Tehran XI

The very first Iran selection football team that traveled to Baku in 1926.

In 1926 Tehran XI (selected players from Tehran Club, Toofan Club and Armenian Sports Club) traveled across the border to Baku, USSR, this was the first away football match for an Iranian team. This Tehran Select team is the predecessor of Iran's national football team.

In 1929 it was time for a return visit, and so a team from Baku was invited to play in Tehran in late November. To impress the visitors, grass had been planted on the state-owned football field. The last of the three games, all of which were won by the visitors, was attended by Abdolhossein Teymourtash, the powerful minister of court. The humiliating defeats, suffered on home ground, caused great consternation, so much so that some young men gave up football altogether. In subsequent years the interest in football waned, and newspapers hardly reported on those matches that did take place. However, all this changed with the return of crown prince Mohammad Reza Pahlavi from Switzerland in 1936 and the arrival of Thomas R. Gibson in the 1930s to promote the game.

• Head Coach: Mir Mehdi Varzandeh

Squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  IRN Hossein-Ali Khan Sardar —  IRN Ahmad-Ali Khan Sardar —  IRN Mohammad-Ali Khan Sardar —  IRN Hossein Sadaghiani —  IRN Karim Zandi —  IRN Hasan Meftah —  IRN Ali Kani —  IRN Mohammad Ali Shokooh

No. Pos. Nation Player —  IRN Amir Aslani —  IRN Aziz Eqtedar —  IRN Akbar Heydari —  IRN Herand Galusetiyan —  IRN Naser Enshaa —  IRN Reza Qoli Kalantar —  IRN Azizollah Afkhami

The results were as follow:

#	Date	Opponent	Result	Score	Venue	Competition
1	Autumn 1926	Baku XI	L	0–2	Baku, Transcaucasian SFSR, USSR	Friendly
2	Autumn 1926	Azerbaijan Polytechnical Institute	D	0–0	Baku, Transcaucasian SFSR, USSR	Friendly
3	Autumn 1926	Baku Youth XI	L	3–4	Baku, Transcaucasian SFSR, USSR	Friendly
4	Autumn 1926	Taraqi Baku	L	1–3	Baku, Transcaucasian SFSR, USSR	Friendly
5	Nov 1929	Baku XI	L	0–4	Tehran, Iran	Friendly
6	Nov 1929	Baku XI	L	1–4	Tehran, Iran	Friendly
7	Nov 1929	Baku XI	L	0–11	Tehran, Iran	Friendly