Ferydoon Zandi

:"Zandi" redirects here. For other notable persons with the last name Zandi, see Zandi (disambiguation)."Football player infobox
playername= Ferydoon Zandi


fullname = Ferydoon Zandi
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1979|4|26
cityofbirth = Emden
countryofbirth = West Germany
height = height|m=1.84
currentclub = Alki Larnaca
clubnumber = 7
position = Attacking midfielder/Left midfielder
youthyears = 1985-1988 1988-1992 1992-1993 1993-1995 1995-1998
youthclubs = Blau-Weiß Borssum SV Meppen SV Werder Bremen TuS Esens SV Meppen
years = 1998-2000 2000-2002 2002-2004 2004-2006 2006 2007 2008 2008-
clubs = SV Meppen SC Freiburg VfB Lübeck Kaiserslautern TuS Koblenz Apollon Limassol Olympiakos Nicosia Alki Larnaca
caps(goals) = 0600 (15) 0100 (0) 0540 (20) 0450 (6) 0080 (0) 0100 (2) 0090 (4) 001 0(1)
nationalyears = 1996
2005-Present
nationalteam = flagicon|Germany Germany U17
Fb|Iran
nationalcaps(goals) =
0230 (3)
pcupdate = 14 June 2008
ntupdate = 07 September 2008

Ferydoon Zandi (PerB|فريدون زندى, born April 26, 1979) is an Iranian-German football midfielder. He currently plays for Alki Larnaca in the Cypriot First Division. He also plays for the Iran national football team. He was born in Northern Germany in the small town of Emden to an Iranian father and German mother. He is a versatile player since he can play as an attacking midfielder and left midfielder as well as at left back.

Career

Being raised in Germany with the German language, Ferydoon started playing the game at an early age when his talent shone through his playing for a number of youth clubs in and near his hometown. He has shown a great talent for football.

He was called up for the German under-17 national football team and played for the SV Meppen before being signed by SC Freiburg. There, he failed to establish himself as a starter and was traded to the second-division club VfB Lübeck. After struggling again initially, Zandi spectacularly broke through and established himself as one of the most dangerous and versatile attackers of the Second Bundesliga. He regularly was one of the top scorers and assist givers.

After enjoying two successful seasons in Lübeck, he was signed by 1. FC Kaiserslautern in 2004 and given the number 10 to underline his importance. However, Zandi struggled with his form, arguably not helped by the fact that 1. FCK was then a club in flux, with a high turnover of players after heavy financial problems. He still managed to become a starter and score important goals, but the overall impression was that Zandi failed to live up to the expectations from his strong Lübeck stint.

In season 2005/06, Zandi's position further worsened. In a chaotic season in which 1. FCK spectacularly crashed to the end of the table, he lost his position as a starting playmaker, was benched for a longer period of time, and even had periods when he even failed to be nominated as a bench player at all. Trainer Wolfgang Wolf refused to play him in the second half of the season, and after the relegation of FCK, Zandi is confirmed to be cut from the squad. Also, Amir Ghalenoei, the new manager of Iran national football team, did not invite Ferydoon to the Iranian squad for the Asian Cup qualification games.

In September 2006, he signed a one-year contract with 2nd Bundesliga club TuS Koblenz, however in January 2007 Zandi left TuS Koblenz due to the limited number of appearance he made.

The "Team Melli" manager Amir Ghalenoei, in an interview with Deutsche Welle in November 2006, mentioned that Zandi is still under consideration, and if he finds an ideal situation for himself in his club, he will definitely be among those called up. [cite web |url=http://iransportspress.com/?c=118&a=3784|title=Ghaleh Noie: Zandi Is Still Under Consideration|publisher=IranSportsPress|accessdate=2006-11-09]

On January 2 2007, Zandi signed a contract till the end of the 2006-07 season with Apollon Limassol of Cyprus.

He was recalled to the national squad in March 2007 for a friendly against Qatar, [cite web|url=http://www.persianleague.com/news/Morenews.cfm?News=3342|title=Full-strength Iran for Qatar friendly|publisher=PersianLeague.com|accessdate=2007-07-16] included in the Asian Cup squad, and was featured for Iran in the friendly match against Mexico in June 2007.

On July 15 2007 he scored from a freekick for Iran in their 2-2 draw versus China in the 2007 Asian Cup.

Since Zandi's return from the 2007 AFC Asian Cup he has be linked with moves to Steaua Bucureşti, Rapid Bucureşti and Birmingham City. [cite web|url=http://revista_presei.rapidfans.ro/2007.07_iulie/30__31.htm|title=Ferydoon Zandi, aproape de un transfer în Giuleşti
rapidfans.ro|accessdate=2007-08-01]

On January 18 2008, he joined Olympiakos Nicosia.

On April 22 2008, Zandi signed Alki Larnaca for a one year contract.

International goals

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

Skill and potential

Zandi's strong points are his agility, creativity and superb ball passing and crossing skills. After the signing of Branko Ivankovic as head coach of Iran, he was asked to choose Iran over Germany. In the Iranian team, Zandi, being a left-footed skillful attacking player, was just what Ivankovic needed in his squad. After much doubt and rumours he eventually made the decision to play for Iran.

On June 8, 2005 Zandi was one of the starting players of Iran's World Cup qualifying game and 1-0 win against Bahrain, to book their place at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, which was ironically for Zandi held in none other than Germany.

Zandi has also shown heavy potential when taking free kicks. In Iran's 2-1 victory against Azerbaijan, Ferydoon Zandi shot a beautiful freekick that curved around the defensive wall and into the net, from a couple of meters outside the box. He has also scored a crucial goals in the AFC Asian Cup 2007 by scoring a beautiful free kick just before half time to keep Iran's hopes up against China.

However, Zandi's performances in the Iranian team was overshadowed by lackluster appearances in the Bundesliga, where he had failed to live up to his promise. It was hinted that the chaotic environment of perennial relegation candidate 1. FCK was numbing him, but Zandi was regarded as an unremarkable player on a failing squad. His second season half with 1. FCK was dismal, as he even failed to get nominated to a bench spot.

Whilst at Apollon, Zandi scored against Aris a fantastic corner-goal in their 2-1 win.

Accident

In 2005, Zandi was victim of a heavy traffic accident on a highway. When another car swerved to the left directly in front of him, Zandi had to evade and crashed into a lorry of the US Army. The lorry took heavy damage, and Zandi's car was utterly wrecked. Miraculously, Zandi made it out with minor injuries only. "Reference (in German) [http://www.fck.de/aktuell/news/profi/2005/03/zandi_unfall_070305.php"]

Notes

See also

* List of Asian footballers with foreign heritage

External links

* [http://www.zandi-news.coo.ir Latest news,goal downloads,information on Zandi]
* [http://www.teammelli.com/Roster/ZandiRoster.htm Ferydoon Zandi] at [http://www.teammelli.com TeamMelli.com]
* [http://www.ferydoon-zandi.de Official Website]