Firouz Karimi

Firouz Karimi
Personal information
Full nameFirouz Karimi
Date of birthApril 13, 1956
Place of birthTehran, Iran
Playing positionDefender (retired)
Club information
Current team
Malavan (manager)
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
1970-1976Shahrbani
1976–1981Pas Tehran
1981–1984Sarbaz
1984–1988Pas Tehran
Teams managed
1989–1993Pas Tehran
1993–1994Sepahan
1994–1995Bahman
1996–1997Pas Tehran
1997–1998Polyacryl
1998–1999Tractor Sazi
1999–2000Esteghlal Ahvaz
2000Aboomoslem
2001Esteghlal Ahvaz
2001Pas Tehran
2002Shahab Zanjan
2002–2004Aboomoslem
2004–2006Rah Ahan
2006–2007Esteghlal Ahvaz
2007–2008Esteghlal
2008–2009Saba Battery
2009–2010Damash Gilan
2011–2012Shahin Bushehr
2013Paykan
2014Zob Ahan
2014–Malavan
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Firouz Karimi (Persian: فیروز کریمی‎, born 13 April 1956) is an Iranian football manager and the current manager of Malavan.

Early life

Firouz Karimi was born on 13 April 1956 in Tehran, Iran.

Playing career

He began playing football in Shahrbani F.C. in 1970 and joined Pas Tehran in 1976. He won the Takht Jamshid Cup twice with Pas. He left Pas in 1981 and joined Sarbaz but returned to Pas in 1984. He was also invited to the Iran national football team in 1980 but never played for the national team. He retired in 1984.[1]

Coaching career

He was selected as head coach of Pas Tehran in 1989. He could bring the team from 2nd Division to the Azadegan League in 1990. He won the 1991–92 and 1992–93 seasons and bring the Asian Club Championship for the team in 1993. He was resigned after it and was appointed as Sepahan head coach later. He was sacked by the club in 1994 and became the head coach of Bahman going on to win the Hazfi Cup one year later. He was re-appointed as head coach of Pas in 1996 for one seasion.[2] After therse events, Polyacryl Esfahan signed a contract with Karimi but resigned after bad results. He was also head coach of Tabriz based Tractor Sazi from 1998 to 1999. He became head coach of Esteghlal Ahvaz in 1999 and led the team until 2000. He was manager of Aboomoslem for just six months in 2000 and was again selected to be Esteghlal Ahvaz's head coach in 2001. He resigned as head coach Esteghlal Ahvaz to become the head coach of PAS for a third spell. Shahab Zanjan and Aboomoslem was his next teams. He was appointed as Rah Ahan head coach in June 2004. He led the team in two seasions and was sacked in February 2006. He was again appointed as Esteghlal Ahvaz head coach in June 2006. After the resignation of Nasser Hejazi as head coach of Esteghlal, he became head coach of Esteghlal in November 2007 who, under his management, were ranked 13th. This was regarded as a bad result for the team in the history of Esteghlal.[3] He resigned in May 2008 and was appointed as head coach of Saba Battery in July 2008. He was sacked by the club in June 2009. After it he signed a contract with Azadegan League side Damash Gilan in July 2009 but resigned after the team failed to get promoted to the Iran Pro League in the play-off. He became head coach of Shahin Bushehr on 6 October 2011 after Hamid Derakhshan's departure.[4] He led the Shahin to the final of the 2011–12 Hazfi Cup but, after bad results in the league, he was fired by the club. On 27 January 2013, he became head coach of Paykan but his side was relegated to the Azadegan League at the end of the season.

On 8 May 2013, Karimi was banned for eight months after his racist insults to Fajr Sepasi's Dutch footballer, Sendley Sidney Bito was confirmed. Two weeks later, he was fired by the Paykan and was replaced by Farhad Kazemi. After his exclusion was ended, he was named as manager of Zob Ahan. He saved the club from the relegation, However, he left the club at the end of the season after not agreeing on the new contract. On 6 December 2014, Karimi became head coach of Malavan.

Statistics

As of 4 April 2015
Team From To Record
GWDLWin %
Pas Tehran May 1989 May 1993 56 39 13 4 69.64
Sepahan July 1993 July 1994 26 7 8 11 26.92
Pas Tehran June 1996 July 1997 30 15 11 4 50.00
Tractor Sazi June 1998 May 1999 30 7 13 10 23.33
Pas Tehran July 2001 September 2001 6 5 0 1 83.33
Rah Ahan June 2004 February 2006 30 10 7 13 33.33
Esteghlal Ahvaz July 2006 November 2007 42 21 14 7 50.00
Esteghlal November 2007 May 2008 20 6 5 9 30.00
Saba Battery July 2008 June 2009 34 11 18 5 32.35
Damash Gilan July 2009 May 2010 26 14 6 6 53.85
Shahin Bushehr October 2011 February 2012 14 3 5 6 21.43
Paykan January 2013 July 2013 12 1 2 9 8.33
Zob Ahan February 2014 June 2014 4 3 0 1 75.00
Malavan December 2014 Present 7 4 2 1 57.14

Personal life

He is famous inside Iran for his strong sense of humor, often revealed in interviews with the media. He has been penalized many times by the Iranian Football Federation for criticizing the officials. He was married to Rouya Bahrami in summer of 1977. They have two daughters, Zahra (b. 1979), Zohreh (b. 1989) and one son, Alireza (b. 1984). His daughter, Zahra is married to Mehdi Tartar.

Honours

As player

Pas Tehran

As manager

Pas Tehran
Bahman

References

  1. ↑ Firouz Karimi
  2. ↑ Biography of Firouz Karimi
  3. ↑ Firouz Karimi, 23rd head-coach of Esteghlal
  4. ↑ Derakhshan left Shahin, Karimi became new head coach
Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Mansour Pourheidari		 Iran Pro League Winning Manager
1991–92, 1992–93 		Succeeded by
Bijan Zolfagharnasab