page_title: Iran national football team
section_title: 2011 AFC Asian Cup
hierarchical_section_title: Iran national football team / History / 2011 AFC Asian Cup
caption_attribution_description: English: Iran national football team - 2011 العربية: المنتخب الإيراني لكرة القدم في مباراته مع جزر المالديف سنة 2011م. مصرى: دول لعيبه الفريق الايرانى لكوره قدم اللى بيلعب الماتش مع فريق مادليف 2011.
context_page_description: The Iran national football team, also known as Team Melli, represents Iran in international football and is controlled by the Iran Football Federation. From December 2014 until May 2018, the men's national football team of Iran remained the highest-ranked team in Asia, representing the longest continuous period of time a team has been top of the continent in the rankings.
  Iran is one of the most successful men's national teams in Asia with three Asian Cup championships. Iran's best performance at the Olympics was reaching the quarterfinals in the 1976 Montreal Games. Iran has qualified for the World Cup five times but has never advanced past the group stage. They have, however, won two matches in the World Cup, one against the United States in 1998, and their opener against Morocco in 2018.
context_section_description: Iran renewed the contract with Afshin Ghotbi until the end of 2011 AFC Asian Cup and the team qualified to the tournament with 13 points as the group winners.
  During the final qualification match against South Korea, several Iranian players started the match wearing green armbands or wristbands, a symbol of protest at the outcome of the Iranian presidential election. Most removed them at half-time. The newspaper Iran reported that Ali Karimi, Mehdi Mahdavikia, Hosein Kaebi, and Vahid Hashemian had received life bans from the Iranian FA for the gesture. However, the Iranian FA denied this claim in a response to FIFA's inquiry saying that "the comments in foreign media are nothing but lies and a mischievous act." Head coach Afshin Ghotbi also confirmed that it was a rumour and Iranian FA "has not taken any official stand on this issue."
  Afshin Ghotbi was able to qualify for 2011 Asian Cup and finished second in West Asian Football Federation Championship 2010 just a few months before the 2011 Asian Cup. Iran was able to gain all nine points in the group stage of the 2011 Asian Cup but after an extra time goal from South Korea, Iran was yet again unable to get to the semifinals of the competition.
caption: Iran's squad in July 2011 against Maldives, Manager: Carlos Queiroz
   Standing left to right: Aghili, Hosseini, Haddadifar, Ansarifard, Zare, Pooladi 
  Sitting left to right: Heydari, Norouzi, Rahmati, Khalatbari, Karimi
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