Karim Bagheri

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Karim Bagheri
Personal information
Full name	Karim Bagheri
Date of birth	20 February 1974 (1974-02-20) (age 35)
Place of birth	Tabriz, Iran
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Persepolis
Number	6
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1992–1994 1994–1996 1996–1997 1997-2000 2000 2000–2001 2001–2002 2002–	Teraktor Sazi Keshavarz Persepolis Arminia Bielefeld → Al-Nasr (loan) Charlton Athletic Al-Sadd Persepolis	0280 0(2) 0650 (11) 0200 0(4) 0510 0(6) 0080 0(4) 0010 0(0) 0110 0(5) 1500 (20)
National team2
1993–2002, 2008–	Iran	0860 (50)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18 April 2009. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 28 January 2009. * Appearances (Goals)

Karim Bagheri (Persian: کريم باقری , born 20 February 1974 in Tabriz) is a professional football player, currently playing for Persepolis F.C. in the Iran Pro League. Bagheri is one of the most famous Iranian footballers in the world and is often referred to as Iranian Eric Cantona. He is known as a two-footed midfielder and is famous for his powerful and thundering long range shots and free kicks.

Contents 1 Club career 1.1 Early years 1.2 Move to Europe 1.3 Persepolis return 1.3.1 Persepolis Statistics 2 International career 2.1 Goal scoring record 2.2 Early retirement 2.3 Return to national team 3 Honours 3.1 Country 3.2 Club 3.3 Individual 4 Notes 5 External links

[edit] Club career

[edit] Early years

Bagheri began his football playing for his hometown club Teraktor Sazi F.C. where he impressed enough to land himself a contract with Keshavarz F.C.. On 1 August 1996 Bagheri was signed on free transfer by capital's club, Persepolis F.C., there Bagheri enjoyed much success winning numerous titles and becoming a firm fan favorite. Numerous impressive displays ended up in Bagheri attracting attention from many European clubs and on 1 August 1997 a year after he signed a contract with Persepolis Bagheri signed with German Bundesliga side Arminia Bielefeld along with his fellow Iranian international Ali Daei.

[edit] Move to Europe

Bagheri's first season in Germany was not a huge success and the club was relegated to the 2nd Bundesliga. In his second season, he established himself as a starter playing in the libero position, helping the team make it back to the Bundesliga. He remained in Arminia for one more season, but returned to Persepolis again after problems with the coaching staff at Bielefeld, though Persepolis loaned him to Al-Nasr in the UAE. At that time English clubs were interested in Bagheri and Charlton Athletic of the Premiership quickly signed him for an initial fee of £400,000. He had very little success there, only playing 15 minutes during the entire season. Despite the disappointing season he had the honour of being the first Iranian to play in the Premiership. He then moved to Al Sadd in Qatar.

[edit] Persepolis return

In 2002 he decided to return to Persepolis once again. In September 2006, many thought he had been released from the team after arguments with management and staff over the club's financial commitments and unpaid wages. Bagheri instead was disciplined but remained on the team. Bagheri has since then established himself as one of the greatest icons of Persepolis and many compare his popularity with Ali Parvin. In 2007-2008 season he captained the team to glory in the IPL after a 6 year drought.

[edit] Persepolis Statistics

Last Update: 18 April 2009

Karim Bagheri Statistics in Persepolis
League		Cup		Asian		Total
Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
169	23	17	4	8	3	194	30

Season	Team	Country	Division	Apps	Goals
1996-97	Persepolis	Iran	1	20	4
2002-03	Persepolis	Iran	1		0
2003-04	Persepolis	Iran	1		3
2004-05	Persepolis	Iran	1	28	2
2005-06	Persepolis	Iran	1	23	0
2006-07	Persepolis	Iran	1	13	2
2007-08	Persepolis	Iran	1	26	3
2008-09	Persepolis	Iran	1	28	8

[edit] International career

He was first invited to Iranian national team during the 1994 World Cup qualifers, making his debut versus Pakistan on 6 June 1993. He displayed great football and soon became a starter for Iran in the midfield.

He became famous though for sparking Iran's comeback against Australia in the second leg of their 1998 World Cup qualifier in 1997. He scored the first of two goals that brought new light on what seemed to be an already dark 2-0 defeat and sprung Iran back to tie the game 2-2 and eventually become the last team to qualify for the World Cup. Bagheri also had one of the strongest right-legged shots and scored many fantastic goals against opponents, such as his game-tying goal against South Korea in the quarter finals of the 2000 Asian Cup in Lebanon.

[edit] Goal scoring record

On 2 June 1997 he scored seven times against the Maldive Isles, and equalled the record for the most goals scored in a World Cup match, which was held by the Australian Gary Cole since 1981. Their joint record was broken on 11 April 2001 when another Australian, Archie Thompson scored 13 goals against American Samoa.^[1]. He was named the world's second top goal scorer in official international matches by International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS), having scored 20 goals for Iran in 1997. ^[2].

[edit] Early retirement

He retired from the national team with 80 caps and 47 goals for Team Melli after Iran's unsuccessful FIFA World Cup 2002 qualification campaign which ended with an aggregate defeat to Republic of Ireland in November 2001. He was called up to the national team again soon after World Cup 2006, but said he would not participate as he is retired from international football and has no plans on returning to it. ^[3].

[edit] Return to national team

On October 9, 2008 Team Melli coach Ali Daei stated that because of Andranik Teymourian's injury Bagheri will be called up for the national team once again^[4]. On 9 November 2008 in a friendly match against Qatar, he appeared for Team Melli once again after almost seven years. Bagheri captained Iran in the 2010 World Cup match against UAE on November 19, 2008, scoring for Iran. He has been given his favorite number 6 jersey back.

[edit] Honours

[edit] Country

• FIFA World Cup
  • 1998, Group Stage
    • Appearances and Goals: (3 matches, 0 goals)
• AFC Asian Cup
  • 1996, Third Place
    • Appearances and goals: (6 matches, 2 goals)
  • 2000, Quarterfinals
    • Appearances and goals: (4 matches, 2 goals)
• Asian Games
  • 1994, Group Stage
    • Appearances and goals: (4 matches, 0 goals)
  • 1998, Champions
    • Appearances and goals: (7 matches, 3 goals)
• Military World Games
  • 1995, Vice-Champions
    • Appearances and goals: (8 matches, 3 goals)

[edit] Club

• Iran's Azadegan Football League Winner: 1
  • 1996/97 with Persepolis
• Iran's Premier Football League Winner: 1
  • 2007/08 with Persepolis
• 2. Fußball-Bundesliga Winner: 1
  • 1998/99 with Arminia Bielefeld
• Arab Club Champions Cup Winner: 1
  • 2001 with Al-Sadd
• Hazfi Cup:
  • Runner up: 1
    • 2006 with Persepolis

[edit] Individual

• Football Iran News & Events
  • Midfielder of the year (2007/08)

• Iran Football Federation Award
  • Player of the year (2007/08)

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• RSSSF archive of Karim Bagheri's international appearances and goals

v • d • e Iran squad – 1998 FIFA World Cup 1 Abedzadeh • 2 Mahdavikia • 3 Sadavi • 4 Khakpour • 5 Peyrovani • 6 Bagheri • 7 Mansourian • 8 Dinmohammadi • 9 Estili • 10 Daei • 11 Azizi • 12 Nakisa • 13 Latifi • 14 Mohammadkhani • 15 Ostad‑Asadi • 16 Shahroudi • 17 Zarincheh • 18 Hamedani • 19 Seraj • 20 Pashazadeh • 21 Minavand • 22 Broumand • Coach: Talebi

v • d • e Persepolis F.C. – current squad 1 Vaezi · 2 Zarei · 3 Heidari · 4 Mohammad · 5 Bagheriha · 6 Bagheri · 7 Badamaki · 8 Karimi · 9 Khalili · 10 Nikbakht · 11 Zare · 12 Niknafs · 13 Haghighi · 14 Shiri · 16 Mansouri · 17 Touré · 18 Nouri · 20 Abdi · 21 Petrović · 22 Ghanbari · 23 Memarzadeh · 24 Norouzi · 26 Ali Asgari · 28 Kheirkhah · 29 Farziat · 30 Elyasi · 32 Atsou · 33 Rezaei · - Elhaei · Manager: Vingada