William Jones Cup | 08/20 09:00 | - | Chinese Taipei White v Iran B | L | 91-86 | |
William Jones Cup | 08/19 05:00 | - |
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W | 75-96 | |
William Jones Cup | 08/18 09:00 | - | UC Irvine v Iran B | L | 80-48 | |
William Jones Cup | 08/17 05:00 | - | Iran B v Japan U22 | L | 72-73 | |
William Jones Cup | 08/16 07:00 | - |
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L | 98-90 | |
William Jones Cup | 08/15 11:00 | - | Iran B v Chinese Taipei Blue | L | 63-80 | |
William Jones Cup | 08/14 09:00 | - |
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L | 84-72 | |
William Jones Cup | 08/13 05:00 | - |
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W | 42-69 |
The Iran men’s national basketball team (Persian: تیم ملی بسکتبال مردان ایران) represents Iran in international basketball, and are governed by the Islamic Republic of Iran Basketball Federation (IRIBF).
Iran is one of Asia’s most successful federations. Since the turn of the century, they’ve won three FIBA Asia Cup tournaments, while also claiming a silver and bronze medal at the competition. Iran has also qualified for every edition of the FIBA World Cup since 2010, and have participated in two Olympic Games (2008, 2020).
In 1948, the Iran national basketball team participated in the 1948 London Olympics, their first appearance in the competition. In 1951, Iran participated in the first Asian Games held in Delhi and placed third in Asia. In 1959, Iran participated in the EuroBasket held in Turkey.
Placed in the dreaded "Group of Death" alongside China, the Philippines, and Jordan, 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 Qatar, and then routed Kazakhstan, 75–62, in the semifinals.
The Iranians then beat Lebanon 74–69, with Hamed Haddadi 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.
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.They also Defeat Serbia (72-70) before the start of the tournaent in 2008 FIBA Diamond Ball.Iran was placed in Group A, along with Lithuania, Russia, Argentina, Croatia, and Australia, suffering five defeats. The Olympic experience opened doors for players such as Hamed Haddadi, and Iranian captain Samad Nikkhah Bahrami 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 Argentina when he put up 21 points and 16 rebounds.
Winning the FIBA Asia Championship 2009 at Tianjin, China, was a sign on continuing progress in basketball.Iran won all three group matches against Chinese Taipei, Kuwait, Uzbekistan to make it to the next round.In the second round Iran Won Japan, Philippines and South Korea.In the Quarterfinals Iran wins Qatar and in Semifinals Iran wins Jordan.Iran defeated China, by a score of 70–52 in the final.
Iran's second consecutive FIBA Asia Championship gave them their first ever FIBA World Championship berth, at the 2010 FIBA World Championship.The team lost against USA, Brazil, Croatia, Slovenia and one win against Tunisia.Iran finished 1–4 in Group B, good for 19th place.
Winning the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship at Manila, Philippines, 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.
In the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain, Iran national basketball team was grouped with Spain, Egypt, Serbia, Brazil and France in Group A.Iran national basketball team, in its first meeting in the opening game, faced Spain, the world's second-ranked team, and succumbed to defeat.On the sixth day of the 2014 FIBA World Cup and in its last match of the preliminary stage, Iran faced the French and succumbed to defeat, and finally ranked 21st with 4 losses and one win against Egypt. Iran lost against France and Serbia with close results.
In the 2019 FIBA World Cup of China, which was held in Asia for the first time, the iran team was grouped in Group C with the teams of Spain, Puerto Rico and Tunisia.The iran team lost all three games and competed with the Angolan and Philippine teams to rank 17-32 (for the first time in this period, 32 teams participated) and won both matches, and thanks to the goal difference, they are better than China, which had lost against Nigeria, went to the Tokyo Olympics as the best Asian team.
Iran is in group A of the competitions along with USA, France, and Czech.Iranian men’s basketball team conceded a 78-84 defeat against Czech at the opening match of the basketball competitions of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.In their second game at the Olympics, Iranian basketball players lost to the USA 66-120.Iran’s national basketball team finished the campaign in the 2020 Olympics with a 79-62 loss against France at Saitama Super Arena.Iran, in its three appearance at the Olympics, conceded three defeats in Group A.
Iran was only one of three teams at the World Cup 2023 to go home without a win. Finishing bottom in Group G after resounding defeats to Brazil, Côte d'Ivoire and Spain. Further disappointment was to follow in the classification games against France and Lebanon. After the final play of their campaign, one man took centre stage, Hamed Haddadi, bidding a final farewell after 4 consecutive World Cup runs with Iran. At the other end of his career is Mohammad Amini. The 18-years-old who plays for AS Monaco Basket, played 30 minutes a game and was Iran's top tournament scorer.