Arash Borhani ( fa, آرش برهانی ; born 14 September 1983 in

Kerman Kerman ( fa, كرمان, Kermân ; also romanization of Persian, romanized as Kermun and Karmana), known in ancient times as the satrapy of Carmania, is the capital city of Kerman Province, Iran. At the 2011 census, its population was 821,394, in ...

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 ...

) is a retired

ian

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 ...

player and coach. He is the all-time top goal scorer of Esteghlal and also the second all-time top goal scorer in

Iran's Premier Football 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 ...

. He was the top goal scorer of 2008–09 Iran's Premier Football League. He was also a member of the Iran national football team. Borhani won a bronze medal in

2006 Asian Games 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

with Iran national under-23 football team.

Club career

Pas

Having just moved to Pas in the

Iran's Premier Football 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 ...

, he helped the club to finish second in the 2002–03 season. He scored four goals in the season, which three of them was on a hat-trick in the last match of the season. He continued with Pas for the next seasons and became a fixed starter. He was one of club's main players in

2005 AFC Champions League The 2005 AFC Champions League was the 24th edition of the top-level Asian club football tournament and the 3rd edition under the current AFC Champions League title. The championship was retained by the Saudi Arabian club Al-Ittihad with a 5–3 a ...

season.

Al-Nasr

Shortly before the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

, Borhani signed for the UAE Pro League, Al Nasr. On 21 January 2007 Borhani signed back with his former team Pas after being released by Al Nasr due to unforeseen circumstances. Since signing back with Pas, within a period of five months, he has scored only twice, which has put him through the most difficult time in his career.

Esteghlal

Borhani had offers from Al-Ain of the UAE,

Mouscron Mouscron (; Dutch and vls, Moeskroen, ; Picard and Walloon: ''Moucron'') is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the Belgian province of Hainaut, along the border with the French city of Tourcoing, which is part of the Lille metropoli ...

of the Belgian League,

Vitória Setúbal Vitoria or Vitória may refer to : People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Steven Vitória (b ...

of the Portuguese Liga, Denizlispor of the

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

and

Mes Kerman Mes Kerman Football Club ( fa, باشگاه فوتبال صنعت مس کرمان, ''Bashgah-e Futbal-e Sân't-e Mes Kârman'') is an Iranian professional association football, football team based in Kerman, Iran. They were promoted to Iran's top ...

and Esteghlal of

, though it was not known which offer Borhani was likely to accept. However, on 17 July 2007 Borhani signed a contract with the

IPL The Indian Premier League (IPL), also known as TATA IPL for sponsorship reasons, is a men's T20 franchise cricket league of India. It is annually contested by ten teams based out of seven Indian cities and three Indian states. The leagu ...

giants Esteghlal. On 27 October Borhani scored his first

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

for Esteghlal in a 3–2 win over

Paykan The Paykan ( fa, پيکان meaning ''Arrow'') is the first Iranian-made car produced by Iran Khodro (formerly called "Iran National") between 1967 and 2005. The car was very popular in Iran from its introduction until its discontinuation. It ...

. Borhani again scored a hat-trick plus two against

Pegah Gilan Pegah Gilan Football Club ( fa, باشگاه فوتبال پگاه گیلان) was an Iranian football club based in Rasht, Iran that participated in the Iran Pro League and Azadegan League from 2002 to 2008. Club history The club began its life ...

in the Hazfi Cup ending up with five goals, the game's final score being 8–1 in favor of Esteghlal. He became the top scorer in 2008–09 season with 21 goals. The next season, he scored 11 goals but missed so many chances during the final matches of the season. On 14 January 2013, he became Esteghlal's all-time top goal scorers after scoring against

, surprising

Ali Jabbari Ali Jabbari is an Iranian former football midfielder who played for Iran in the 1972 Summer Olympics. He also played for Taj SC. On 13 May 1972 during a group match at the 1972 AFC Asian Cup, Iran were trailing 2–0 to Thailand. Ali Jabbari tur ...

. He was his team's top scorer at the 2012–13 season, which they won the Iran Pro League title. He extended his contract with the club for next two seasons on 1 July 2013. On 9 February 2014, Borhani scored his 100th goal for Esteghlal in a 2–0 win over Saipa. On 14 June 2014, Borhani signed a new contract with Esteghlal, keeping him until 2016. Arash Borhani

Club career statistics

*Last update: July 17, 2018 ''¹ Statistics Incomplete.''

Assist Goals

International career

While playing for Pas Tehran, he was called to the Iran U-23 team for the

2004 Athens Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

qualifications, where he had some good performances, including scoring four goals in two games versus

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...

. Despite the talent on the team, the Iran U-23 team did not qualify for the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

. Around the same time he was called up to the ''

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 ...

'', where he scored some crucial goals, such as the tying goal versus

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

in a

2006 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification competition was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation – the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South Americ ...

match. He was not a regular starter for the team, but he was among Iran's final squad for

. In November 2006, he once again joined Iran U-23 team to participate at the

. In the quarter-final match against

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, Borhani held the ball short of the goal line and invited his teammates to approach after masterfully dribbling around the

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

goalkeeper. He held that position for a few seconds before moving the ball over the line and then started running with joy towards the bench and celebrating with others. Later on he apologized for dishonoring the China U-23 team. He was called up to the national squad by Iranian coach Ali Daei to play in

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC Third Round The AFC Third Round of 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification was decided by a random draw which was conducted in Durban, South Africa on 25 November 2007. The round began on 6 February 2008 and finished on 22 June 2008. The top two countries in each ...

. He also played in

2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification The 2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification saw various countries take part to determine 10 spots to the final tournament in Qatar under the new qualification system set by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Six other teams also qualified for th ...

for

International goals

:''Scores and results list Iran's goal tally first.''

Honours

Club

;Pas Tehran * Iran Pro League (1): 2003–04 ;Esteghlal * Iran Pro League (2): 2008–09,

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

* Hazfi Cup (2): 2007–08, 2011–12

Country

* WAFF Championship (1):

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

Individual

* Iran Pro League top goalscorer (1): 2008–09

References

External links

Arash Borhani
a
PersianLeague.com
a
TeamMelli.com
*
Borhani's goal in the 2006 Asian Games quarterfinals
– from YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:Borhani, Arash Iranian footballers Association football forwards Pas players 2004 AFC Asian Cup players 2006 FIFA World Cup players Esteghlal F.C. players Iranian expatriate footballers People from Kerman 1983 births Living people Iran international footballers Al-Nasr SC (Dubai) players Asian Games bronze medalists for Iran Asian Games medalists in football Footballers at the 2006 Asian Games Medalists at the 2006 Asian Games UAE Pro League players Persian Gulf Pro League players People from Kerman Province