Rasoul Paki Khatibi ( fa, رسول خطیبی; born 22 September 1978) is an Iranian football coach and former player who manages

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 ...

team Aluminium Arak. He is the younger brother of Hossein Khatibi, who is also a football manager.

Club career

Khatibi began his professional football career, playing for his hometown club,

Tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most commo ...

, following the footsteps of his brother, Hossein Khatibi. He was able to impress people, and after scoring many goals for his club, he was transferred to

Pas Tehran Pas Tehran Football Club ( fa, باشگاه فوتبال پاس تهران, ''Bashgah-e Futbal-e Pas Tehran'') was an Iranian football club based in Tehran, Iran. Pas F.C. was the football club of the multisport Pas Cultural and Sports Club. ...

. He continued to play well, giving himself a chance to join

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three ...

in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

along with fellow Iranian internationals

Mehdi Mahdavikia Mehdi Mahdavikia ( fa, ; born 24 July 1977) is an Iranian professional football coach and former player usually played as a right winger or right back. He is currently under contract by Hamburger SV as a youth coach, and also manages his own ...

and

Vahid Hashemian Vahid Hashemian Korbekandi ( fa, وحيد هاشميان; born 21 July 1976) is an Iranian football coach and former player who works as assistant coach to Dragan Skočić at Iran national team. He played as a forward, spending most of his ca ...

. While playing in

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, he only had a couple of appearances, and was not able to make good use of this opportunity. He soon returned to Iran, back to his old club, Pas Tehran. He then briefly played for Esteghlal in the Asian Champions League before signing 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 ...

. Sepahan was able to win the IPL championship in 2003 and Khatibi started showing his good form again. In the 2005–06 season, he was able to score ten goals, completing his impressive record in Sepahan with 32 goals in three seasons. His tally would have been higher if not for his poor chances to goals ratio. In June 2006, he signed a two-year contract with United Arab Emirates club

Sharjah FC Sharjah Football Club ( ar, نادي الشارقة لكرة القدم) is an Emirati professional football club based in Sharjah that competes in the UAE Pro League. Their home stadium is Sharjah Stadium. Founded in 1966, it has been the most ...

, after rejecting an offer from Spanish second division side

CD Tenerife Club Deportivo Tenerife, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Founded in 1912, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez Lóp ...

. In 2007, Khatibi signed a new contract with

Emirates Club Emirates Club ( ar, نادي الإمارات) is a professional football club based in the city of Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. They play in the UAE Pro League after being promoted from the UAE First Division League. They play thei ...

for $700,000 to join his Iranian teammate Reza Enayati. The contract had a clause which stated that if a European club offered Khatibi a contract, then the existing contract with Emirates Club would be canceled. He then joined Gostaresh Foulad as player-manager. He announced his retirement on 5 August 2013.

International career

Khatibi represented Iran internationally at various age levels. He was a constant member of the Iran Olympic team during his time in Tractor Sazi and Pas, but despite the talent on the team, they were never successful. He gained his first international cap on 15 February 1999 versus

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

. His appearances for the national team have been inconsistent, but due to his good form in the 2005–06 season he was called up to the main squad which headed to Germany for World Cup 2006. He has 24

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

and five goals for the national team.

Coaching career

After joined Machine Sazi in summer 2011, he becomes player-manager of Machine Sazi Tabriz on 1 July 2011 to lead the team in Azadegan league. After spending one season at Machine Sazi and led them to the third rank and lost the promotion play-off on goal difference, he becomes head coach of another Tabrizi based team, Gostaresh Foolad and led the club to promotion to 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 ...

. He renewed his contract for another three seasons on 13 May 2013 but resigned on 26 December 2013 after a run of unsuccessful results. On 31 May 2014, Khatibi was appointed as new manager of

, replaced

Toni Toni, Toñi or Tóni is a unisex given name. In Spanish, Italian, Croatian and Finnish, it is a masculine given name used as a short form of the names derived from Antonius like Antonio, Ante or Anttoni. In Danish, English, Finnish, Norwe ...

.Official: Khatibi, new head coach of Tractor Sazi
He signed a three-year contract with the club. However, he was sacked on 8 February 2015 after a run of poor results.

Career statistics

Club

Managerial statistics

Honours

As a player

Pas *

runner-up: 1997–98 Esteghlal *

runner-up: 1999–00 *

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 Ch ...

: 1999–00 Sepahan *

: 2003–04, 2005–06 Gostaresh *

runner-up: 2009–10

As a manager

Gostaresh * Azadegan League:

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 ...

Tractor * Shohada Cup:

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

Machine Sazi * Azadegan League runner-up (promotion): 2015–16 Aluminium Arak * Azadegan League runner-up (promotion): 2019–20

Individual

* Azadegan League Manager of the Season: 2015–16

References

External links

Rasoul Khatibi
a
TeamMelli.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khatibi, Rasoul 1978 births Living people Sportspeople from Tabriz Iranian footballers Iran international footballers Association football forwards Pas players Hamburger SV players Esteghlal F.C. players Sepahan S.C. footballers Sharjah FC players Emirates Club players Al Dhafra FC players 2006 FIFA World Cup players 2007 AFC Asian Cup players Gostaresh Foulad F.C. players Machine Sazi F.C. players Tractor S.C. players Asian Games gold medalists for Iran Tractor S.C. managers Asian Games medalists in football Footballers at the 1998 Asian Games Medalists at the 1998 Asian Games Azadegan League players Persian Gulf Pro League players UAE Pro League players Bundesliga players Iranian expatriate footballers Iranian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany Iranian expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate footballers in the United Arab Emirates Iranian football managers Persian Gulf Pro League managers