Iran is seeking a fourth title while Palestine will be determined to kick off its campaign on a high note.
This will be the first meeting between Iran and Palestine in the AFC Asian Cup; the last time Team Melli faced a team for the first time in the competition was on January 12, 2019, against Vietnam – scoring a 2-0 win.
Palestine is yet to register a victory in the AFC Asian Cup, having gone winless (D2 L4) in the 2015 and 2019 editions; this is its third appearance in the competition.
Iran is unbeaten in each of its last 20 group stage games (W15 D5) in the AFC Asian Cup; in fact, the last time it lost the opening game in the competition was a 1-2 loss to Iraq in 1996, having won the last six such games since then on the bounce.
No player recorded more touches in the opposition box in 2019 than Iran’s duo of Sardar Azmoun (42) and Mehdi Taremi (33); Palestine’s best player in this category in the previous edition was Mahmoud Wadi with six such touches.