Rouzbeh Cheshmi ( fa, روزبه چشمی; born 24 July 1993) is an Iranian footballer who plays as a

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundari ...

or a centre-back for Esteghlal and the Iran national team.

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 Chesham (, , or ) is a market town and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, south-east of the county town of Aylesbury, north-west of central London, and part of the London commuter belt. It is in the Chess Valley, surrounded by farmla ...

Sabzevar Sabzevar ( fa, سبزوار ), previously known as Beyhagh (also spelled "Beihagh"; fa, بيهق), is a city and capital of Sabzevar County, in Razavi Khorasan Province, approximately west of the provincial capital Mashhad, in northeastern ...

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. I ...

, before moving to

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 ...

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 Ali Daei ( fa, ; born 21 March 1969) is an Iranian football manager and former player. A striker, he was the captain of the Iranian national team between 2000 and 2006 and played in the German Bundesliga for Arminia Bielefeld, Bayern Munich ...

asked him to have a trial with Persepolis' senior team and moved to Saba Qom. 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 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 debut in a 2–2 group stage draw with Qatari club

Al-Rayyan Al Rayyan (; also spelled as ''Ar Rayyan'') is the third-largest municipality in the state of Qatar. Its primary settlement is the city of the same name, which occupies the entire eastern section and largely surrounds Metropolitan Doha and funct ...

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 AFF U-19 Youth Championship 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 Iran national under-23 football team, also known as Iran U-23 or Iran Olympic Team; represents Iran in international football competitions in Olympic Games, Asian Games and AFC U-22 Asian Cup, as well as any other under-23 international footba ...

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 The 2014 Asian Games ( ko, 2014년 아시아 경기대회/2014년 아시안 게임, Icheon sip-sa nyeon Asia gyeonggi daehoe/Icheon sip-sa nyeon Asian Geim), officially known as the 17th Asian Games ( ko, 제17회 아시아 경기대회/제17회 ...

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

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 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 Emirat ...

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 Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

and Syria. 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 for the 2018 FIFA World Cup 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 t ...

, 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 F ...

. 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 Association football, footballer who plays as a Defender (association football), defender for Persian Gulf Pro League club S ...

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 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 ...

: 2017–18 *

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 ...

: 2021–22 *

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. I ...

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

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