Firouz Karimi (, born 13 April 1958) is an

Iranian Iranian () may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Iran ** Iranian diaspora, Iranians living outside Iran ** Iranian architecture, architecture of Iran and parts of the rest of West Asia ** Iranian cuisine, cooking traditions and practic ...

football

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

and former player.

Early life

Firouz Karimi was born on 13 April 1958 in

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

Iran 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 ...

Playing career

He began playing football in Shahrbani F.C. in 1970 and joined

Pas Tehran Pas Tehran Football Club (, ''Bashgah-e Futbal-e Pas Tehran'') was an Iranian football club based in Tehran, Iran. Pas F.C. was the football club of the multisport Pas Cultural and Sports Club. The club has a long and rich history and has alwa ...

in 1976. He won the

Takht Jamshid Cup The Takht Jamshid Cup (, Jâm-e Taxt-e Jamšid) was a national football league based in Iran which lasted from 1974 to 1979. The league was named after ''Takht-e Jamshid'', the Iranian name for the ancient city known as Persepolis. Hi ...

twice with Pas. He left Pas in 1981 and joined

Sarbaz Sarbaz () is a city in the Central District of Sarbaz County, Sistan and Baluchestan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. Demographics Language and ethnicity The overwhelming majority of the city's inhab ...

but returned to Pas in 1984. He was also invited to the

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 1980 but never played for the national team. He retired in 1984.

Coaching career

He was selected as head coach of

in 1989. He could bring the team from 2nd Division to 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 ...

in 1990. He won the 1991–92 and 1992–93 seasons and brought the

Asian Club Championship The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious cl ...

for the team in 1993. He resigned after it and was appointed as

Sepahan Foolad Mobarakeh Sepahan Sport Club (, ''Bâšgâh-e Farhangi-Varzeši-ye Fulâd-e Mobârake-ye Sepâhân''), commonly known as Sepahan, is an Iranian sports club based in Isfahan. It is best known for their football section that play in the P ...

head coach later. He was sacked by the club in 1994 and became the head coach of

Bahman Bahman (, ) is the eleventh and penultimate month of the Solar Hijri calendar, the official calendar of Iran and Afghanistan. Bahman has thirty days. It begins in January and ends in February of the Gregorian calendar. The month is equivalent to ...

going on to win the

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 ...

one year later. He was re-appointed as head coach of Pas in 1996 for one season. After these events, Polyacryl Esfahan signed a contract with Karimi but resigned after bad results. He was also head coach of

Tabriz Tabriz (; ) is a city in the Central District (Tabriz County), Central District of Tabriz County, in the East Azerbaijan province, East Azerbaijan province of northwestern Iran. It serves as capital of the province, the county, and the distric ...

based

Tractor Sazi Tractor Cultural Sports Club (, ''Bâšgâh-e Farhangi Varzeši-ye Terâktor''), commonly known as Tractor, formerly Tractor Sazi, is an Iranian professional football club based in Tabriz, East Azerbaijan, that competes in the Persian Gulf Pro ...

from 1998 to 1999. He became head coach of

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 ...

in 1999 and led the team until 2000. He was manager of

Aboomoslem Football Club Abu Muslim (, ''Bashgah-e Futbal-e Abumislâm-e Xorasan''), commonly known as Abu Muslim, is an Iranian football club based in Mashhad, Razavi Khorasan, that competes in the League 3. The club was founded in 1970 and is named aft ...

for just six months in 2000 and was again selected to be Esteghlal Ahvaz's head coach in 2001. He resigned as head coach Esteghlal Ahvaz to become the head coach of PAS for a third spell.

Shahab Zanjan Shahdari Zanjan Football Club was an Iranian Football (soccer), football club based in Zanjan (city), Zanjan, Iran. This team was donated by the Iran national football team, Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Iran and started its acti ...

and

was his next teams. He was appointed as

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 ...

head coach in June 2004. He led the team in two seasons and was sacked in February 2006. He was again appointed as Esteghlal Ahvaz head coach in June 2006. After the resignation of

Nasser Hejazi Nasser Hejazi (Persian: ناصر حجازی, ''nāser hejāzi''; 14 December 1949 – 23 May 2011), nicknamed "the legendary Iranian goalkeeper", was an Iranian football player and coach who most notably played for Esteghlal (Taj). Considered ...

as head coach of Esteghlal, he became head coach of Esteghlal in November 2007 who, under his management, were ranked 13th. This was regarded as a bad result for the team in the history of Esteghlal. He resigned in May 2008 and was appointed as head coach of

Saba Battery Saba Battery Club (also Saba Battery Physical and Cultural Gym) is an Iranian sports club based in Tehran, Iran. The club was founded in 2002 . Teams * Saba Battery Football Club, competing in the Iran Pro League The Persian Gulf Pro League (, ...

in July 2008. He was sacked by the club in June 2009. After it he signed a contract with

side

Damash Gilan Sport Club Damash Guilan (, ''Bashgah-e Vârzeshi-ye Damash Guilân''), commonly known as Damash Guilan sc, also spelled Damash Guilan, is an Iranian football club based in Rasht, Guilan, that competes in the Azadegan League. The club was founde ...

in July 2009 but resigned after the team failed to get promoted to the

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 ...

in the play-off. He became head coach of Shahin Bushehr on 6 October 2011 after

Hamid Derakhshan Hamid Reza Derakhshan (; born 23 January 1959) is an Iranian former professional football player and now manager who last managed Saipa in Azadegan League. Derakhshan played as a midfielder for a number of clubs, most notably Persepolis, as wel ...

's departure.Derakhshan left Shahin, Karimi became new head coach
/ref> He led the Shahin to the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

of the

2011–12 Hazfi Cup The 2011–12 Hazfi Cup was the 25th season of the Iranian football knockout competition. Persepolis were the defending champion but were eliminated by Esteghlal in the quarter-finals. This was the fourth consecutive win for Esteghlal against Per ...

but, after bad results in the league, he was fired by the club. On 27 January 2013, he became head coach of

Paykan The Paykan ( meaning ''Arrow'') is the first Iranian-made car produced by Iran Khodro, between 1967 and 2005. The car, formerly called "Iran National", is a licensed version of the British Rootes Arrow (Hillman Hunter) and was very popular i ...

but his side was relegated to the

at the end of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

. In May 2013, Karimi was fired by Paykan and was replaced by

Farhad Kazemi Farhad Kazemi (; born 2 July 1959 in Tehran) is an Iranian football coach and a former footballer who played as a forward. With many professional clubs in his résumé, Kazemi has established himself as one of the top coaches in a country which ...

. Subsequently he was named as manager of Zob Ahan. He saved the club from relegation, however, he left the club at the end of the season after not agreeing on a new contract. On 6 December 2014, Karimi became head coach of

Malavan Malavan Bandar Anzali Football Club (, ''Bāšgāh-e Futbāl-e Malavān-e Bandar-e Anzali'') is an Iranian football club based in Bandar-e Anzali, Iran. It currently won Iran's second league, the Azadegan League and came back to Persian Gulf P ...

Statistics

Honours

As player

;Pas Tehran *

(2): 1976–77, 1977–78

As manager

;Pas Tehran *

(2): 1991–92, 1992–93 *

AFC Champions League Elite 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 ...

(1):

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

;Bahman *

(1): 1994–95

References

External links

Firouz Karimi
at Soccerway * {{DEFAULTSORT:Karimi, Firouz Iranian men's footballers Iranian football managers Living people Sepahan S.C. managers Esteghlal F.C. managers S.C. Damash Gilan managers 1956 births Paykan F.C. managers Tractor S.C. managers Saba Qom F.C. managers Men's association football defenders Sanat Naft Abadan F.C. managers Persian Gulf Pro League managers Shahin Bushehr F.C. managers Malavan F.C. managers Footballers from Tehran