Ali Karimi

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Persepolis Statistics

International career

Karimi made his debute for Iran national football team in October 1998 in a match against Kuwait. That same year, he won the Gold Medal with Iran at the 1998 Asian Games. He was also one of Iran's main players in its 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign.

Ali Karimi performed well at the 2004 Asian Cup, where he tied for most goals scored with five. Iran finished third in the overall tournament, behind Japan and China. Due to his strong performance during this tournament, Karimi was given the prestigious Asian Player of the Year award, joining his fellow Iranians, Mehdi Mahdavikia in 2003, Ali Daei in 1999, and Khodadad Azizi in 1996.

He is generally regarded as one of the best players in Iran, along with the Frankfurt rocket, Mehdi Mahdavikia, and Javad Nekounam of Osasuna. He showcased his skills in the Iran-Germany friendly game for Bam victims held in Azadi Stadium in Tehran in October 2004.

Coming off a serious thigh injury, Karimi had a wretched World Cup finals at Germany 2006, with many commentators singling him out as one of the key players who had failed to perform in the tournament. Short on fitness and form, he was unable to exert much influence on proceedings as the Iranians lost 1-3 to Mexico and 0-2 to Portugal. He was substituted in the second half of the Portugal game, and did not play in the 1-1 draw against Angola. Some argue that this was due to his protest to being substituted in the prior match, but Branko Ivankovic (Iran's manager at the time) and other members of the coaching staff have stated that Karimi was asked to go in as a substitute which he refused. He also played in 2007 Asian Cup but did not perform as good as before.He also won the 2004 West Asian Football Federation Championship with Team Melli.As of January 2008, he has 105 caps (2nd highest) and has scored 35 goals (3rd highest) for "Team Melli".

In May 2008, Karimi was banned from playing in the national team after he made numerous criticsms towards the IRIFF in the Ardebil training ground,cite web | url = http://www.iranproleague.net/news/Morenews.cfm?News=4024 | title = National team bans Ali Karimi | accessdate = 2008-05-26 | date = 2008-05-26 | publisher = www.iranproleague.net] but has been reinstated in the national squad after intervention from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5isDSzbZv3Y-IEf0XM83EkJlPWS_g] .

Awards and honours

Country

* FIFA World Cup
** Appearances and Goals: 2006 (0)

* AFC Asian Cup
** Appearances and goals: 2004 (Third Place) (5), 2007 (Quarter final)

* Asian Games
** 1998

* AFC/OFC Cup Challenge:1
** 2003

* West Asian Football Federation Championship
** 2004

Club

*Iranian championship: 2
** 1998/99, Persepolis
** 1999/00, Persepolis

*German championship: 1
** 2005/06, Bayern Munich

*UAE Cup: 2
** 2001/02, Al-Ahli
** 2003/04, Al-Ahli

*German Cup: 1
** 2005/06, Bayern Munich

*Iranian Cup: 1
** 1999/00, Persepolis

Individual

* Asian Footballer of the Year, 2004

References

External links

* [http://www.alikarimi8.com/english/index.php Official website]
* [http://www.ali-karimi.de German website]
* [http://www.teammelli.com/Roster/KarimiRoster.htm Ali Karimi] at [http://www.teammelli.com TeamMelli.com]
* [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/karimi-intl.html RSSSF archive of Ali Karimi's international appearances]