IR Iran vs New Zealand Preview: Team News & Prediction | FIFA World Cup 2026 | Group Stage
IR Iran have opted to play at FIFA World Cup 2026 and they begin their campaign with New Zealand at the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles in Group G.
Kick-off date/time:
How to watch on TV: UK – BBC / USA – FOX Sports
How to watch online: UK – BBC iPlayer & the BBC Sport website & app / USA – FOX One
IR Iran preview: Limited Iranians
The Iranians have made it to their fourth successive FIFA World Cup, having failed to qualify for the knockout stages in each of the tournaments in Brazil, Russia and Qatar - winning just two games in those nine matches.
Under the management of Amir Ghalenoi, the Iranians began their calendar year with a 2-1 loss to Nigeria before then hammering Costa Rica by five goals to nil in the Jordan International Tournament in Antalya in Turkiye.
New Zealand preview: Back at the WC
The expansion of the FIFA World Cup to 48 teams means that an Oceanian side automatically qualified for the tournament and New Zealand took advantage of that by qualifying in emphatic fashion.
The All Whites, with Englishman coach Darren Bazeley at the helm, have struggled to be competitive since achieving their qualification but they did manage to put in an excellent performance to hammer Chile by four goals to one in March.
IR Iran team news
Team news will appear here closer to the match…
Predicted XI (X-X-X-X): TBC
Unavailable: TBC
Questionable: TBC
New Zealand team news
Team news will appear here closer to the match…
Predicted XI (X-X-X-X): TBC
Unavailable: TBC
Questionable: TBC
IR Iran’s top FIFA World Cup Fantasy assets
Alireza Beiranvand ($4.2m) – Goalkeeper
Ramin Rezaeian ($4.0m) – Defender
Mehdi Taremi ($6.1m) – Forward
Matchday 1 captain pick: Mehdi Taremi
Set-piece duty
Penalties: Mehdi Taremi
Free kicks: Mehdi Taremi
Corners: Saman Ghoddos, Mehdi Ghayedi
New Zealand’s top FIFA World Cup Fantasy assets
Tim Payne ($3.6m) – Defender
Alex Rufer ($4.9m) – Midfielder
Chris Wood ($6.5m) – Forward
Matchday 1 captain pick: Chris Wood
Set-piece duty
Penalties: Chris Wood
Free kicks: Sarpreet Singh, Matthew Garbett
Corners: Francis de Vries, Tim Payne
Key stats
- IR Iran are making a fourth successive appearance at the FIFA World Cup. They had only featured three times in the history of the competition prior to this run.
- Team Melli have yet to make it out of the group stage in six attempts. Their highest-ever points tally in a group was in 2018 when they picked up four points with a 1-0 victory against Morocco and a 1-1 draw against Portugal either side of a narrow 1-0 defeat to Spain.
- The 2026 edition marks New Zealand’s third FIFA World Cup instalment, having previously featured in football’s biggest competition in 1982 and 2010.
- The All Whites’ all-time leading scorer, Chris Wood, achieved a remarkable feat during their qualifying campaign for the 2026 finals, recording hat-tricks in back-to-back matches. He netted three goals against Samoa on 18 November 2024 in their final group-stage fixture, then repeated the act in the semi-final clash against Fiji on 21 March 2025.
- New Zealand are aiming for their first victory in a FIFA World Cup match at the seventh attempt (D3 L3). The only previous win by an OFC representative at the finals was Australia’s 3-1 victory over Japan in 2006, prior to their move to the AFC.
- Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Ehsan Hajsafi are the first Iranian players to reach four FIFA World Cup participations. An appearance for Hajsafi here would see him become the first Iranian to reach 10 World Cup matches, having already set the national record with nine.
- Chris Wood and Tommy Smith are the first New Zealand players to feature in two FIFA World Cup tournaments, having both appeared in all three of the All Whites’ matches during their last finals campaign in 2010.
Click here for EVEN MORE stats & facts about this fixture!
IR Iran vs New Zealand prediction
IR Iran have a limited squad. They remain one of the better sides coming out of the Asian continent but, beyond former Internazionale attacker Mehdi Taremi, they lack a fair bit of real quality across the squad. They head into this summer amid controversy and general off-the-pitch issues, with a bit of experience and pedigree as they go into a fairly open group alongside Egypt and a Belgium side that have their major fallibilities. New Zealand are among the weakest sides in the tournament and they will be expected to keep things tight with a low-scoring encounter highly likely here, albeit IR Iran do have to remain favourites.
IR Iran vs New Zealand betting tip: IR Iran to win & under 3.5 goals
