TEHRAN – Esteghlal goalkeeper Hossein Hosseini has been omitted from Iran's 26-man squad for the FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2027 Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 2 Qualifiers – Group E.

Hosseini kept the most clean sheets in the 2023/24 Iran’s Persian Gulf Pro League (PGPL) but has been left out of Team Melli.

Amir Ghalenoei’s side are scheduled to meet Hong Kong on June 6 at the Hong Kong Stadium and will host Uzbekistan five days later in Tehran.

Iran squad:
Goalkeepers:
Alireza Beiranvand, Payam Niazmand,  Hossein Pourhamidi

Defenders:
Shoja Khalilzadeh, Mohammadhossein Kananizadegan, Aref Gholami, Amin Hazbavi, Saleh Hardani, Aria Yousefi, Abolfazl Jalali, Milad Mohammadi

Midfielders:
Mohammad Ghorbani, Saman Ghoddos, Omid Noorafkan, Saeid Mehri, Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Mehdi Ghaedi, Mehdi Torabi, Mehdi Limouchi, Javad Hosseinnejad

Forwards:
Mehdi Taremi, Javad Aghaeipour, Sardar Azmoun, Allahyar Sayadmanesh, Shahriar Moghanlou, Mohammadreza Azadi