Ali Karimi

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Ali Karimi
Personal information
Full name	Mohammad Ali Karimi Pashaki
Date of birth	November 8, 1978 (age 28)
Place of birth	Karaj, Iran
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Nickname	Asian Maradona Wizard Of Tehran
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Bayern Munich
Number	8
Youth clubs
1996-1998	Fath Tehran
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1998-2001 2001-2005 2005-	Persepolis FC Al Ahli Bayern Munich	68 (9) (44) 28 (2)
National team2
1998-	Iran	98 (35)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 12 February 2007. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 24 March 2007. * Appearances (Goals)

Mohammad Ali Karimi Pashaki (Persian: محمد علی کریمی‎ , born on November 8, 1978 in Karaj, Iran) is an Iranian football player. He was the Asian Player of the Year in 2004. He currently plays for the German giants Bayern Munich. He is often referred to as the "Asian Maradona" and is believed to be one of Asia's greatest players.

Contents 1 Profile 2 Career 3 Bayern Munich 4 Notes 5 External links

[edit] Profile

• Date of Birth: November 8, 1978
• Place of Birth: Karaj, Tehran Province, Iran
• Nicknames: Asian Maradona, The Wizard Of Tehran
• Height: 5'10" (178 cm)
• Weight: 165 lb (73 kg)
• Marital Status: Married, 2 sons
• Profession: Professional Football Player
• Previous Clubs: Fath Tehran, Persepolis FC, Al Ahli FC
• Hobbies: Beach Volleyball

[edit] Career

Ali Karimi started his career in Fath Football Club and experienced significant improvement during the time he was playing for Persepolis football club where he got an offer from Atlético Madrid, among other European clubs. However, Karimi did not accept them and chose to play in the UAE, because he wanted to stay close to Iran. He is arguably the best dribbler in Iran and his ball skills are amongst the best in Asia. His skills are often compared to those of Maradona and therefore received the title of Asian Maradona from world newspapers. He showcased his skills in the Iran-Germany friendly game for Bam victims.

He is generally regarded as the best player in Iran, along with team mate, Mehdi Mahdavikia. Karimi, in 2004 was given the prestigious Asian Player of the Year award, like his fellow Iranians, Mehdi Mahdavikia in 2003, Ali Daei in 1999, and Khodadad Azizi in 1996.

Ali Karimi performed well at the 2004 Asian Cup, where he tied for most goals scored with five to his name. Iran placed third in the overall tournament, behind Japan and China.

Unfortunately, coming off an extremely difficult injury, Karimi had a wretched World Cup finals at Germany 2006, with many commentators singling him out as one of the key players who had failed to perform. Short on fitness and form as a result of the injury, he was unable to exert much influence on proceedings as the Iranians lost 1-3 to Mexico and 0-2 to Portugal. He was substituted in the second half against the Portuguese and kicked a bag full of drink bottles on his way to the dugout. He was omitted from the team in the final group game against Angola, with many considering this to be a punishment for his indiscipline at the Portugal game. Iran came from behind to earn a 1-1 draw. Upon returning to Iran, the national football federation decided to part ways with coach Branko Ivankovic.

As of December 2006, he has 97 caps (2nd highest) and has scored 35 goals (3rd highest) for Team Melli.

[edit] Bayern Munich

On May 3, 2005, Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich's website announced that they signed a one year contract with Ali Karimi who becomes the third Iranian after Ali Daei and Vahid Hashemian to try his luck with Bayern.^[1][2]

Despite initial skepticism, due to the overwhelming uncertainty regarding Karimi's physical aptitude and feelings that his transfer was nothing but a marketing gag, Karimi did not waste any time in proving his critics wrong. On August 14, 2005, for the first time, Felix Magath put Karimi on the starting line-up of a 5-2 victory against Bayer Leverkusen on the 2nd day of Bundesliga. Karimi's assist to Roy Makaay for Bayern's second goal followed by his first goal of Bundesliga capped a great performance that earned him a spot on Kicker's team of the week.

In the following period, Karimi established himself as a regular in the Munich squad, not a small feat with a stacked midfield featuring Michael Ballack, Sebastian Deisler, Martin Demichelis, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Owen Hargreaves, Mehmet Scholl or Ze Roberto. With his finesse, his playmaking skills and his versatility, he is seen as a great asset. Karimi's contract with Bayern has been extended one more year because he has made his 25th appearance for the club. unfortunately, in that game against Hamburg, he injured his ankle, but was back in time for the World Cup. Karimi also scored on his first UEFA Champions League appearance against Rapid Vienna.

The injury he had received on his leg before the beginning of the 2006 season made him inactive throughout the preseason and prevented him to play in the first game in the Ligapokal against Schalke 04, but he was able to start the next Ligapokal game against Werder Bremen. During the first half of 2006/2007 season, Karimi was not able to impress Magath, and this caused Karimi to have limited caps in the Bundesliga and Champions League. As his contract with Bayern will expire after the season, there were some offers for him to leave for another club, including a bid from Red Bull Salzburg, which he has already denied. There were also reports that Wolfsburg , Galatasaray SK and one other European clubs has interest in him, as well as some other clubs including Al Ittihad and Al Ahli, Karimi's former club.

At the end of January 2007, Ottmar Hitzfeld was announced as the new Bayern Munich coach, replacing Felix Magath. Karimi returned to the starting line up against Arminia Bielefeld and played the full game.^[3]

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Official website
• German website
• Ali Karimi at Fifa World Cup Official Site
• Ali Karimi at TeamMelli.com
• RSSSF archive of Ali Karimi's international appearances
• The Magic8 & Friends - FC Bayern Munich and Ali Karimi fan club

Preceded by Mehdi Mahdavikia

Asian Footballer of the Year 2004

Succeeded by Hamad Al-Montashari

	Iran squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup
1 Mirzapour | 2 Mahdavikia | 3 Bakhtiarizadeh | 4 Golmohammadi | 5 Rezaei | 6 Nekounam | 7 Zandi | 8 Karimi | 9 Hashemian | 10 Daei | 11 Khatibi | 12 Roudbarian | 13 Ka'abi | 14 Teymourian | 15 Borhani | 16 Enayati | 17 Kazemian | 18 Navidkia | 19 Sadeqi | 20 Nosrati | 21 Madanchi | 22 Talebloo | 23 Shojaei | Coach: Ivanković

FC Bayern Munich - Current Squad
1 Kahn | 2 Sagnol | 3 Lúcio | 5 Van Buyten | 6 Demichelis | 7 Scholl | 8 Karimi | 10 Makaay | 11 Podolski | 14 Pizarro | 17 van Bommel | 18 Görlitz | 20 Salihamidžić | 21 Lahm | 22 Rensing | 23 Hargreaves | 24 Santa Cruz | 25 Ismaël | 29 Dreher | 30 Lell | 31 Schweinsteiger | 32 Hummels | 33 Kraft | 36 Fürstner | 37 Saba | 39 Ottl | Coach: Hitzfeld