Soccer-Morocco v Iran

Where: Saint-Petersburg Stadium, St Petersburg

Capacity: 68,134

When: Friday June 15, 1800 local time (1500 GMT/1100 ET)

Key stats:

- Iran enter the World Cup as one of the highest-ranked teams in Asia, occupying 37th place in the FIFA world rankings while Morocco are in 41st place.

- Iran have qualified for the consecutive World Cups for the first time, while Morocco are back at the finals for the first time since 1998. Both teams are making their fifth appearance at a World Cup.

- Morocco progressed beyond the group stages in 1986, topping a group that contained England, Poland and Portugal, while Iran have never reached the last-16.

- Morocco are unbeaten in their last five games, with four wins and a draw, while Iran's preparation has been disrupted by the cancellation of two friendly matches. They won their final warm-up match against Lithuania 1-0.

Previous meetings: The sides have never met before in official competition. (Compiled by Simon Jennings Editing by Christian Radnedge)