Table 1: Player goal scoring totals

Team Melli goal scoring records Analysis

Glory of Goals

To analyze the goal scoring performance of the players it is essential that two attributes be considered.  

1)      The first is the actual number of goals scored by a player in international matches.

2)      The average goal per game scored by a player.

It is important to note that the term “International matches” refer to matches between the representatives of each of the competing country at the highest level and duly recognized by the football association as their full team. This in itself has been subject of many discussion and argument. However, the absence of a few regular players in an international match does not void the representation of the team as a full team.

Total goals scored by individual players

 The first table depicts the total number of goals scored by Iranian players who have represented their country in international matches. This table does not include un-official matches against clubs, Olympic teams, youth teams or U23 teams. To make a realistic table, 10 goals and more are considered as a criterion for the players records. 

Ali Daei with 98 goals is topping the table with his closest rival Karim Bagheri coming distant second with 47 goals. Daei has still an opportunity to improve his record depending on his fitness in the next few months while Bagheri has retired from National Team duties some times ago although he is still active at club level and continues to score his spectacular goals. 

Third place ranking is Ali Karimi and the most capable player to improve at the present time. Karimi operating as forward and midfield player has only recently improved his scoring records. His remarkable performance in the recent Asian Cup 2004 where he was the joint top scorer has augured well for a promising future in goal scoring in Team Melli.

Following the 3 top players, there is a large gap in which current players can improve the current standing as most of the players have already retired. Notice that from the current active players, only Farhad Majidi ranked 18^th with 11 goals ,  Vahedi-Nikbakht  & Mahdavikia ranked 20^th  and 21^st respectively have the opportunity to improve their ranking in the top scorers table.

Goal scoring averages

In the next table we will be looking at the average goal scored by a player per match.

In this table, Ali Daei is pushed to the second place by Behtash Fariba who has a record of 0.75 goals per match. Although Fariba has only played 16 matches for Team Melli, his appearance at the scene during the turmoil in Iranian football just before the Islamic revolution prevented this exceptional young player from pursuing his career at international level. 

Ali Daei comes close second with 0.731 goals per game. It is still a remarkable record by the legendary Daei considering he player 134 matches so far. In the third place, Farshad Peyous has a record of 0.647 goals scoring 22 goals from 34 matches.

 Karim Bagheri is by far the best scoring Midfield player in Team Melli history ranking fourth in the table with an average of 0.588 goals per match in his 80 matches.

 Like the first table , we notice that the current active players have a long way to go to match the other players in the list. Karimi stands at 11^th place , while Farhad Majidi is ranked 16^th. Khodadad Azizi , Nikbakht and Mahdavikia are at the tail of the table.

Another interesting comparison on the prowess of the scoring from this generations of current players compared to the older generations, indicate that the current players have scored much more goals in total than the ones before.

In this representative table 438 total goals were scored , of which 50.23% were scored by the current generations of players. Players from the 80's era have scored 26.94% of the total , while the players from 70"s era scored 22.83% of this table's total. It must be noted , however, that the older generations played less international games compared to the current ones.

Current active players

 Table 2: Players goal scoring average per game.

CONCLUSION

What is clear from these tables is that the current active players have scored more goals than their predecessors, however on goal per game average , it seems that the older generation fair better than this generation. If we also consider that the current generation play against much stronger teams than before , the balance tilts towards the current generation in goal scoring records.

 In such analysis there are always a player or two who shine and in this case Ali Daei is undoubtedly the most prolific scorer by any standards. Not only he has the World Top Scoring record in international games, but his remarkable average goal per game that will be difficult to match for a few generations. With competitions becoming more difficult to beat and the improving standards of the teams that Iran plays at International level, it is highly unlikely to see these records significantly improve.

Undoubtedly, strikers are the most popular football players of any team. It is goals that remain in the memory of the fans for a long time. Magical moments of games are always associated with goals and the more spectacular, the more that memory lingers in the fans mind.

During its long football history, Iran had many talented goal scorers and many memorable goals scored at deciding matches that brought glory to the country and with it, accolades and trophies. This article will be reviewing the goal scoring records of Team Melli Iran with an in-depth analysis of the records achieved.

When you mention goal scoring in Iran, it will be associated with the one and only Ali Daei. Not only Daei has achieved a wonderful record of holding the World highest goal scorer at international level, it is believed that his scoring feat will not be broken for a in the foreseeable future.

 Ali Daei’s world record is even more admirable in the generation of football that has exceptional defenders and emphasis on defending strategies as a mean of winning matches. Gone are the days when teams hammer their weak opponents by dozen of goals at international level. Even weaker national teams today could hold their powerful opponents with low margin goals.

 Goal scoring in football matches are not the sole property of forwards, as many midfield players and even defenders have admirable goal scoring achievements. In Iran there is such a players. Karim Bagheri have an exceptional record scoring from midfield and defense not even matched by some of the more celebrated Iranian forwards. Bagheri also holds the World record in scoring goals in a single match against Maldives in 1997 when he scored 7 goals by himself.

However, apart form Bagheri , the other midfield players do not fair well in these tables. Closest to him are Jabbari and Parvin while Mahdavikia lies near the bottom with 11 goals in 81 matches