Wales and Iran go head-to-head to play their second game of the World Cup 2022, and whether or not you support either team, this is going to be a decisive and must-watch match for the tournament's group phases.
That's because Wales and Iran share a group with England and the USA, and a result in this game could dictate who the two victors of the group are, especially with the USA and Wales tieing in their first game of the tournament.
Those two other teams play later in the day, and we have a guide on how to watch England vs USA, which is likely to be one of the biggest games in the World Cup group stage.
But you're not here to watch that game (yet), you're here for Wales vs Iran. Luckily, as with most World Cup 2022 games, it's pretty easy to view wherever you are in the world, and this guide will show you how.
How to watch in the US
In the US, the Wales vs Iran match is set to be an early one: it kicks off at 5 am ET/2 am PT. It's the first game of the day, with the USA vs England game the last at 11 am ET/2 pm PT
The game is being aired on Fox Sports 1, so if you have a cable package that offers Fox channels, you're sorted. If not, many live TV streaming services include it, or offer it as an extension, including Sling TV (which is the cheapest of these, as you only need the Blue package), FuboTV, YouTube TV and Hulu with Live TV. You can also watch via the Fox Sports website.
If you speak Spanish, Peacock Premium ($4.99 per month, or $9.99 for ad-free viewing) is streaming the World Cup 2022 games with Spanish-language commentary. This is a simulcast of Telemundo's coverage.
How to watch in the UK
In the UK, including of course Wales, kick-off is at 10 am. It's the earliest game of the day, with the England vs USA one being the latest one, as that starts at 7 pm.
The game is airing on BBC 1, and if you don't have access to a TV at the time, iPlayer streams live BBC channels so you can view via the web on a computer or phone (here's a link to the website).
If you want to watch the game with Welsh-language commentary, S4C will be airing the match too.
How to watch from anywhere
If you're going to be away from home but still want to watch the Wales vs Iran game, you might run into some problems. Thankfully, you'll be able to solve this exact issue with a Virtual Private Network (a VPN).
A VPN lets you get around the usual digital barriers by changing your IP address, meaning you can watch your favorite TV shows even if you're going to be away from where you would normally watch your favorite shows and movies. Our favorite is ExpressVPN, which is the No. 1-rated VPN in the world right now according to our sister site, TechRadar.
Important information
When does Wales vs Iran kick off?
Wales vs Iran kicks off at 1 pm local time, making it the first game of the day.
That converts to 5 am ET/2 am PT/10 am GMT. Admittedly that time isn't ideal for being watched around the world, but people in Wales at least should be awake.
Where does Wales vs Iran take place?
Wales and Iran will meet at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium, in the Qatari city of Al-Rayyan.
Wales is playing every single one of its group-stage games at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium, and this will be its second of those, having played USA there two days prior.
Iran will only be playing this one game there.
The stadium has a capacity of 45,000, making it one of the larger Qatari stadiums used for the World Cup, though after the event it's being renovated to reduce the capacity down to 21,000.
Wales squad
- Gareth Bale
- Wayne Hennessey
- Chris Mepham
- Joe Rodon
- Ben Davies
- Connor Roberts
- Aaron Ramsey
- Ethan Ampadu
- Harry Wilson
- Neco Williams
- Kieffer Moore
Iran squad
- Hossein Hosseini
- Ramin Rezaeian
- Morteza Pouraliganji
- Majid Hosseini
- Milad Mohammadi
- Ali Gholizadeh
- Ahmad Noorollahi
- Saeid Ezatolahi
- Ehsan Hajsafi
- Sardar Azmoun
- Mehdi Taremi
What you need to know about the match
Wales and Iran don't exactly have a storied history of competing in football — in fact, not a single member of either team's squad was even alive back in 1978 when the countries last met on the pitch.
To make predictions, then, we have to look at recent victories and losses.
Iran lost at the group stages in the 2018 World Cup, only winning to Morocco in its first match. Wales didn't qualify at all though.
However the dragon-flag nation is doing better in the 2022 cup — it drew in its first match, with its game against USA ending 1-1. Iran lost to England in its first match, by an embarrassing 6-2, though as you can tell it did score more goals when losing than Wales did when drawing.
So it's hard to tell who will come out on top, and that could be a problem for fans of England and the USA. These two teams are the favorites in group B to progress beyond the group stage, but that depends on how well Wales and Iran do in their games, particularly against each other. The difference between the USA or Wales progressing could come down to this game.
