Ali Shafizadeh () is an Iranian businessman.

Business career

Esteghlal Ahvaz

He is the owner of

Iran's Premier Football League The Persian Gulf Pro League (, ''Lig-e Bartar-e Xalij-e Fârs''), formerly known as the Iran Premier League (, ''Lig-e bartar-e Irân''), is a professional association football league in Iran and the highest level of the Iranian football league s ...

club Esteghlal Ahvaz F.C. who he bought in 2002. Over the years he has bought numerous players for substantial fees, including

Adriano Alves Adriano Leonardo Alves (born January 5, 1977) is a retired Brazilian footballer. He was the first Brazilian to play in Iranian Football, where he played in the Premier Football League for eight seasons. Club career Alves started his career ...

Abdul-Wahab Abu Al-Hail Abdul-Wahab Abu Al-Hail Labid Al-Zirjawi (; born 21 December 1975) is an Iraqi professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of the Iraqi Women's National team Club career Abu Al-Hail started his career by playing for Al- ...

and Saša Ilić, and coaches such as Croatian

Luka Bonačić Luka Bonačić (; born 21 March 1955) is a Croatian football coach and former professional player. Early life He was born in Split, Croatia that was then part of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. He began his football career at the Spli ...

and

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * Pertaining to Serbia in Southeast Europe; in particular **Serbs, a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans ** Serbian language ** Serbian culture **Demographics of Serbia, includes other ethnic groups within the co ...

Srđan Gemaljević Srđan Gemaljević (Serbian Cyrillic: Срђан Гемаљевић; born 20 July 1960) is a Serbian football coach and former player. He is assistant coach at Schwarz-Weiß Bregenz. References External links * http://www.srdangemaljevic.com ...

. In 2004 Shafizadeh put a $5 million unsuccessful bid to bring

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

ian superstar

Rivaldo Rivaldo Vítor Borba Ferreira (; born 19 April 1972), known simply as Rivaldo, is a Brazilian former footballer who played mainly as an attacking midfielder but also as a second striker, and on occasion deployed as a wide midfielder or as ...

to the Takhti Stadium. Shafizadeh sparked much controversy on February 15, 2007 when he announced Esteghlal Ahvaz F.C. were to withdraw from IPL. However, the team appeared two days later in a league match against

Persepolis F.C. Persepolis Football Club () is an Iranian professional football club based in Tehran that competes in the Persian Gulf Pro League. Persepolis F.C. is the football club of the multisport Persepolis Athletic and Cultural Club. The club was ...

which ended 1-0 to

Esteghlal Ahvaz Esteghlal Ahvaz Football Club (, ''Bashgah-e Futbal-e Esteqlâl Ahvaz''), commonly known as Esteghlal Ahvaz, was an Iranian football club based in Ahvaz, Khuzestan, that competed in the khuzestan province league The club was founded in 1948 as Taj ...

, dismissing these claims and led people to believe it was all tactical games before one of the biggest games of their season versus Persepolis.

Esteghlal Kish

Shafizadeh also owned the

Azadegan League The Azadegan League (, ''Lig-e Âzâdegân''), also known as League 1 (, ''Lig-e Yek''), is the second highest division of professional football in Iran. It was the top-level football league in Iran from its foundation in 1991 until 2001, when t ...

club

Esteghlal Kish F.C. Esteghlal or Esteqlal () is a Persian word meaning ''independence''. It is used as a prefix by many Iranian association football clubs and Armenian football clubs. This includes: * Esteghlal F.C. – Iranian football club * Esteghlal Ahvaz F.C. – ...

, which is based in

Kish Island Kish ( ) is a resort island in Bandar Lengeh County, Hormozgan Province, off the southern coast of Iran in the Gulf. The island constitutes the city of Kish, Iran, Kish. Owing to its free trade zone status, the island is marketed as a consumers ...

in the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

, from 2002 to 2006, until it was bought by Shahrdari Bandar Abbas F.C.

Notes

Iranian businesspeople Iranian football chairmen and investors Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Iranian sports executives and administrators {{Iran-business-bio-stub