Seyyed Jalal Hosseini ( fa, سید جلال حسینی; born 3 February 1982), commonly known as Seyyed Jalal or Jalal Hosseini, 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 le ...

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 ...

and was the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of Iranian club

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 ...

. He has been a member of Iran's under-23 side as a wild card player on two occasions, in the

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

and

2010 Asian Games The 2010 Asian Games (), officially known as the XVI Asian Games () and also known as Guangzhou 2010 (), was a regional multi-sport event celebrated from November 12 to November 27, 2010 in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, although several events ...

, winning a bronze medal in 2006. Hosseini has represented Iran at the

2007 AFC 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 h ...

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 ...

2015 AFC Asian Cup The 2015 AFC Asian Cup was the 16th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held in Australia from 9 to 31 January 2015. The tournament was ...

and the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

Early life and education

Hosseini was born on 3 February 1982 in

Bandar-e Anzali Bandar-e Anzali ( fa, بندرانزلی, also Romanized as Bandar-e Anzalī; renamed as Bandar-e Pahlavi during the Pahlavi dynasty) is a city of Gilan Province, Iran. At the 2011 census, its population was 144,664. Anzali is one of the mos ...

, Gilan Province. He majored in German Studies.

Club career

Saipa

Hosseini moved from

Malavan Malavan Bandar Anzali Football Club ( fa, باشگاه فوتبال ملوان بندر انزلى, ''Bashgah-e Futbal-e Milâvan Bendâr Anzeli'') is an Iranian football club based in Bandar-e Anzali, Iran. It currently won Iran's second footb ...

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 ...

in summer 2005. Before that he was link with a move to Piroozi but the move was cancelled. During the 2005–06 season, he was the most consistent player for his club, making 28 full appearances and scoring one goal. He continued his solid performance for Saipa during the 2006–07 season with 26 full appearances and one goal and also won the league. He 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 ...

matches for Saipa.

Sepahan

Hosseini signed for

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 ...

in summer 2009 and became their regular player for the season. He won the

Persian Gulf Cup 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 ...

for three times in a row with Sepahan. After three years and 94 league appearances, Hosseini left the club in 2012 as one of the league's most established centre-backs.

Persepolis

Hosseini signed a one-year contract with Tehran's reds until the end of 2012–13 Season. He extended his contract with

for one year in February 2013, keeping him in the team till 2014. He was regarded as 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 ...

's best defender. He was one of the main players in persepolis' second place league finish in 2014. Hosseini was named the best defender in the 2013–14 season.

Al-Ahli

On 17 July 2014, Hosseini joined

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 ...

's Al-Ahli with signing a one-year contract. He left the club in May 2015.

Naft Tehran

Hosseini left Qatar and joined

Persian Gulf 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 ...

runners–up

Naft Tehran Naft Tehran Football Club ( fa, باشگاه فوتبال نفت تهران, ''Bashgah-e Futbal-e Nuft Teheran'') is an Iranian football club based in Tehran, Iran. They competed in the Persian Gulf Pro League. They were owned by the National Ira ...

in the summer of 2015. With Hosseini Naft reached the quarter–finals of the

2015 AFC Champions League The 2015 AFC Champions League was the 34th edition of Asia's premier club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 13th under the current AFC Champions League title. Guangzhou Evergrande won the tournament ...

. Midway through the season, he and many Naft players and management had disputes with the board as they had not been paid. As a result of this he left the club before the 2016–17 season.

Persepolis

In spring of 2016, after days of negotiation, Hosseini announced he had signed with his former club

. Shortly after he was announced as the club captain for the 2016–17 season. He led Persepolis to a consecutive Persian Pro League in which he was an indisputable player and played a big role in team.

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in some countries/territories in Asia and Oceania. It has 47 member countries most of which are located in Asia. Australia, formerly in ...

website wrote Hosseini was a solid defender for Persepolis. On 25 June 2022, Hosseini confirmed his retirement from football as a player. He called the decision "difficult" but "right". At this time, with 9 league titles, he is considered the most honorable and unattainable Iranian player in this regard.

Varzesh 3 Varzesh 3 ( fa, ورزش ۳), is an Iranian sports news website that was launched in 2010. This site includes: sports news, ranking leagues, popular tournaments, Live streaming and live results of world games, sports videos, sports newspapers, P ...

, described his retirement as "start of the

Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...

in a coaching suit", hoping he will start coaching immediately.

International career

Jalal Hosseini before playing with Zob Ahan

Hosseini was a member of Iran U23 national team, participating in the

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 ...

. He debuted for the senior national team in a friendly match against

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

in February 2007. Having joined ''Team Melli'' again in July 2007, he played in all four of Iran's matches and scored Iran's first goal in its opening match at 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 ...

against

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 ...

. He was called again for 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 ...

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 ...

matches. 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 Iran and

2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification The 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification was a qualification process organized by the AFC to determine the participating teams for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup. The 2015 AFC Asian Cup, hosted by Australia, featured 16 teams. In the initial scheme, ten p ...

. He featured 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 ...

and 2011 Asian Cup. On 1 June 2014, he was called into Iran's

squad by

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, ...

. He was called into Iran's

squad on 30 December 2014 by Carlos Queiroz. In 2016, Hosseini was selected as one of the top 3 defenders in the world by France Football magazine in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification. In May 2018 he was named in Iran's preliminary

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and US doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a team, but smaller than a section." while US Army do ...

for the

2018 World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

but did not make the final 23. On 1 December 2018, Hosseini announced his retirement from international football.

Player profile

Style of play

Iran and Nigeria match at the FIFA World Cup 2014-06-12 13

Hosseini is widely regarded as one of the greatest defenders in history of Iranian football. Also he is the most decorated player in

Iranian football league The Iranian football league system is a series of interconnected leagues for football clubs in Iran. Structure The current structure has been in place since 2001. The Persian Gulf Pro League (PGL) is the highest level of club football in Iran. I ...

. His tactical awareness and athleticism, intelligent positioning, and aggressive playing style, led the team in defensive positions. High running rate, fighting and cutting power and excellent leadership are the features of Hosseini's style of play. He is also mentioned as a player who respected the legacy of the Persepolis club, that is, ethics in sports.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Iran's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Hosseini goal.''

Honours

Saipa *

: 2006–07 Sepahan *

: 2009–10,

2010–11 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 ...

, 2011–12 Persepolis *

: 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

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 ...

: 2018–19 *

Iranian Super Cup The Iranian Super Cup (Persian: سوپر جام ایران, ''Super Jam-e 'Iran'') is an Iranian association football trophy awarded to the winner of a match between the Persian Gulf Pro League's season champion and the winner of the Hazfi Cup. It ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

runner-up:

Iran U23 ( Wild card) * Asian Games Bronze Medal:

Individual *

Defender of the Year (6) : 2006–07, 2007–08, 2013–14, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19 *

Team of the Year : 2013–14, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19 *

Navad ''Navad'' ( fa, نود, meaning ninety - 90 min.) was an Iranian, Persian language, popular weekly television programme broadcast by Channel 3 in Iran and hosted by Adel Ferdosipour. The program focused on the football matches played in the Pers ...

Player of the Month: November 2017, December 2017 *

OPTA Best XI:

* Iran's

Legend

References

External links

Jalal Hosseini
a
PersianLeague.comJalal Hosseini
a
TeamMelli.com
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hosseini, Jalal 1982 births Living people Iranian men's footballers Men's association football central defenders Iran men's international footballers Azadegan League players Qatar Stars League players Malavan F.C. players Sepahan S.C. footballers Saipa F.C. players Persepolis F.C. players 2007 AFC Asian Cup players 2011 AFC Asian Cup players 2014 FIFA World Cup players 2015 AFC Asian Cup players Asian Games bronze medalists for Iran Al Ahli SC (Doha) players Asian Games medalists in football Footballers at the 2006 Asian Games Footballers at the 2010 Asian Games FIFA Men's Century Club Footballers from Bandar-e Anzali Medalists at the 2006 Asian Games Persian Gulf Pro League players Iranian expatriate men's footballers Iranian expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Expatriate men's footballers in Qatar Persepolis F.C. non-playing staff

Early life and education

Club career

Saipa

Sepahan

Persepolis

Al-Ahli

Naft Tehran

Persepolis

International career

Player profile

Style of play

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

See also

References

External links