The Iranian national basketball team is controlled by the IR Iran Basketball Federation. Overall, the team won three out of the last five FIBA Asia Championship tournaments.

History

The Iranian national team has had limited success on the international stage, with the most international experience being that of their

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ca ...

qualification, although they did not manage to make it past the group stage. The team won the

Bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

at the basketball competition of the

2006 Asian Games 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

2007 FIBA Asia Championship

Placed in the dreaded "Group of Death" alongside

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, and

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

, the Iranians won all three group matches to make it to the next round. In the quarterfinals, Iran went 2–1, to make it to semifinals, following victories over Chinese Taipei and

, and then routed

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

, 75–62, in the semifinals. The Iranians then beat

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

74–69, with

Hamed Haddadi Hamed Ehdadi Haddadi ( fa, حامد حدادی, , born May 19, 1985) is an Iranian professional basketball player for Sichuan Blue Whales of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). He plays at the center position and is 7'2" (2.18 meters) tall a ...

scoring 31 points. Not only did it avenge an 82–60 defeat in the quarterfinals, they also became the first Western Asian team to win the tournament, and thus make it to the

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

2008 Beijing Olympic Games

In being crowned the 2007 Asian Champions, the Iranians qualified for the 2008 Beijing games for the first time in 60 years. The Olympic experience led to a flurry of opportunities for the Iranian players, as they traveled across the world in preparation for the games, including a visit to the US. Iran was placed in Group A, along with

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

, and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, suffering five defeats. The Olympic experience opened doors for players such as Hamed Haddadi, and Iranian

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Samad Nikkhah Bahrami Mohammad Samad Nikkhah Bahrami ( fa, محمدصمد نیکخواه بهرامی, born 11 May 1983) is an Iranian professional basketball player. Pro career He previously played for Saba Battery as a subsidiary player, teaming with his since-dece ...

to play in the NBA (National Basketball Association) and sign in the top French League. Haddadi finished with averages of 16.6 points per game, 11.2 rebounds per game, and 2.6 blocks per game, leading the entire tournament in the latter two categories. His highlight performance was in the game against

when he put up 21 points and 16 rebounds.

2009 FIBA Asia Championship

Winning the

FIBA Asia Championship 2009 The 2009 FIBA Asia Championship for Men was the biennial Asian continental championship and also served as the FIBA Asia qualifying tournament for the 2010 FIBA World Championship. The tournament was held from August 6 to 16, 2009 in Tianjin, China ...

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...

, was a sign on continuing progress in basketball. Iran defeated

, by a score of 70–52 in the final.

2010 FIBA World Championship

Iran's second consecutive FIBA Asia Championship gave them their first ever

FIBA World Championship The FIBA Basketball World Cup, also known as the FIBA World Cup of Basketball or simply the FIBA World Cup, between 1950 and 2010 known as the FIBA World Championship, is an international basketball competition contested by the senior men's nat ...

berth, at the 2010 FIBA World Championship. The team finished 1–4 in Group B, good for 19th place

2013 FIBA Asia Championship

Selección de baloncesto de Irán vs España en 2021

Winning the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship at

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

, was a sign that the Iranian team has forgot the tragedy of their loss to Jordan in last tournament, 2011 FIBA Asia Championship, and reclaimed the top place in the FIBA Asia. Iran defeated the charged up hosts Philippines by an 85–71 win in the final. Iranian center Hamed Haddadi, who played a stellar role in Iran's triumph at the 27th FIBA Asia Championship, became the most accomplished individual player of the competition winning two awards, including that of the MVP. Iran was the only team with two awards in the All Stars with Oshin Sahakian named for the Power Forward position.

2014 FIBA World Championship

Iran's third FIBA Asia Championship gave them their second

berth, at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup.

Tournament records

*Red border indicates that the tournament was hosted on home soil. Gold, silver, bronze backgrounds indicates 1st, 2nd and 3rd finishes respectively. Bold text indicates best finish in tournament. B or U18 indicates that the team was represented by its B or U18 team.

Summer Olympics

World Cup

FIBA Asia Cup

Asian Games

FIBA Asia Challenge

West Asian Championship

Other tournaments

FIBA Diamond Ball The FIBA Diamond Ball competition was an official international basketball tournament organised by FIBA,http://www.fiba.basketball/en/events FIBA´s official events by year held every Olympic year prior to the Summer Olympics. The first tournamen ...

** 2008 – 4th place *

Islamic Solidarity Games The Islamic Solidarity Games ( ar, ألعاب التضامن الإسلامي) is a multinational, multi-sport event. The Games involve the elite athletes of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation who compete in a variety of sports. The Solidari ...

** 2005 – 3rd place *

West Asian Games The West Asian Games (also known as the WAG) was a multi-sport event held every four years among the athletes from West Asia. The West Asian Games was first organised in Tehran, Iran and was considered as the first of its kind. The success of th ...

** 1997 – Champions ** 2002 – 5th place *

William Jones Cup The R. William Jones Cup (), also known as the Jones Cup, is an international basketball tournament organized by the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association (CTBA) held annually since 1977 in Taiwan. It was named in honor of basketball promoter ...

** 2009 – Champions **

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

– Champions **

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

– Champions **

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

– Champions **

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

– Champions

Team

2020 Olympic roster

Head coaches

Note: The following list may not be complete * Kazem Rahbari (1948) * Hossein Soudipour (1966) * George Chiraleu (1974) * Mohammad Hassan Zolfaghari (1981) *

Enayatollah Atashi Enayatollah Atashi ( fa, عنایت‌الله آتشی , born July 23, 1946, in jahrom) is an Iranian basketball coach.Reza Esmaeili (1985) * Majid Towfigh (1989) * Asadollah Kabir (1990) * Valery Lunichkin (1991) * Asadollah Kabir (1993) * Vitali Zastakhov (1994) * Manouchehr Shahamatnejad (1995) * Ahmad Reza Elliin (1996) * Saeid Fathi (1997) *

Enayatollah Atashi Enayatollah Atashi ( fa, عنایت‌الله آتشی , born July 23, 1946, in jahrom) is an Iranian basketball coach.Gary LeMoine Gary may refer to: *Gary (given name), a common masculine given name, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name *Gary, Indiana, the largest city named Gary Places ;Iran *Gary, Iran, Sistan and Baluchestan Province ;Unit ...

(2000–2001) * Saeid Armaghani (2001–2002) * Mehran Shahintab (2002) *

Nenad Trajković Nenad Trajković ( sr-cyr, Ненад Трајковић; born Naser Trajković; 10 February 1961), is a Serbian basketball coach. Early life Naser Trajković ( sr-cyr, Насер Трајковић) was born in Belgrade, SR Serbia, SFR Yu ...

(2003) * Mostafa Hashemi (2003) *

Vladimir Bošnjak Vladimir may refer to: Names * Vladimir (name) for the Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Macedonian, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak and Slovenian spellings of a Slavic name * Uladzimir for the Belarusian version of the name * Volodymyr for the Ukra ...

(2004–2005) * Mohammad Mehdi Izadpanah (2005) * Fred Oniga (2006) *

Rajko Toroman Rajko Toroman ( sr-Cyrl, Рајко Тороман; born February 10, 1955) is a Serbian professional basketball coach. Coaching career Before 2016, he served as a team consultant for the Barako Bull Energy Cola and the Petron Blaze Boosters i ...

(2007–2008) *

Veselin Matić Veselin Matić ( sr-cyrl, Веселин Матић; born July 21, 1960) also known by his nickname Toza, is a Serbian professional basketball coach. He is currently the head coach of India men's national basketball team. Personal life His so ...

(2009–2011) *

Memi Bečirovič Mehmed "Memi" Bečirovič (born 1 March 1961) is a Slovenian professional basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete ...

(2012–2014) *

Dirk Bauermann Dirk Bauermann (born 10 December 1957) is a German professional basketball coach. Playing career Bauermann played club basketball in the German senior club of BBC Krefeld, from 1975 to 1981. Club coaching career Bauermann was an assistant coach ...

(2015–2017) * Mehran Hatami (2017) * Mehran Shahintab (2018–2021) * Mostafa Hashemi (2021–2022) * Saeed Armaghani (2022–present)

References

External links

*
FIBA profile
{{National sports teams of Iran Men's national basketball teams 1947 establishments in Iran