Afshin Ghotbi ( fa, افشین قطبی, born 8 February 1964 in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

) is an Iranian-American

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach who works as head coach of

Vancouver FC Vancouver Football Club, commonly known as Vancouver FC, is a Canadian professional soccer club in Langley, British Columbia. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League at the top of the Canadian soccer league system. History On Novemb ...

in the

Canadian Premier League The Canadian Premier League (CPL or CanPL; french: Première ligue canadienne, links=no) is a professional men's Association football, soccer league in Canada. At the top of the Canadian soccer league system, it is the country's primary nationa ...

Early life

Afshin Ghotbi was born in

. He is the son of a teacher in Iran with whom he left Iran at the age of 13 after his father remarried and moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, where he has been a resident for more than two decades. He received his

BSc A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

qualification in

Electrical Engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

from

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

where he was a member of the football team.

Career

Early years

Prior to coaching at the professional level, Ghotbi founded one of the best youth football academies named AGSS in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

, responsible for the discovery and development of players such as

Peter Vagenas Panayiotis Alexiou "Peter" Vagenas (born February 6, 1978) is an American former soccer player. High school and college Vagenas graduated from Saint Francis High School in La Cañada Flintridge, class of 1996, where he played for coach Glen Ap ...

and John O'Brien and many more.

USMNT

He became assistant manager of the

USMNT The United States men's national soccer team (USMNT) represents the United States in men's international soccer competitions. The team is controlled by the United States Soccer Federation and is a member of FIFA and CONCACAF. The U.S. team ha ...

from 1997 to 1998, working under Steve Sampson. He also participated in the USMNT squad for

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

, where he had an emotional moment as his adopted country he worked played against

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, the country of his origin.

South Korea

He worked for

Korea Republic national football team The South Korea national football team (; recognized as Korea Republic by FIFA) represents South Korea in men's international football and is governed by the Korea Football Association. South Korea has emerged as a major football power in Asia ...

under Dutchman Guus Hiddink from December 2000 till July 2002 as a football analyst. He continued his journey in Korea by taking the role of an assistant coach of Samsung Bluewings from 2002 to 2004. He returned to Korean National Team, as an assistant coach under

Dick Advocaat Dirk Nicolaas Advocaat (; born 27 September 1947) is a Dutch former football player and coach who is currently the head coach of Eerste Divisie side ADO Den Haag. Advocaat was successful as a football player and as a coach, including three sti ...

from October 2005 until July 2006. He continued as an assistant coach for Korea under

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

head coach

Pim Verbeek Peter Tim Dirk "Pim" Verbeek (12 March 1956 – 28 November 2019) was a Dutch football manager who last coached the Oman national football team. Playing career As a player, Verbeek was a defender or a midfielder and spent his entire career at S ...

, who he knew back in 2000 as part of South Korea's 2002 World Cup perpetration, from July 2006 till July 2007.

Return to Iran

In 2007, he was Head-Coach of

Persepolis F.C. Persepolis Football Club ( fa, باشگاه فوتبال پرسپولیس, Bâšgâh-e Futbâl-e Perspolis) is an Iranian professional football club based in Tehran, that competes in the Persian Gulf Pro League. Persepolis was founded in 1 ...

, an

Iran Pro League The Persian Gulf Pro League ( fa, لیگ برتر خلیج فارس, ''Lig-e Bartar-e Xalij-e Fârs''), formerly known as the Iran Pro League ( fa, links=no, لیگ برتر ایران, ''Lig-e bartar-e Irân''), is the highest division of profe ...

club, in compliance with the new contract he signed in August 2007. In February 2008 his name was on the shortlist for coaching the Iranian national team, however the job went to

Ali Daei Ali Daei ( fa, ; born 21 March 1969) is an Iranian football manager and former player. A striker, he was the captain of the Iranian national team between 2000 and 2006 and played in the German Bundesliga for Arminia Bielefeld, Bayern Munich ...

. He ultimately led Persepolis to Iranian Pro league championship in May 2008. Ghotbi left Persepolis in June 2008. Afshin Ghotbi was re-appointed as the new Persepolis head coach on 3 July 2008, after agreeing to sign a two-year deal following meeting Persepolis officials in Dubai. Following the session held at Persepolis club on 18 November 2008, Ghotbi announced his resignation on 19 November 2008.

Iranian national team

After just three weeks after being announced as manager, Mayeli Kohan became the spearhead of a heated dispute between himself and

Esteghlal F.C. Esteghlal Football Club ( fa, باشگاه فوتبال استقلال, ''Bâšgâh-è Futbâl-è Esteqlâl''), commonly known as Esteghlal ( fa, استقلال, meaning 'The Independence'), is an Iranian football club based in capital Tehran th ...

manager

Amir Ghalenoei Ardeshir "Amir" Ghalenoei ( fa, , born 21 November 1963 in Tehran, Iran) is an Iranian football coach and former player who currently manages Gol Gohar Sirjan. He has been the most successful coach in the Iran Pro League and managed several clu ...

.IFF confirms Mayelikohan resignation
PersianLeague.com (22 April 2009). Retrieved on 22 August 2013. This resulted in the

IRIFF The Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran (FFIRI) ( fa, فدراسیون فوتبال جمهوری اسلامی ایران, Federâsion-è Futbâl-è Jomhuri-ye Eslâmi-ye Irân) is the governing body of association football in Iran. Formed ...

forcing Mayeli Kohan's resignation as manager of Team Melli. A week later, Afshin Ghotbi agreed to succeed Mayeli Kohan as head coach of the Iranian national team, becoming the first American to take the job. After this appointment, Ghotbi said in an interview "''A life dream, a longtime ambition and a journey written in the stars is about to be realized I have to thank all the people around the world who have cheered, supported and inspired me to have this opportunity''", Despite taking only one goal and 5 points in 3 matches in 11 days, Iran fell short to qualify for the World Cup 2010. He continued to coach

Team Melli ) ''(the national team)' other nicknames'' , Badge = Flag_of_Iran.svg , Badge_size = 190px , Association = Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran , FIFA Trigramme = IRN , FIFA Rank ...

in 2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification where they won 3 matches out of 4 and lost the other one to Jordan Away and in which the team earned 13 points and qualified as the group leaders. With some wonderful results in friendlies (such as winning against Bosnia-Herzegovina and China and South Korea in their land and winning 8 matches in a row in 2010), Ghotbi earned the trust of the fans and qualified for the Asian Cup in Qatar. Later on he finished second in

West Asian Football Federation Championship 2010 The 2010 WAFF Championship was the 6th edition of the West Asian Football Federation Championship, an international tournament for selected West Asian countries and territories. It was hosted by Jordan, after Lebanon was deemed not capable of ho ...

. Iran was the only team in the Asian Cup 2010 competition to win all 3 group matches beating Iraq, North Korea and United Emirates with scoring 6 goals and conceding 1. Iran faced South Korea in the quarter-finals and lost

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

by a goal from

Yoon Bit-garam Yoon Bit-garam ( ko, 윤빛가람; or ; born 7 May 1990) is a South Korean professional association football player. Club career Yoon created the most chances among participants of the 2020 AFC Champions League, leading Ulsan Hyundai to th ...

in extra time after a 0-0 regulation result.

Move to J. League

After the Asian Cup, Ghotbi signed three-year contract with

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

's J. League Division 1 side

Shimizu S-Pulse is a professional Japanese football club. Located in Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, S-Pulse currently competes in the J2 League (J2). The club was formed in 1991 as a founding member of the J.League (''"Original Ten"''), which began ...

. He led the team for the end of 2011 season which ended in the tenth rank. In his second season at the club, his team started the league very successfully but later on they lost their form and finished the league in 9th place with one progress. They also reached the final game of

J. League Cup The is a Japanese Association football, football (soccer) competition organized by J.League. It has been sponsored by Yamazaki Biscuits (YBC) of Yamazaki Baking (formerly Yamazaki Nabisco) since its inception in 1992. It is also known as the or ...

but lost 1–2 to

Kashima Antlers are a football club in Kashima, Ibaraki, currently playing in the J1 League, top tier of Japanese professional football leagues. The name ''Antlers'' is derived from the city name, Kashima, which literally means "deer island". The club has fi ...

. On 30 July 2014, Ghotbi left Shimizu by mutual contest after leaving the club at the 12th place.

Buriram United

On 24 May 2016,

Thai League T1 The Thai League 1 ( th, ไทยลีก 1), often referred to as T1, is the top level of the Thai football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Thai League 2. Seasons run from Augus ...

side

Buriram United Buriram United Football Club ( th, สโมสรฟุตบอลบุรีรัมย์ ยูไนเต็ด) is a professional football club based in Buriram, Thailand. The club has played at the top level of Thai football for the ...

made an announcement of the appointments of Afshin Ghotbi. He has become the first Asian American foreign head coach of the club. On 28 May, Afshin Ghotbi made his managerial debut for Buriram United in a domestic league game against

Nakhon Ratchasima Nakhon Ratchasima ( th, นครราชสีมา, ) is one of the four major cities of Isan, Thailand, known as the "big four of Isan". The city is commonly known as Korat (, ), a shortened form of its name. It is the governmental seat of ...

and collected the win with 1-0 result. On 21 August, his contract was terminated after 3 months in charge.

Shijiazhuang Ever Bright

Ghotbi was appointed by

China League One The Chinese Football Association China League (), also known as China League One or Chinese Jia League (中甲联赛), is the second level of professional football in China. Above League One is the Chinese Super League. Prior to the formation of ...

team Shijiazhuang Ever Bright in November 2016. In the 2017 season, the team finished third. After being dismissed in 2018, he returned for a second spell in July 2019. He led the team to promotion into the

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Association Super League, commonly known as Chinese Super League or CSL, currently known as the China Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest tier of professional association ...

that year. He left by mutual consent in September 2021.

Vancouver FC

In November 2022, Ghotbi was named the first head coach of

side

Managerial statistic

Note: win or lose by penalty shoot-out is counted as the draw in time.

Honours

;Persepolis *

: 2007–08 ;Shimizu S-Pulse ; ;

Runner-up:

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

;Shijiazhuang Ever Bright *

Runners-up: 2019 *

Promotion: 2019

Individual

* Iran Football Federation Award **Manager of the year (2007–08), Persepolis

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ghotbi, Afshin Persepolis F.C. managers Iranian football managers Iranian expatriate football managers American people of Iranian descent Sportspeople of Iranian descent American soccer coaches Sportspeople from Tehran 1964 births Living people UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni Expatriate football managers in China Expatriate football managers in Japan Expatriate football managers in Iran Expatriate football managers in Thailand Expatriate football managers in South Korea J1 League managers Shimizu S-Pulse managers 2011 AFC Asian Cup managers Iran national football team managers UCLA Bruins men's soccer players LA Galaxy non-playing staff Glendale High School (Glendale, California) alumni Cangzhou Mighty Lions F.C. managers Association footballers not categorized by position American expatriate soccer coaches Association football players not categorized by nationality Persian Gulf Pro League managers Vancouver FC non-playing staff Canadian Premier League coaches