Mehdi Torabi ( fa, مهدی ترابی; born 10 September 1994) is an 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 plays as a winger for

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 ...

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 ...

and

Iran national team 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 ...

Club career

Saipa

He started his career with

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 ...

from youth levels. He was promoted to the first team by

Mojtaba Taghavi Mojtaba Taghavi ( fa, مجتبی تقوی, born February 2, 1968) is a retired Iranian football player and a current coach. He is currently technical manager at Naft Masjed Soleyman. Career After the dismissal of Saipa head coach Majid Saleh ...

in summer 2012. He made his

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 ...

debut for

in the 2013–14 season against

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 ...

as a substitute. His subsequent performances were deemed worthy of a

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 ...

call up.

Persepolis

On 1 July 2018, Torabi signed a three-year deal with

. He was sent on back on loan to

for the first half of the season until Persepolis had served their transfer ban. On 16 December 2018, Torabi officially joined Persepolis' squad and was assigned the number 9. Torabi scored his first goal for Persepolis in a 3–2 victory over Saipa on 13 April 2019.

International career

Youth level

He was invited to Iran U23 preliminary camp by

Nelo Vingada Eduardo Manuel "Nelo" Martinho Bragança de Vingada (born 30 March 1953) is a Portuguese football manager. Managerial career Early years Vingada was born in Serpa. His first steps as a professional football manager were in Belenenses, and then ...

. He was included in the squad for the

2016 AFC U-23 Championship The 2016 AFC U-23 Championship (also known as the 2016 AFC U-23 Asian Cup) was the second edition of the AFC U-23 Championship, the biennial international age-restricted football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) fo ...

by coach

Mohammad Khakpour Mohammad Khakpour ( fa, محمد خاکپور, born February 20, 1969) is a retired Iranian football player. Playing career Khakpour played for a few clubs, including Persepolis FC, Pas Tehran, Vanspor, Geylang United and MetroStars (United ...

and he scored his first goal of the tournament in the last group match against China from a 30-yard free kick.

Senior level

He made his debut 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 ...

on a friendly on 11 June 2015 where he scored the lone goal of the match. On 3 September 2015 Torabi came off the bench to score in a 6–0 victory against

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

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

in Russia.

Personal life

Political views

Torabi has been known to be a supporter of the

government of the Islamic Republic of Iran The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran ( fa, نظام جمهوری اسلامی ایران, Neẓām-e jomhūrī-e eslāmi-e Irān, known simply as ''Neẓām'' ( fa, نظام, lit=the system) among its supporters) is the ruling state a ...

, having worn a shirt in support of Iran's Supreme Leader

Ali Khamenei Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei ( fa, سید علی حسینی خامنه‌ای, ; born 19 April 1939) is a Twelver Shia ''marja and the second and current Supreme Leader of Iran, in office since 1989. He was previously the third president o ...

and wanting to offer him a football as a gift during the

Mahsa Amini protests Civil unrest and protests against the government of Iran associated with the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini ( fa, مهسا امینی) began on 16 September 2022 and are ongoing as of December 2022. Amini had been arrested by the Guida ...

. In 2019, Torabi lifted his shirt up with a message of support to the government during the

2019–2020 Iranian protests A series of nationwide civil protests in Iran, sometimes known as Bloody November or (using the Iranian calendar) Bloody Aban ( fa, آبان خونین) took place in 2019 and 2020. Initially caused by a 50–200% increase in fuel prices, they ...

as well.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Statistics accurate as of match played 28 March 2023.''

International goals

:''As of match played 10 November 2022. Iran score listed first, score column indicates score after each Torabi goal.''

Honours

Club

;Persepolis *

(3): 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 ...

(1): 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 ...

(2):

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 (1):

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

Individual

* Iranian Young Player of the Year:

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

* Persian Gulf Pro League Team of the Year: 2015–16 *

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: April 2018, May 2018

Club career

Saipa

Persepolis

International career

Youth level

Senior level

Personal life

Political views

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

Honours

Club

Individual

References

External links