Ebrahim Sadeghi ( fa, ابراهیم صادقی, born February 4, 1979, in Karaj,

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 an Iranian football coach and retired

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who is ...

who played for Saipa for 17 years. Sadeghi has been playing for Saipa since 2000. In 2010,

Saipa Cultural and Athletic Corporation Saipa Tehran Athletic and Cultural Club is an Iranian multisport club based in Tehran and Karaj, Iran. The club was founded in 1989. Teams * Saipa Football Club, competing in the Iran Pro League The Persian Gulf Pro League ( fa, لیگ برت� ...

celebrated a testimonial ceremony for him because of "his loyalty to the club", calling him ''The Orange Loyal''. He was also gifted a

Saipa Tiba The Tiba (project name: S81) is an Iranian automobile industry, Iranian car made by Saipa Group, Saipa, that was unveiled in December 2008 and originally named "Miniature". Price has been estimated to be less than 7,000 dollars. The car platform ...

. On 13 December 2015, in a match against

Esteghlal Ahvaz Esteghlal Ahvaz Football Club ( fa, باشگاه فوتبال استقلال اهواز, ''Bashgah-e Futbal-e Esteqlâl Ahvaz''), commonly known as Esteghlal Ahvaz, was an Iranian football club based in Ahvaz, Khuzestan, that competed in the khu ...

Sadeghi played his 400th league match for the club, becoming the only player in the history of the Persian Gulf Pro League to reach this feat. He retired on 4 May 2017 after playing 17 seasons at Saipa at the top flight.

Club career

Youth career

Sadeghi joined Keshavarz at the age of thirteen and played at the club until 1995 where he was spotted by Persepolis and joined their academy. After three years at Persepolis he joined Moghavemat Tehran before settling at Saipa a year later.

Saipa

Sadeghi graduated from the Saipa youth ranks and was signed to the club in 2000. He has played for Saipa for his entire. His good performances since 2006–07 season made big clubs to show some interest on him. In 2008 Sadeghi was nominated for Asian Footballer of the Year, but failed to win the award. He played in

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

for Saipa and continued to play for the club in 2008–09 season.

Club career statistics

* Assist Goals

International career

He made his first cap for Iran national football team in January 2007 in a friendly match against the

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

. He scored in his debut. He was selected among Iran's final squad participating in the

2007 Asian Cup The 2007 AFC Asian Cup was the 14th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held from 7 to 29 July 2007. For the first time in its hi ...

. He has been called up for

2010 FIFA World Cup Qualifying Qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup 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 America), OFC (Oce ...

. Sadeghi played in West Asian Football Federation Championship 2008 and won the cup.

International goals

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

Managerial statistics

Honours

Club

;Saipa * Iran Pro League (1): 2006–07

National

;Iran * WAFF Championship (1):

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Asian player of the year nomination

In April 2008, Sadeghi has been nominated for the 2008

Asian footballer of the year The Asian Footballer of the Year is an annual prize awarded to the best Asian player in a calendar year, organized by International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) and Asian Football Confederation (AFC). History The origin of ...

, as the sole Iranian player in the 21-player list of AFC.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sadeghi, Ebrahim Iranian footballers People from Karaj 1979 births Living people Iran international footballers 2007 AFC Asian Cup players Association football midfielders Persian Gulf Pro League players Saipa F.C. players 21st-century Iranian people