Karim Bagheri

Infobox Football biography
playername = Karim Bagheri


fullname = Karim Bagheri
height = 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1974|2|24|df=yes
cityofbirth = Tabriz
countryofbirth = Iran
currentclub = Persepolis
clubnumber = 6
contractend =
position = Midfielder
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1992–1994
1994–1996
1996–1997
1997-2000
2000
2000–2001
2001–2002
2002–
clubs = Teraktor Sazi
Keshavarz
Persepolis
Arminia Bielefeld
Al-Nasr
Charlton Athletic
Al-Sadd
Persepolis
caps(goals) = 0200 (4) 0510 (6) 0010 (0) 1250 (15)
nationalyears = 1993–2001
nationalteam = Iran
nationalcaps(goals) = 0800 (47)
pcupdate = 3 October 2008
ntupdate = 09 August 2008

Karim Bagheri (PerB| کريم باقری , born February 24, 1974 in Tabriz) is a professional football player, currently playing for Persepolis F.C. in the Iran Pro League. Bagheri is one of the most famous Iranian footballers in the world and is often referred to as "Iranian Eric Cantona". He is known as a two-footed midfielder and is famous for his powerful and thundering long range shots and free kicks.

Club career

Early years

Bagheri began his football playing for his hometown club Teraktor Sazi F.C. where he impressed enough to land himself a contract with Keshavarz F.C.. On August 1, 1996 Bagheri was signed on free transfer by Iran's most famous and successful club, Persepolis F.C., there Bagheri enjoyed much success winning numerous titles and becoming a firm fan favorite. Numerous impressive displays ended up in Bagheri attracting attention from many European clubs and on August 1, 1997 a year after he signed a contract with Persepolis Bagheri signed with German Bundesliga side Arminia Bielefeld along with his fellow Iranian international Ali Daei.

Move to Europe

Bagheri's first season in Germany was not a huge success and the club was relegated to the 2nd Bundesliga. In his second season, he established himself as a starter playing in the libero position, helping the team make it back to the Bundesliga. He remained in Arminia for one more season, but returned to Persepolis again after problems with the coaching staff at Bielefeld, though Persepolis loaned him to Al-Nasr in the UAE. At that time English clubs were interested in Bagheri and Charlton Athletic of the Premiership quickly signed him for an initial fee of £400,000. He had very little success there, only playing 15 minutes during the entire season. He then moved to Al Sadd in Qatar.

Persepolis return

In 2002 he decided to return to Persepolis once again. In September 2006, many thought he had been released from the team after arguments with management and staff over the club's financial commitments and unpaid wages. Bagheri instead was disciplined but remained on the team. Bagheri has since then established himself as one of the greatest icons of Persepolis and many compare his popularity with Ali Parvin. In 2007-2008 season he captained the team to glory in the IPL after a 6 year drought.

Persepolis Statistics

International career

He was first invited to Iranian national team during the 1994 World Cup qualifers, making his debut versus Pakistan on June 6, 1993. He displayed great football and soon became a starter for Iran in the midfield.

He became famous though for sparking Iran's comeback against Australia in the second leg of their 1998 World Cup qualifier in 1997. He scored the first of two goals that brought new light on what seemed to be an already dark 2-0 defeat and sprung Iran back to tie the game 2-2 and eventually become the last team to qualify for the World Cup. Bagheri also had one of the strongest right-legged shots and scored many fantastic goals against opponents, such as his game-tying goal against South Korea in the quarter finals of the 2000 Asian Cup in Lebanon. He retired from the Iranian national team after its failure to qualify for World Cup 2002. He was called up to the national team again soon after World Cup 2006, but said he would not participate as he is retired from international football and has no plans on returning to it. [cite web
title=fa icon کریم باقری برای همیشه از تیم ملی خداحافظی کرد/ باقری: می روم تا جا برای جوانان باز شود
url=http://www.mehrnews.ir/fa/NewsPrint.aspx?NewsID=356549
publisher=Mehr News Agency
accessdate=2006-07-22] .

On June 2, 1997 he scored seven times against the Maldive Isles, and equalled the record for the most goals scored in a World Cup match, which was held by the Australian Gary Cole since 1981. Their joint record was broken on April 11, 2001 when another Australian, Archie Thompson scored 13 goals against American Samoa. [cite web
title= Australia 31 - American Samoa 0
url=http://www.ozfootball.net/ark/Socceroo/reports/vAS2001f.html
publisher=Ozfootball
accessdate=2008-06-19] .

He was named the world's second top goal scorer in official international matches by International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS), having scored 20 goals for Iran in 1997. [cite web
title=Top 10 International Goal Scorers - 1997
url=http://www.iffhs.de/?e4380bfd300bf17420d87452db2d0ae43304f33e00e4685caf6e
publisher=IFFHS
accessdate=2006-07-22] . He has 80 caps for his national team and has scored 47 goals for "Team Melli".

On October 9, 2008 Team Melli coach Ali Daei stated that because of Andranik Teymourian's injury Bagheri will be called up for the national team once again [cite web
title=fa icon علي دايي: کريم باقري را به تيم ملي دعوت مي کنم
url=http://isna.ir/ISNA/NewsView.aspx?ID=News-1211810
publisher=ISNA
accessdate=2008-08-09] .

Honours

Country

*FIFA World Cup
**1998, Group Stage
***Appearances and Goals: (3 matches, 0 goals)
*AFC Asian Cup
**1996, Third Place
***Appearances and goals: (6 matches, 2 goals)
**2000, Quarterfinals
***Appearances and goals: (4 matches, 2 goals)
*Asian Games
**1994, Group Stage
***Appearances and goals: (4 matches, 0 goals)
**1998, Champions
***Appearances and goals: (7 matches, 3 goals)

Club

*Iran's Azadegan Football League Winner: 1
**1996/97 with Persepolis
*Iran's Premier Football League Winner: 1
**2007/08 with Persepolis
*Hazfi Cup:
**Runner up: 1
***2006 with Persepolis

Individual

*Football Iran News & Events
**Midfielder of the year (2007/08)

*Iran Football Federation Award
**Player of the year (2007/08)

Notes

External links

* [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/bagheri-intlg.html RSSSF archive of Karim Bagheri's international appearances and goals]