Iran still have a chance of reaching the World Cup knockout stages, following draws against New Zealand, Belgium and Egypt.
Team Melli have competed in six previous World Cups, but have never made it past the group stage/first round. However, they did manage to beat Wales 2-0 at Qatar 2022, and only lost 1-0 to the United States in their final group game, when a point would have been enough to see them through.
Iran qualified for the 2026 tournament with relative ease, finishing top of Round Two Group E with 14 points from six games, before topping Round Three Group A with 23 points from 10 games.
Iran still have a chance of sneaking through to the knockout rounds for the first time on this occasion. Though it will depend on results from elsewhere as they finished third in Group G.
Read more: FIFA World Cup Draw: Find out who will play who in 2026
Iran odds to win the World Cup
With initial odds of 750/1, Iran weren’t absolute outsiders, but you wouldn’t count them among the dark horses like Japan (50/1) or Senegal (125/1) either.
Either way, Bookmakers haven’t seen much to change that – as odds still sit around 750/1 after their final group stage game.
Iran odds to win Group G
Belgium were heavily favoured before the tournament started but just sneaked past Egypt on goal difference on matchweek 3 to secure first place.
While debutants Cape Verde advanced in second with three draws, Iran’s group presented tougher luck and they will now hope for other third-placed teams to end up worse than them on tiebreakers.
Iran World Cup top goalscorer odds
Ramin Rezaeian is Iran’s best bet for the World Cup Golden Boot award. He has had a direct involvement in each of their three goals this tournament, scoring two of his own and setting up another.
The veteran right-back also became his country’s leader in World Cup goals, with three (two in 2026 and one in 2022).
Read more:
