Rouzbeh Cheshmi ( fa, روزبه چشمی; born 24 July 1993) is an Iranian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

er who plays as a defensive midfielder or 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 ...

for Esteghlal and the

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 ...

Early life

Cheshmi 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 ...

to a family originally from Chesham in Sabzevar.

Club career

Early career

Cheshmi began his career with

Paykan The Paykan ( fa, پيکان meaning ''Arrow'') is the first Iranian-made car produced by Iran Khodro (formerly called "Iran National") between 1967 and 2005. The car was very popular in Iran from its introduction until its discontinuation. It ...

, before moving to Persepolis in 2008. In 2011, he was loaned to Moghavemat Tehran to complete his mandatory military service. In 2013, Cheshmi handed a transfer request after Ali Daei asked him to have a trial with Persepolis' senior team and moved to

Saba Qom Saba Qom Football Club ( fa, باشگاه فوتبال صبای قم, ''Bashgah-e Futbal-e Sâbay-e Qâm'') was an Iranian football team based in Qom, Iran. The club was dissolved in 2018. The team is a former part of Saba Battery Club, owned by ...

. In his first season with Saba, Cheshmi made 25 appearances and scored one goal.

Esteghlal

Cheshmi signed a two-year deal with Esteghlal on 30 June 2015. He later revealed that he down offers from a

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 ...

club to join Esteghlal. Upon his arrival, he chose to wear number 4 which was previously worn by

Amir Hossein Sadeghi Amir Hossein Sadeghi ( fa, امیرحسین صادقی, born September 6, 1981) is an Iranian former football player who played in the Iran's Premier Football League throughout his career. He played as a defender, usually as a centre-back. Clu ...

Cheshmi made his debut for Esteghlal on 30 July 2015 against Siah Jamegan. On 3 March 2015, he torn his Cruciate ligament in a match against Padideh which caused him to miss the rest of the season. It was also reported that he will miss the first half of 2016–17 season and the team coach

Alireza Mansourian Alireza Mansourian ( fa, علیرضا منصوريان; born 2 December 1971) is an Iranian football coach and retired player. Club career Mansourian was born in Tehran. During his career, he played for Singapore S.League clubs: Balestier Khals ...

decided to exclude his name from Esteghlal's list for the first half of the season and was reported that he would return to the squad in January. On 29 June 2016, he signed a 3-year contract extension with Esteghlal. He returned to training on 30 December 2016. However, due to the club's transfer ban which did not allow it to register any new players, Esteghlal could not include his name in their squad for the rest of season and meant that he would not be able to play for Esteghlal until the end of the season. Cheshmi scored his first goal for the club against Zob Ahan in a 1–1 draw on 20 September 2017. On 13 February 2018, Cheshmi made his

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 ...

debut in a 2–2 group stage draw with Qatari club Al-Rayyan.

International career

U17

He played 3 games at the 2010 Asian U16 Championships.

U20

He is part of Iran U–20 during

2012 AFC U-19 Championship qualification The qualification for the 2012 AFC U-19 Championship. Format The teams have been divided into two zones – West (23) and East (16). The teams will be divided into seven groups of six and five teams each. West Zone will have three groups of si ...

2012 CIS Cup 2012 Commonwealth of Independent States Cup was the 20th annual Commonwealth of Independent States Cup since its establishment in 1993. It was hosted in Saint Petersburg, Russia between 19 and 29 January 2012. Saint Petersburg hosted the event fo ...

2012 AFF U-19 Youth Championship The 2012 AFF U-19 Youth Championship was held from 2 September to 8 September 2012, hosted by Vietnam. All games were played at the Thong Nhat Stadium in Ho Chi Minh City. Vietnam and Thailand were due to represent the AFF but Thailand withdrew ...

and

2012 AFC U-19 Championship The 2012 AFC U-19 Championship is the 37th edition of the tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation. The AFC approved UAE as hosts of the 2012 AFC U-19 Championship on 23 November 2011.

U23

He invited to Iran U-23 training 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 ...

to preparation for Incheon 2014 and 2016 AFC U-22 Championship (Summer Olympic qualification). He named in Iran U23 final list for Incheon 2014.

Senior

2018 FIFA World Cup Group B march IRN-MAR 25

Cheshmi was called up for the first time for the Iran senior team in August 2017 by coach Carlos Queiroz for Iran's

2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations to decide 31 of the 32 teams which would play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with Russia qualifying automatically as hosts. All 210 ...

matches against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

and

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

. He made his official debut as a substitute in 0–0 draw against

on 31 August 2017. In May 2018, Cheshmi 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. He made his debut in the competition on 15 June, playing the whole 90 minutes of the 1–0 group stage win against

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

, helping his team to win their first World Cup match since 1998. After helping Iran to keep a clean sheet in their opening win over Morocco, the World Cup turned out to be a personal disappointment for him, as he suffered an injury during training session prior the game against the

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, which ruled him out of the competition. Cheshmi was also selected for

2019 AFC Asian Cup The 2019 AFC Asian Cup was the 17th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Asia organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held in the United Arab Emirates from 5 January to 1 ...

. He was in the initial lineup during the match of the 2022 Qatar World Cup against England. He scored the winning goal in the match against Wales in injury time, before

Ramin Rezaeian Ramin Rezaeian Semeskandi ( fa, رامین رضائیان سمسکندی; born 21 March 1990) is an Iranian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Persian Gulf Pro League club Sepahan and the Iran national team. He started his car ...

doubled the lead minutes later, thus giving Iran their first victory against a European team at the World Cup.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

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

Honours

Esteghlal * Hazfi Cup: 2017–18 * Iran Pro League: 2021–22 * Iranian Super Cup:

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cheshmi, Rouzbeh Iranian footballers 1993 births Living people Esteghlal F.C. players Saba players Umm Salal SC players Persian Gulf Pro League players Qatar Stars League players People from Sabzevar Iran under-20 international footballers Association football defenders Footballers at the 2014 Asian Games 2018 FIFA World Cup players Iran international footballers Iranian expatriate footballers 2019 AFC Asian Cup players Asian Games competitors for Iran Expatriate footballers in Qatar Iranian expatriate sportspeople in Qatar 21st-century Iranian people 2022 FIFA World Cup players