Amir Abedzadeh (; born 26 April 1993), known as Amir, is an Iranian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for club

CD Castellón Club Deportivo Castellón, S.A.D. is a professional List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Castellón de la Plana, in the Valencian Community. Founded on 20 July 1922, it currently plays in , holding home games at ''Nou E ...

and the

Iranian national team The Iran national football team (), recognised as IR Iran by FIFA since 2018, represents Iran in men's international senior Association football, football and is governed by the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran (FFIRI). At the cont ...

Club career

Youth teams

Abedzadeh was a member of the

Persepolis Persepolis (; ; ) was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire (). It is situated in the plains of Marvdasht, encircled by the southern Zagros mountains, Fars province of Iran. It is one of the key Iranian cultural heritage sites and ...

Youth Academy from 2006 to 2007, having previously trained under his father since he was 7. He moved to the United Kingdom at the age of 15, and after spending two months with the third-tier outfit of

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

Amir Abedzadeh: Filling the Shoes
. 31 May 2011 – USL PRO (USL PRO) Los Angeles Blues and taking part in a trial with

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, he joined

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

's academy team in 2009. Abezadeh left Tottenham in the same year, following their signing of Italian goalkeeper Mirko Ranieri. During his time in the UK, Abedzadeh also played for amateur youth teams Dinamo Dorigo,

London Tigers The London Tigers were a professional Double-A Minor League Baseball team that played in the Eastern League from 1989 to 1993. They played at Labatt Memorial Park in London, Ontario, and were affiliated with the Detroit Tigers. At the time, it ...

,Aftab
and Persian FC, the latter of the G.E. Roberts Enfield Football Alliance League.

United States

Abedzadeh was unable to obtain a work permit in UK and after briefly returning to Iran and training with

Iran Pro 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 ...

side

Steel Azin Steel Azin Football Club (, ''Bashgah-e Futbal-e Estil Âzin'') was an Iranian football club based in Tehran, Iran. The club was owned by Hossein Hedayati, owner of Steel Azin Iranian Holding Co. Steel Azin club also had a volleyball team, spo ...

, where his father was a coach, to keep himself on form, he moved to the United States in 2011, and signed for the

Los Angeles Blues Orange County Soccer Club is an American soccer team based in the Orange County, California city of Irvine. Founded in 2010 as the Los Angeles Blues, the team currently plays in the Western Conference of the USL Championship, the second tier ...

in the

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the second tier of the United States soccer league system#Men's leagues, United States league system. It is organized by the United Soccer League (USL) a ...

, where his father was an assistant coach. He made his debut on 7 June 2011, playing for Los Angeles Blues U-23 (LA Blues' reserve team) in a

USL Premier Development League USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States, forming part of the United States soccer league system. The league will featu ...

game against

Orange County Blue Star Orange County Blue Star was an amateur American soccer team based in Irvine, California. Founded in 1997, the team played in the USL Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, in the Southwest Division of th ...

. He made eight saves but conceded five goals, and was also shown a yellow card. In 2012, he had the option to join

Chivas USA Chivas USA (pronounced ''CHEE-vahs'') was an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The club competed in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conf ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

, but he decided to extend his contract with the Blues.

Persepolis

Abedzadeh signed a three-year contract with

on 15 July 2012. He played for Persepolis U21 in AFC Vision Asia U-21 Tehran Premier League. He scored a goal for Persepolis U21 in game with Niroye Zamini U21. Abedzadeh left the Persepolis in 2014 and without playing a single game for the club.

Rah Ahan

On 3 July 2014, Abedzadeh joined

Rah Ahan Rah Ahan Sports Club (, ''Bashgah-e Vârzeshi-ye Rahâhen''), commonly known as Rah Ahan Football Club, was an Iranian professional football club based in Tehran. They last played in the Azadegan League. Rah Ahan is one of the oldest Iranian foot ...

with signing a four-year contract. He worked under the supervision of his father,

Ahmad Reza Abedzadeh Ahmadreza Abedzadeh (, born 25 May 1966) is an Iranian former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played for Esteghlal, Sepahan, Persepolis and the Iranian national team. He made 73 appearances for Iran, and played for his country at the ...

who also worked at Rah Ahan as goalkeeping coach. He played his first professional match on 19 September 2014 against his former team

, where he came in as a substitute of injured Igor Nenezić in 34th minute. He was released by Rah Ahan at the end of the 2014–15 season.

Marítimo

Abedzadeh signed with Portuguese

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

club Marítimo on 23 January 2017 after good performances with Barreirense in the Campeonato de Portugal. He became the second Iranian goalkeeper to sign for the club after

Alireza Haghighi Alireza Haghighi (; born 6 May 1988) is an Iranian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Kheybar. Club career Persepolis Having joined the senior squad of Persepolis at the age of 16, he made his debut in the match against Saip ...

who played for the club in 2016. He made his first appearance in September 2017 in a Portuguese League Cup match. He made his

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; ) is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

debut on 14 October 2017 in a third round match against União Torcatense. Abedzadeh kept a clean sheet and was named Man of the Match, as Marítimo won the match 1–0.

Ponferradina

Abedzadeh joined

SD Ponferradina Sociedad Deportiva Ponferradina, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Ponferrada, in the El Bierzo region, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 7 June 1922, it plays in Primera Federación - Group 1, holding home ma ...

on 7 July 2021 making him the first Iranian to play for the club.

Return to Marítimo

On 30 August 2023, Marítimo, who had been relegated to the

Liga Portugal 2 The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal Meu Super for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division of the Portuguese football league system. At the end of each season, the two top-finishing teams are promoted to the top-tier Pr ...

the previous season, announced the signing of Abedzadeh.

Castellón

On 16 July 2024, Abedzadeh joined Spanish

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

club

International career

Amir Abedzadeh in training with Iran olympic team

Abedzadeh was once called up to

Iran national under-17 football team The Iran national under-17 football team, more commonly known as ''Nojavanan'', is controlled by the Iran Football Federation and represents Iran in international under-17 football competitions. Tournament records FIFA U-17 World Cup AFC U-1 ...

's camp for

2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the thirteenth tournament of the FIFA U-17 World Cup held in Nigeria from 24 October to 15 November 2009. Switzerland national under-17 football team, Switzerland won the tournament, beating the host team and holde ...

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 ...

, but never invited again. About his playing probability in

Iran national under-23 football team 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 ...

, Abedzadeh said: "Again, they told me that they wanted to take the players who have been together for a long time and know each other well... They also explained that if we should qualify, they are going to call in and examine new players . So hopefully they can beat Iraq and qualify for

the Olympics The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competiti ...

, and hopefully I'll get my chance then. I think the problem is that I was in England for the past four years and that they weren't able to watch me play as much as the local players. That has been pretty disappointing for me." Abedzadeh was part of Iran's team for in 2014 AFC U-22 Championship, but he did not play any match. In 2015, he was invited to Olympic team for

2016 AFC U-23 Championship qualification The 2016 AFC U-23 Championship qualification was a men's under-23 association football, football competition which decided the participating teams of the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship. Players born on or after 1 January 1993 were eligible to compete ...

Senior

On 5 November 2017, Abedzadeh was called into the

Iran national team Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

for the first time for friendlies against

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

and

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

. In June 2018, he was named in Iran's final squad for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

in Russia. He made his debut against

Uzbekistan , image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg , image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg , symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem , national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...

on 19 May 2018.

Personal life

He is the son of former Iranian national team legendary goalkeeper

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Statistics accurate as of match played 23 September 2022 .''

Honours

Persepolis *

runner-up: 2013–14 *

Hazfi Cup Hazfi Cup (, ) formerly known as Pahlavi Cup () is an Iranian knockout football competition held annually by the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran. The Iranian Football League, Iranian football league was not held during the 1980s, h ...

runner-up:

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

Iran U-23 *

WAFF U-23 Championship The WAFF U-23 Championship () is an annual international football competition organised by the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) for the men's under-23 national teams of West Asia. Results Teams reaching the top four * Results from host ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Abedzadeh, Amir 1993 births Living people Footballers from Tehran Iranian men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Orange County SC players OC Pateadores Blues players Persepolis F.C. players Rah Ahan Tehran F.C. players F.C. Barreirense players C.S. Marítimo players SD Ponferradina players CD Castellón footballers USL League Two players USL Championship players Persian Gulf Pro League players Campeonato de Portugal (league) players Primeira Liga players Segunda División players Iran men's international footballers 2018 FIFA World Cup players 2019 AFC Asian Cup players 2022 FIFA World Cup players Iranian expatriate men's footballers Iranian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England Iranian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Iranian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Iranian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Spain 21st-century Iranian sportsmen