Carlos Queiroz's introduction 8 years ago to the Iranian national team has put the Persian nation back on the international football map. The former Real Madrid and Portugal head coach was Sir Alex Fergerson's number two for a number of seasons at Old Trafford and was instrumental in bringing Cristiano Ronaldo to Manchester. He will face Portugal in the group stage which promises to be a feisty affair. Queiroz has restored Iran's footballing pedigree and they are once again an Asian behemoth. For the last four years, Iran has been Asia's top-ranked team and they come into this World Cup with that status intact. Queiroz has restructured the entire football system in Iran and the country has once again started to develop players they can be proud of. The head of that pack is Sardar Azmoun, a player who was cut in the last minute from the 2014 squad. Azmoun has used that rejection to continue working hard and has made himself one of the faces of this Iranian team with an unbelievable international goalscoring record that is Ali Daei like. Europe's very top teams are tracking Azmoun who currently plays his football in the home of the World Cup, Russia. Another player familiar with Russia is Saeid Ezatolahi whose red card suspension for the World Cup makes him a limited option. Making waves in European football is Alireza Jahanbakhsh who is well prepared for the summer party after finishing as the Eredivisie's top scorer with AZ. Karim Ansarifard is another player strutting his stuff in Europe with Greek giants Olympiacos, although his progression has somewhat stalled, he is still an important player for the Iranians. While waiting for these talents to fully develop Queiroz had to rely on the services of several players of dual nationality. Reza Ghoochannejhad is a former Dutch youth international and Ashkan Dejagah did the same with Germany. More recently Queiroz was able to convince the attacking Saman Ghoddos to represent Team Melli. Ghoddos had already played two friendly games for Sweden even scoring in one of the matches. 

Head Coach: Carlos Queiroz

Population: 81 million

Appearances: 5

Best: Group Stage 

How they Qualified: Iran's qualification campaign was superb. Team Melli went undefeated and only conceded two goals in all of qualification, which was on the last day when already qualified. They finished comfortably on top of their group seven points above second-placed South Korea. The team was well supported through all of qualifying with home games in Tehran averaging over 75,000 spectators. 

Star Players:  Alireza Jahanbakhsh (AZ Alkmaar),

Sardar Azmoun (Rubin Kazan), Karim Ansarifard (Olympiacos), Ashkan Dejagah (Nottingham Forest), Reza Ghoochannejhad (Heerenveen)

Wildcard: Saman Ghoddos -The Swedish born attacker can be very productive, but his late inclusion to the squad means there is still a question of what role he plays. From all accounts, it is said that he has impressed the team and Queiroz so much, that his role might be much bigger than first anticipated.

Legend:Ali Daei