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Iran's bid for a fourth Asian Cup title will begin on Sunday when they take on Palestine at the Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan.
Ranked 21st in the world, three-time winners Iran are the highest-ranked side in the tournament and will be aiming to snap their drought by winning the first title since 1976.
They head into the competition on an unbeaten run of 13 games, with their last defeat coming over a year ago at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. That includes back-to-back friendly wins over Burkina Faso (2-1) and Indonesia (5-0) last week as they wrapped up their preparations for the finals in Qatar in superb style.
Palestine, meanwhile, are ranked 78 spots below them and are making their third successive appearance at this tournament. In both their previous outings, at the 2015 and 2019 editions, the Lions of Canaan failed to win any of their group-stage games.
Here GOAL brings you everything you need to know about how to watch, including TV channel, streaming details and more.
Iran vs Palestine kick-off time
| Date: | Sunday, January 14, 2024 |
| Kick-off time: | 5:30 pm GMT |
| Venue: | Education City Stadium |
The AFC Asian Cup match will be played at the Education Stadium, with kick-off at 5.30 pm GMT on January 14 for fans in the UK.
How to watch Iran vs Palestine online - TV channels & live streams
The match will be shown live on Triller TV in the UK. Match highlights will be available on the platform and YouTube after the game whereas live updates can be found here on GOAL.
Team news & squads
Iran team news
Iran will be without the services of starting goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand, who picked up a knee injury in the friendly victory over Burkina Faso, resulting in Hossein Hosseini taking his place in between the sticks for the 5-0 victory over Indonesia four days later.
Mehdi Taremi's bleak club form with Porto may raise a few eyebrows among Iranian supporters about their title prospects, but with six goals in his previous six international games, there is no question that the striker will thrive in the Asian Cup.
Iran possible XI: Hosseini; Rezeaian, Pouraliganji, Hosseini, Mohammadi; Gholizadeh, Nourollahi, Ezatollahi, Hajsafi, Azmoun; Taremi.
| Position | Players |
|---|---|
| Goalkeepers: | Beiranvand, Niazmand, Hosseini |
| Defenders: | Moharrami, Mohammadi, Hosseini, Haji Safi, Khalilzadeh, Kanaani, Cheshmi, Fallah |
| Midfielders: | Jahanbakhsh, Gholizadeh, Ezatolahi, Rezaeian, Ebrahimi, Mohebi, Yousefi |
| Forwards: | Taremi, Azmoun, Ghoddos, Ansarifard, Ghayedi, Torabi, Moghanlou, Asadi |
Palestine team news
Ataa Jaber is likely to this match for Palestine as he continues his recovery process from a heel injury, while Mahmoud Wadi and Islam Batran are also doubts, having picked up minor knocks in training.
Palestine possible XI: Naim; Warda, Battat, Mayor, Jondi; Batran, Issa, Rashid, Hassan; Dabbagh, Zaid.
| Position | Players |
|---|---|
| Goalkeepers: | Hamada, Kaddoura, Kharoub, Abuaker |
| Defenders: | Hamed, Saleh, Al Battat, Termanini, Saldaña, Abu Warda, Kharoub, Firawi, Khalil, Jondi, Mahajna |
| Midfielders: | Rashid, Jaber, Seyam, Zubaida, Issa |
| Forwards: | Dabbagh, Wadi, Batran, Qumbor, Qunbar, Alaa Aldeen |
Head-to-Head Record
This is set to be the first meeting between these two teams at a major competition.