Poya Asbaghi (; ; born 17 July 1985) is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager who was most recently the head coach of

Qatar Stars League The Qatar Stars League (; abbreviated as QSL), known as Ooredoo Stars League for sponsorship reasons, is the top level football league in Qatar football league system. Contested by 12 teams, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation wi ...

side Al-Rayyan.

Early life

Asbaghi has stated that his family fled from Iran when he was one year old because of political persecution and for being advocates of freedom and opponents of the Islamic regime. He grew up in

Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...

where his parents lived as of June 2020.

Managerial career

Dalkurd FF

During Asbaghi's time as assistant manager of Swedish side Dalkurd FF, he and his team narrowly avoided embarking on

Germanwings Flight 9525 Germanwings Flight 9525 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Barcelona–El Prat Airport in Spain to Düsseldorf Airport in Germany. The flight was operated by Germanwings, a low-cost carrier owned by the German airline Luftha ...

in their scheduled return trip from Barcelona.

IFK Göteborg

Asbaghi was appointed as manager of Swedish

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

side

IFK Göteborg Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Göteborg (officially IFK Göteborg Fotboll), commonly known as IFK Göteborg, IFK (especially locally) or Blåvitt, is a Swedish professional Football team, football club based in Gothenburg. Founded in 1904, it ...

before the start of the

2018 Allsvenskan The 2018 Allsvenskan, part of the 2018 Swedish football season, was the 94th season of Allsvenskan since its establishment in 1924. A total of 16 teams participated. As the 2018 FIFA World Cup will start on 14 June, the last round before stoppag ...

season. On 25 July 2019, IFK extended his contract until 2022. After the

2019 season Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * '' 19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * '' Dici ...

, Poya Asbaghi was nominated as the manager of the year in Allsvenskan. He was subsequently offered the manager role at English

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

side

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

which he turned down. Asbaghi led Göteborg to the 2019–20 Swedish Cup final after a win over

IF Elfsborg Idrottsföreningen Elfsborg, more commonly known as IF Elfsborg or simply Elfsborg (), is a professional association football, football club based in Borås, Sweden, and is affiliated to the Västergötlands Fotbollförbund. They play in the Alls ...

on 9 July 2020. On 30 July 2020, Asbaghi and Göteborg won the 2020 Swedish Cup Final after a 2–1 extra time win over

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening (), commonly known simply as Malmö FF or MFF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Malmö, Scania. They compete in the Allsvenskan, the top division of Swedish football, and play home matches at the Eleda S ...

, qualifying the team to the

2020–21 UEFA Europa League The 2020–21 UEFA Europa League was the 50th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 12th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. Villarreal defeated Manchester United i ...

qualifying rounds. Asbaghi was relieved of his duties on 3 September 2020 during the 2020 season.

Sweden U21

On 24 November 2020, Asbaghi was appointed as manager of the Sweden U21 national team, with his contract running until summer 2023. He left in November 2021 to join

as their new head coach.

Barnsley

In November 2021, Asbaghi was appointed head coach of bottom side

club Barnsley after the sacking of former head coach Markus Schopp who had lost seven games in a row. Ferran Sibila became Asbaghi's assistant. Following relegation to League One for the 2022–23 season, Asbaghi left

by mutual agreement.

Red Star Belgrade

In September 2022, Asbaghi became assistant manager of

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

alongside manager Miloš Milojević. In April 2023, Asbaghi and Milojević became champions of the 2022–23 Serbian SuperLiga. In May 2023, Asbaghi and Red Star won the

Serbian Cup The Serbian Cup ( Serbian: Куп Србије / Kup Srbije), also known as Mozzart Serbian Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the national football cup of Serbia. The winner of the competition gets a spot in the UEFA Europa League qualifying round. ...

during Red Star's 2022–23 season.

Managerial record

Managerial record by team and tenure

Honours

IFK Göteborg *

Svenska Cupen Svenska cupen (, ), also known as the Swedish Cup in English, is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. ''Svenska cupen'' usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also ...

: 2019–20 Red Star Belgrade *

Serbian SuperLiga The Serbian Super League (), also known as Mozzart SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Serbia and the highest level of the Serbian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a sys ...

: 2022–23 *

: 2022–23

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Asbaghi, Poya Living people 1985 births People from Karaj People from Uppsala Iranian football managers Swedish football managers Iranian emigrants to Sweden Sportspeople of Iranian descent Dalkurd FF managers Gefle IF managers IFK Göteborg managers Barnsley F.C. managers Al-Shamal SC managers Qatar Stars League managers Red Star Belgrade non-playing staff Iranian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in England Expatriate football managers in Serbia Expatriate football managers in Qatar Swedish expatriate sportspeople in England Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Serbia Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Sweden national under-21 football team managers