Qatar vs Iran: 2026 World Cup Qualifiers Prediction (06.06.2025)

On Thursday, June 6 at 01:15 WIB, at the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium in Doha, the Qatar national football team will host Iran in the ninth round match of Group A in the third round of the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup. The hosts currently sit in fourth place with ten points, which grants them a spot in the fourth additional qualifying round for the World Cup. They need to defend this position from Kyrgyzstan, who are four points behind. Meanwhile, the visitors confidently lead the group and have already secured qualification for the upcoming World Cup.

Let’s make a prediction for the Qatar – Iran game considering the difference in tournament motivation between the opponents as well as the quality of the players. Bookmakers give a slight advantage to the more motivated home team. The odds to bet on a win for the “Maroon” are 2.33, a draw is 3.50, and a win for the “Persian Leopards” is 2.97. The match is expected to have an average number of goals, with the over 2.5 total goals bet offered at 1.88. The odds for both teams to score are 1.70.

Qatar

The country’s football federation decided to replace one Spanish coach with another. Julen Lopetegui took over from Luis Garcia. Lopetegui is a more experienced and renowned coach, which indicates Qatar’s intentions to perform well in the fourth qualifying round. However, it must be said that the players’ individual level is still not very high. The national team failed in the recent Gulf Nations League tournament and suffered a heavy 1-3 away defeat to Kyrgyzstan in the previous round.

Iran

The main star of Amir Ghalenoei’s squad remains Mehdi Taremi from Inter Milan, who has already scored nine goals in the current World Cup qualifiers. Not far behind is Sardar Azmoun, who plays for Al-Ahli in Dubai. Although both forwards are past their peak condition, they can still make a difference at the Asian qualifying level.

Statistics and Head-to-Head

In February last year, in the semifinal of the home Asian Cup, Qatar defeated Iran 3-2. However, in the first round of the current qualifiers in Tehran, Iran convincingly won 4-1, with Azmoun scoring twice.

Prediction

In the two mentioned head-to-head matches, fast goals were scored early. The first halves of those games saw three and two goals respectively. In the upcoming match, the hosts are motivated to win and will likely push forward immediately. We predict the total goals in the first half to be over 1 with odds of 1.81.