Ebrahim Mirzapour

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Personal information
Ebrahim Mirzapour
Full name	Ebrahim Mirzapour
Date of birth	September 16, 1978 (age 28)
Place of birth	Mamoolan, Iran
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	Esteghlal Ahvaz
Number	1
Youth clubs
?-1997	Behzisti Mamoolan
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1997–1998 1998-2006 2006-present	Fajr Khoramabad Foolad FC Esteghlal Ahvaz	(1) 4 (0)
National team²
2001-present	Iran	69 (0)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 25 October 2006. ² National team caps and goals correct as of 25 October 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Ebrahim Mirzapour (Persian: ابراهیم میرزاپور ‎ , born September 16, 1978 in Lorestan, Iran) is an Iranian football goalkeeper, currently playing for Esteghlal Ahvaz. He is a member of Iran national football team.

1 Club career
2 International career
3 Notes
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Club career

He started his professional IPL career, playing for Foolad FC of Ahvaz, and was a member of the team until August 2006. He also made it to the national team while playing for Foolad, immediately becoming the number one keeper for his country. One of his most memorable moments came when he scored a goal on rival goalkeeper Armenak Petrosian, off a goal kick. He was the captain of the team which won the 2004-2005 IPL championship. After World Cup 2006, despite rumors linking him to CD Nacional ^[1] and Saipa FC, he signed a one-year contract with Foolad's rival, Esteghlal Ahvaz.^[2] .

[edit] International career

Ebrahim Mirzapour's introduction to the Iranian football squad certainly raised a few eyebrows in Iran when the ex-national team coach, the Croat Miroslav Blazevic preferred him to some more experienced goal keepers. Although Mirzapour started nervously, his solid performance in friendly games and against the odds made Blazevic to have enough confidence in him and install him as the fixed starter in the World Cup 2002 qualification matches. Mirzapour did not disappoint either as his towering presence and agility against the best of the competition certainly increased his popularity and his fan base. Although he was faulted in one or two occasions during the qualifying rounds, he was also credited for many saves and for preventing defeats in matches, by his solid and strong performance. Iran eventually did not make it to the 2002 World Cup, due to their 2-1 aggregate loss to Ireland in the playoffs.

Ebrahim Mirzapour was able to keep his starting position in the national team coached by Branko Ivankovic. He was the starting goalkeeper in Iran's successful run of victories, attaining a number of clean sheets throughout the 2006 World Cup qualifying matches. Iran together with Japan were the first nations to qualify for the 2006 World Cup, where Mirzapour played in all three of Iran's matches.

Although his outstanding reflexes and agility are noted, Mirzapour has a habit of suffering from lapses in concentration and is prone to make mistakes especially on goal kicks. He played a great game in Iran's second World Cup match vs. Portugal, although they lost 2-0.

[edit] Notes

^ Mirzapour to join Nacional FC of Portugal!. Footballmedia. Retrieved on July 7, 2006.
^ (Persian) ابراهیم میرزاپور استقلالی شد. IRNA. Retrieved on August 24, 2006.

[edit] References

(Persian) حاشیه‌های آقای سیاست‌مدار. Hamshahri. Retrieved on November 9, 2006.

[edit] External links

	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