Team Melli has been drawn in group A of the third round of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers in the draw that has just concluded in the Malaysian capital, Kula Lumpur.

Group A seems to be a balanced group with the defending AFC Asian Cup title holder Qatar and Uzbekistan being the strongest in the group along with Iran.

Group A
IRAN
QATAR
UZBEKISTAN
UAE
KYRGYZ REP
KOREA DPR

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Iran	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2026 FIFA World Cup		—	15 Oct	25 Mar	20 Mar	5 Sep	10 Jun
2	Qatar	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0			5 Jun	—	14 Nov	5 Sep	10 Oct	20 Mar
3	Uzbekistan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Fourth round		10 Oct	10 Jun	—	15 Oct	20 Mar	5 Sep
4	United Arab Emirates	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0			10 Sep	19 Nov	5 Jun	—	14 Nov	10 Oct
5	Kyrgyzstan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0			19 Nov	25 Mar	10 Sep	10 Jun	—	15 Oct
6	North Korea	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0			14 Nov	10 Sep	19 Nov	25 Mar	5 Jun	—

The first match(es) will be played: on 5th September 2024.
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

DATE	TIME	COMPETETION	STAGE	TEAM HOME	TEAM AWAY	VENUE
Friday , May 29 2026	16:00 16:30 IRST	International Friendly		GAMBIA	IRAN	Corendon Airlines Park, Antaliya
Monday, June 15, 2026	04:00 / 04:30 IRST 02:00 BST 18:00 ET	FIFA World Cup 2026	Group Stage - Group G	IRAN	NEW ZEALAND	SoFi Stadium, Inglewood
Sunday, June 21, 2026	22:00 / 22:30 IRST 20:00 BST 12:00 ET	FIFA World Cup 2026	Group Stage - Group G	BELGIUM	IRAN	SoFi Stadium, Inglewood
Friday, June 26, 2026	06:00 / 06:30 IRST 04:00 BST 20:00 ET	FIFA World Cup 2026	Group Stage - Group G	EGYPT	IRAN	Lumen Field, Seattle
Saturday, January 9th , 2026			Group Stage - GROUP C	IRAN	CHINA	Kingdom Aren , Riyadh
Wednesday, January 13th , 2026			Group Stage - GROUP C	KYRGYZ REP	IRAN	Al Shabab Stadium, Riyadh
Monday, January 18th , 2026			Group Stage - GROUP C	IRAN	SYRIA	King Fahd Sports City Stadium, Riyadh