Seyed Hadi Aghily ( fa, سيد هادی عقیلی, born 15 January 1981) is a former Iranian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. Known for his toughness, positioning and intelligent movement, he was nominated for the Asian Player of The Year award twice in 2009 and 2011. Aghily began his career at

Saipa SAIPA ( fa, سایپا, ''SAIPA'') is an Iranian automaker headquartered in Tehran. The SAIPAC (an acronym for the French ''Société anonyme iranienne de production des automobiles Citroën'') was established in 1965 as with 75% Iranian ownersh ...

, then moved to

Sepahan Foolad Mobarakeh Sepahan Sport Club ( fa, باشگاه فرهنگی ورزشی فولاد مبارکه سپاهان اصفهان, ''Bâšgâh-è Varzeši-ye Fulâd-è Mobârake-ye Sepâhân''), commonly known as Sepahan S.C., are an Iranian spor ...

and reached the 2007 AFC Champions League Final. He spent two successful seasons in

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 ...

with Al-Arabi and

Qatar SC Qatar Sports Club ( ar, نادي قطر الرياضي) is a sports club based in Doha, Qatar. It is best known for its football team which competes in the Qatar Stars League. The club was founded in 1961 as a merger of two Qatari football club ...

, before returning to Sepahan and concluding his football career in 2016. He captained the Iranian national team on multiple occasions.

Club career

Early years

Aghily was born 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 ...

. He was part of the

Persepolis , native_name_lang = , alternate_name = , image = Gate of All Nations, Persepolis.jpg , image_size = , alt = , caption = Ruins of the Gate of All Nations, Persepolis. , map = , map_type ...

youth academy, but left for

in 2001.

Sepahan

After three years at Saipa, he moved to

where he won the

Hazfi Cup Hazfi Cup (Jām-e Hazfi; ) is the Iranian football knockout cup competition, run by the Iranian Football Federation. The Iranian football league was not held during the 1980s, hence the winner of Hazfi Cup represented Iran in the Asian Club Cha ...

and also played in the

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 ...

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

. He also played in the 2007 FIFA Club World Cup. After his good games, he was linked with a move to Japanese teams and also with a return to Persepolis, but he decided to extend his contract with Sepahan. He had so many injuries during the 2008–09 season that he did not play many matches for Sepahan and missed some of the matches of the

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification 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 (O ...

for

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 ...

. On 28 July 2009, Aghili traveled to Freiburg in order to negotiate a future move to the Bundesliga side. However, negotiations were cut short after a few days and the club released a statement saying that "Hadi was not the player that they were looking for." He won the league with Sepahan twice in a row. He left Sepahan in the summer of 2011 after seven seasons.

Qatar Stars League

In July 2011, Aghili signed a new contract with Al-Arabi. He wears the number 55 and was the club's captain. He won the

Sheikh Jassem Cup The Sheikh Jassim Cup ( ar, كأس الشيخ جاسم) is an annual men's super cup competition in Qatari football held between the winner of the Qatar Stars League and the Emir of Qatar Cup. History The inaugural Sheikh Jassim Cup was held i ...

while with the club. There were rumors that he would join Persepolis after the

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 ...

season had finished, but he signed with

on 22 June 2012, remaining in

Qatar Stars League The Qatar Stars League ( ar, دوري نجوم قطر), or the QSL, also called QNB Stars League for sponsorship reasons, is the top level football league in Qatar football league system. Contested by 12 teams, it operates on a system of promotio ...

for another season. He played many matches for the team.

Return to Sepahan

On 19 June 2013, after spending two seasons in Qatar, he returned to his former club,

. He officially rejoined the club on 1 July 2013, signing a two-year contract. He made his debut in a 2–0 win over

Foolad Foolad Khuzestan Football Club ( fa, باشگاه فوتبال فولاد خوزستان, ''Bāshgāh-e Futbāl-e Fulād-e Khuzestān'') is an Iranian football club, based in Ahwaz, Khuzestan that plays in Persian Gulf Pro League. Foolad F.C. ...

and scored his first goal in the next match from penalty kicks in a 2–1 away win against Esteghlal. He was also the captain of Sepahan for their match with Esteghlal, as Moharram Navidkia did not play because of injury. On 9 June 2014, Aghily extended his contract with Sepahan until 30 June 2017.

International career

In October 2006, he was called up to the Iranian national team for the 2006 LG Cup held in

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

. He made his debut for Iran on 4 October 2006 in a match against

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

. He was an important member of the Iranian squad at various major tournaments, such as the

and

2011 AFC Asian Cup The 2011 AFC Asian Cup was the 15th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in Qatar from 7 to 29 January 2011. It was the fifte ...

s, the

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; ...

and

2010 WAFF Championship 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 ...

s, as well as the

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

and

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA#Structure, FIFA confederations. The 2014 FIFA World Cup featured 32 teams, with one place reserved for the host nation, Brazil national football team, Bra ...

phases.

Retirement

Prior to a 2014 World Cup qualifying match against

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

, Aghily left the team camp because he knew he would not be in the starting lineup. He was banned for one year and

Carlos Queiroz Carlos Manuel Brito Leal de Queiroz (; born 1 March 1953) is a Portuguese football coach who currently is the head coach of the Iran national team. He has served as the manager of his native Portugal's national team, the United Arab Emirates, ...

left him out of the team. Before the last three World Cup qualifying matches in June 2013, he publicly apologised to Queiroz and Iranian fans but was still not called up. In July 2013, he revealed that the Iranian FA and Queiroz wanted him to sign an apology letter, but

Mehdi Rahmati Seyed Mehdi Rahmati Oskuei ( fa, سید مهدی رحمتی اسکویی; born February 3, 1983) is an Iranian football coach and former player who currently manages Aluminium Arak in the Persian Gulf Pro League. He played for the Iran nation ...

advised him not to as he believed that Iran would lose the first match and would then beg him to return.Aghily banned from the Iran national team
/ref>

Career statistics

Club

Last updated on 10 December 2016.

International goals

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

Honours

Sepahan *

: 2009–10, 2010–11, 2014–15 *

: 2005–06, 2006–07 *

Runner-up:

Al-Arabi *

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

Iran *

WAFF Championship The West Asian Football Federation Championship (), or simply WAFF Championship, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF), the g ...

Individual *

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 ...

Fourth place: 2009 *

Runner-up:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aghily, Hadi 1981 births Living people Sportspeople from Tehran Iranian footballers Iran international footballers Association football defenders Saipa F.C. players Sepahan S.C. footballers Persepolis F.C. players Al-Arabi SC (Qatar) players Qatar SC players Persian Gulf Pro League players Qatar Stars League players 2007 AFC Asian Cup players 2011 AFC Asian Cup players Iranian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Qatar