venue was Amjadieh stadium in Tehran. Iran women's national team composed of players selected from Taj, Persepolis, Deyhim, Oghab and PAS. Some of the players who played were Hengameh Afshar, Goli Rahani and Effat Mohammadi. The team's head coach was Aziz Asli.[5]
Women's football was abandoned as of Iranian Revolution in 1979.
Refounded in 2005, the team reached second place at the 2005 West Asian Football Federation Women's Championship in Amman, Jordan held in September and October 2005.
In May 2006, the women's team hosted their first foreign visitors when a club from Berlin, Germany called BSV Al-Dersimspor played out a 2–2 draw in Ararat Stadium, Tehran.
The team won second place again at the 2007 and 2011 West Asian Football Federation Women's Championship.[6]
See also: Women's rights in Iran and Zahra Khajavi. Iran were briefly banned by FIFA from international competition in 2011 for wearing hijabs. This caused Iran to forfeit its bid to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics.[7] [8] The ban was lifted in 2012.[9]
In 2015 there were reports that eight players on the team were males awaiting sex change operations.[10] [11] On 27 December 2019, Zahra Khajavi broke the clean sheet record of Iranian football by not conceding any goal for 953 minutes.[12] [13] [14] Also, she, along with Alireza Biranvand, are known as the record holders of the longest hand throws in Iranian football.[15] As one of the best goalkeepers in the history of Iranian football, Khajavi was able to once again draw the attention of the domestic media to the Iranian women's national football team. Her achievements played a key role in the progress of the women's national football team in these years.
In the 2020s, women's football became more popular among young Iranians, both boys and girls.[16] Iran qualified for their first ever AFC Women's Asian Cup when they won against Jordan on penalties in the qualifiers for the 2022 edition to be hosted in India.[17] In Iran's historic debut, Iran impressed by holding India goalless, but following India's withdrawal due to COVID-19 pandemic, Iran's only point was lost, and thus Iran was left vulnerable to China and Chinese Taipei, losing 0–7 and 0–5 in process and was eliminated as the worst third-placed team.
In 2023, a report on BBC Persian reported the lack of facilities and friendly matches for the team. This report mentioned the "unwillingness" of the Iranian Football Federation to have a women's team.[18] In the 2024 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament, Maryam Azmoun's team had one draw and two defeats (in second round of the tournament), although their slight loss against powerful Australia was predictable for the fans.[19] [20] [21]
The Iran women's national football team have been known or nicknamed as the "Iranian Lionesses" (in Persian: Shirzanan). The Iran women's national football team is widely nicknamed the Persian stars since 2010. "Parsi women" or Persian ladies are another nicknames of the team in Asian football.[22]
In the decades after 1979, the media coverage of women's football in Iran had problems, but the matches of the women's national team are usually followed by Iranian men and women in the national and foreign media.
Persian-language documentaries and sports programs are made about the team's winning potential and history.
The table below shows the history of kit supplier for the Iranian national football team.
Kit supplier | Period | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|
Uhlsport | 2019–2022 | ||
Merooj | 2022–present | [23] |
Iran plays their home matches on the Ararat Stadium.
On 9 November 2018 Fatma Samoura, Secretary General of International Federation of Football Association FIFA said she would ask Iranian government to end ban on women’s entry to sport stadiums.[24]
In September 2019 it was reported that Iranian female football star Sahar Khodayari, dubbed the "blue girl", died after self-immolating in front of a court in Tehran when she found out she could face a two year sentence for attempting to enter a football stadium to watch her team play.[25]
See main article: Iran women's national football team results.
See also: FIFA International Match Calendar.
The following is a list of matches in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.
, after the match against .
width=180 | Team | width=30 | width=30 | width=30 | width=30 | width=35 | width=35 | width=35 | width=130 | Confederation | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | +6 | AFC | ||||||||||
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -2 | AFC | ||||||||||
2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | +12 | AFC | ||||||||||
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 1 | +8 | AFC | ||||||||||
7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 14 | −11 | UEFA | ||||||||||
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | −7 | AFC | ||||||||||
5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 12 | −8 | AFC | ||||||||||
1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | AFC | ||||||||||
4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 0 | AFC | ||||||||||
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | −5 | UEFA | ||||||||||
11 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 16 | 19 | -3 | AFC | ||||||||||
2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | +6 | AFC | ||||||||||
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | +4 | AFC | ||||||||||
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 1 | +18 | AFC | ||||||||||
5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 | −4 | AFC | ||||||||||
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | −3 | AFC | ||||||||||
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 0 | +20 | AFC | ||||||||||
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 9 | −9 | AFC | ||||||||||
2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | −6 | UEFA | ||||||||||
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | +6 | AFC | ||||||||||
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | −7 | UEFA | ||||||||||
4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 1 | +33 | AFC | ||||||||||
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 16 | −14 | AFC | ||||||||||
2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 1 | +8 | AFC | ||||||||||
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | +4 | AFC | ||||||||||
2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 3 | +3 | AFC | ||||||||||
2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | UEFA | ||||||||||
9 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 19 | −16 | AFC | ||||||||||
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 13 | −11 | AFC | ||||||||||
Total | 85 | 32 | 11 | 42 | 176 | 155 | +21 |
Position | Name | Ref. | |
---|---|---|---|
Head coach | Elena Fomina | ||
Assistant coach | |||
Technical manager | Akbar Mohammadi | ||
Supervisor | Fatemeh Alipour |
See main article: List of Iran women's international footballers.
Caps correct as of 12 January 2022.
The following players have been called up to the squad in the past year.
FIFA Women's World Cup record | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Result | Position | GP | W | D* | L | GF | GA | GD | |
1991 to 2007 | did not enter | |||||||||
2011 | did not qualify | |||||||||
2015 | ||||||||||
2019 | ||||||||||
2023 | ||||||||||
to be determined | ||||||||||
Total | 0/10 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
Summer Olympics record | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Round | GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | |
1996 to 2008 | did not enter | ||||||||
2012 | did not qualify | ||||||||
2016 | |||||||||
2020 | |||||||||
2024 | |||||||||
2028 | To be determined | ||||||||
2032 | |||||||||
Total | 0/7 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
AFC Women's Asian Cup record | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Result | GP | W | D* | L | GF | GA | GD | |
1975 to 2008 | did not enter | ||||||||
2010 | did not qualify | ||||||||
2014 | |||||||||
2018 | |||||||||
2022 | Group stage | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 12 | −12 | |
Total | 1/19 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 12 | −12 |
Asian Games record | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Result | GP | W | D* | L | GF | GA | GD | |
did not enter | |||||||||
2026 | to be determined | ||||||||
2030 | |||||||||
2034 | |||||||||
Total | 0/8 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
WAFF Women's Championship record | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Round | Pld | W | D | L | GS | GA | |
2005 | Runners-up | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 20 | 2 | |
2007 | Runners-up | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 17 | 2 | |
2010 | Group stage | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | |
2011 | Runners-up | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 7 | |
2014 | did not enter | |||||||
2019–onward | Not WAFF member | |||||||
Total | 4/7 | 14 | 9 | 1 | 4 | 58 | 16 |
CAFA Women's Championship record | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Round | Pld | W | D | L | GS | GA | |
2018 | Runners-up | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 3 | |
2022 | Runners-up | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 1 | |
Total | 2/2 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 26 | 4 |
, after the match against .
Best Ranking Best Mover Worst Ranking Worst Mover
Rank | Year | Games Played | Won | Lost | Drawn | Best | Worst | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rank | Move | Rank | Move | |||||||
2022 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 70 | 0 | 70 | 0 | ||
70 | 2021 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 70 | 0 | 70 | 0 |