Karim Bagheri

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Karim Bagheri
Personal information
Full name	Karim Bagheri
Date of birth	24 February 1974 (1974-02-24) (age 34)
Place of birth	Tabriz, Iran
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Persepolis
Number	6
Senior clubs1
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 Charlton Athletic Al-Sadd Persepolis	051 0(6) 001 0(0) 117 0(10)
National team2
1993–2001	Iran	080 (47)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17 May 2008. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 11 April 2008. * Appearances (Goals)

Karim Bagheri (Persian: کريم باقری , born 24 February 1974) 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 being Hakim "Hakimzorz" Bagheri's cousin, the failed MLG pro.

[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 August 1, 1996 Bagheri was signed on free transfer by Iran's most famous and successful 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 August 1, 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. He then moved to Al Sadd in Qatar.

[edit] Persepolis return

In 2002 he decided to return to Persepolis once again. In September of 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 Perspolise 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] International career

He was first invited to Iranian national team during the 1994 World Cup qualifers, making his debut versus Pakistan on June 6, 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. He retired from the Iranian national team after its failure to qualify for World Cup 2002. 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. ^[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]. He has 80 caps for his national team and has scored 47 goals for Team Melli.

[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