Global InformationAli Karimi information
 Ali Karimi 2015 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Mohammad Ali Karimi[1] | |||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 8 November 1978 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Karaj, Iran | |||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)[2] | |||||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Attacking midfielder, forward | |||||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1990–1991 | Naft Tehran[3][4] | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1991–1994 | Saipa[5] | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1994–1996 | Fath Tehran | |||||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||||||||
| 1996–1998 | Fath Tehran | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1998–2001 | Persepolis | 42 | (11) | |||||||||||||||||
| 2001–2005 | Al-Ahli | 69 | (45) | |||||||||||||||||
| 2005–2007 | Bayern Munich | 33 | (3) | |||||||||||||||||
| 2007–2008 | Qatar SC | 26 | (5) | |||||||||||||||||
| 2008–2009 | Persepolis | 21 | (5) | |||||||||||||||||
| 2009–2011 | Steel Azin | 40 | (14) | |||||||||||||||||
| 2011 | Schalke 04 | 1 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||
| 2011–2013 | Persepolis | 40 | (13) | |||||||||||||||||
| 2013–2014 | Tractor Sazi | 26 | (5) | |||||||||||||||||
| Total | 298 | (101) | ||||||||||||||||||
| International career | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1999 | Iran U23 | 3[6] | (2) | |||||||||||||||||
| 1998–2012 | Iran | 127 | (38) | |||||||||||||||||
| Managerial career | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2014 | Iran (assistant)[7] | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2017 | Naft Tehran | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2018 | Sepidrood | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2018–2019 | Sepidrood | |||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | ||||||||||||||||||||
Mohammad Ali Karimi (Persian: محمدعلی کریمی Persian: [ɑli kæriˈmi] ⓘ; born 8 November 1978) is an Iranian football coach and former professional footballer. During his professional football career, he has played as a playmaker in the Iran Pro League, UAE Pro League, Qatar Stars League and Bundesliga. Karimi has scored 38 goals in 127 matches for the Iran national team. In 2004, he was recognized as the best scorer of the AFC Asian Cup and received the Asian Footballer of the Year award in the same year. He announced his retirement at the end of the 2013–14 season and, on 11 April 2014, played the final game of his 18-year career.[8]
Karimi's professional career began with Fath Tehran, where he made his first-team debut in 1996, aged 18. He then played three seasons with Persepolis, winning the Iranian league twice and the Hazfi Cup once with the club. In July 2001, Karimi signed a two-year contract with UAE Pro League club Al-Ahli Dubai.[9] While an Al-Ahli player, Karimi won two cup titles, and was the top goalscorer in the 2003–04 season, an impressive feat for a midfielder. After leaving the club in 2005 aged 26, Karimi made a long-awaited move to Europe to play for Bayern Munich. At the club, he had relative success, winning both the Bundesliga and the DFB-Pokal in 2005–06 season. Later in his career, he rejoined former coach Felix Magath and won a second German Cup with Schalke 04. Karimi ended his playing career in Iran with Persepolis and Tractor Sazi, and with the latter won the Hazfi Cup in the final season of his career.
In international football, Karimi made his Iran debut on 13 October 1998 at the age of 19. He made 127 career appearances in total, appearing at five major tournaments, including 1998 Asian Games, 2000, 2004, and 2007 Asian Cups and 2006 FIFA World Cup. Renowned for his on-the-ball skill, dribbling runs and playmaking ability, he was often referred to as the Asian Maradona[10][11] and The Magician.[12] In the video introducing Iran's national football team in the 2018 World Cup, by FIFA, he was described as "One of the top 2 players of Iran's football history".[13] He is regarded as one of the greatest Asian footballers of all time.[14][15] In 2017, AFC named Karimi as "one of the icons of Asian football history".[14]
Karimi is known as one of the most popular athletes in the history of Iran. In April 2015, he was recognized as Iran's most popular football player (from 1991 to 2015) in a poll by Navad television program.[16]
- ^ "2006 FIFA World Cup Germany: List of Players: Iran" (PDF). FIFA. 21 March 2014. p. 14. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 June 2019.
- ^ "2006 FIFA World Cup Germany". FIFA. Archived from the original on 10 April 2012. Retrieved 26 February 2012.
- ^ "Tamashagar Vol. 23 pp 46–47" (PDF). hamshahrimags.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 March 2012.
- ^ يک بازي بزرگ حداقل شايستگي سربازان فوتبال ايران (in Persian). Mardomsalari Newspaper. Archived from the original on 21 March 2012. Retrieved 26 February 2012.
- ^ "Ali Karimi's official website". Archived from the original on 11 December 2011.
- ^ Bobrowsky, Josef (15 December 1999). "Dunhill Cup 1999 (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)". RSSSF. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
- ^ "Karimi to Assist Queiroz". Financial Tribune. 27 September 2014. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
- ^ "Esteghlal TEH 1 – 3 Traktor TBZ". iplstats.com. 11 April 2014. Archived from the original on 27 July 2014. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
- ^ "Karimi is Iran dangerman". BBC. London. 5 November 2001. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
- ^ Duerden, John (26 April 2011). "Karimi could rise to the top". ESPN FC. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
- ^ "Iran: Star der Mannschaft freut sich auf das Duell gegen die Klinsmann-Elf.Asiens Maradona". kicker. 4 October 2004. Archived from the original on 17 November 2022.
- ^ "Wizard back to steer Iran". FIFA website. 13 May 2009. Archived from the original on 5 February 2013.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Fifa TVwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b "Asian Icons: Ali Karimi". AFC website. 8 November 2017. Archived from the original on 6 August 2018.
- ^ Duerden, John (27 July 2014). "Asia loses a legend as Karimi retires". ESPN. Retrieved 27 July 2014.