Ebrahim Sadeghi (, born 4 February 1979) is an Iranian football coach and retired

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who i ...

who played for

Saipa SAIPA (, ''SAIPA'') is an Iranian automaker headquartered in Tehran. The SAIPAC (an acronym for the French ''Société anonyme iranienne de production des automobiles Citroën'' lit. ''Iranian Limited Company for the Production of Citroën Autom ...

for 17 years. He is the manager of

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 ...

. Sadeghi has been playing for Saipa since 2000. In 2010, Saipa Cultural and Athletic Corporation celebrated a testimonial ceremony for him because of "his loyalty to the club", calling him ''The Orange Loyal''. He was also gifted a Saipa Tiba. On 13 December 2015, in a match against Esteghlal Ahvaz Sadeghi played his 400th league match for the club, becoming the only player in the history of the Persian Gulf Pro League to reach this feat. He retired on 4 May 2017 after playing 17 seasons at Saipa at the top flight.

Club career

Youth career

Sadeghi was born in

Karaj Karaj (; ) is a List of cities in Iran by province, city in the Central District (Karaj County), Central District of Karaj County, Alborz province, Alborz province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. Earl ...

, Iran. He joined Keshavarz at the age of thirteen and played at the club until 1995 where he was spotted by

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 ...

and joined their academy. After three years at Persepolis he joined Moghavemat Tehran before settling at Saipa a year later.

Saipa

Sadeghi graduated from the Saipa youth ranks and was signed to the club in 2000. He has played for

for his entire. His good performances since 2006–07 season made big clubs to show some interest on him. In 2008 Sadeghi was nominated for Asian Footballer of the Year, but failed to win the award. He played in

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club association football, football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's List of top-division football clubs i ...

for Saipa and continued to play for the club in 2008–09 season. In April 2008, Sadeghi was nominated for the 2008 Asian footballer of the year, as the sole Iranian player in the 21-player list of AFC.

International career

He made his first

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

for

Iran national football 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 ...

in January 2007 in a friendly match against the

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a federal elective monarchy made up of seven emirates, with Abu Dhabi serving as i ...

. He scored in his debut. He was selected among Iran's final squad participating in the 2007 Asian Cup. He has been called up for 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualifying. Sadeghi played in West Asian Football Federation Championship 2008 and won the cup.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Managerial statistics

Honours

;Saipa * Iran Pro League (1): 2006–07 ;Iran * WAFF Championship (1):

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sadeghi, Ebrahim 1979 births Footballers from Karaj Living people 21st-century Iranian sportsmen Men's association football midfielders Iranian men's footballers Iran men's international footballers Saipa F.C. players Persian Gulf Pro League players 2007 AFC Asian Cup players Iranian football managers Persian Gulf Pro League managers