Rouzbeh Cheshmi (; born 24 June 1993) 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

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

or a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for

Esteghlal FC Esteghlal Football Club (استقلال), commonly known as Esteghlal (meaning 'The Independence'), is the oldest Iranian professional football club based in Tehran that competes in the Persian Gulf Pro League. The club was founded in 1945 as 'T ...

in the Persian Gulf League League and 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 ...

Early life

Cheshmi was born 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. ...

to a family originally from

Chesham Chesham ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, United Kingdom, south-east of the county town of Aylesbury, about north-west of Charing Cross, central London, and part of the London metropolitan area, London ...

Sabzevar Sabzevar (; ) is a city in northeastern Iran. It is located in the Central District (Sabzevar County), Central District of Sabzevar County, Razavi Khorasan province, Razavi Khorasan province, serving as the capital of both the county and the ...

Club career

Early career

Cheshmi began his career with

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 ...

, before moving to

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 ...

in 2008. In 2011, he was loaned to Moghavemat Tehran to complete his mandatory military service. In 2013, Cheshmi handed a transfer request after

Ali Daei Ali Daei ( ; born 21 March 1969) is an Iranian Association football, football manager and former professional footballer. A Striker (association football), striker, he was the captain (association football), captain of the Iran national footbal ...

asked him to have a trial with Persepolis' senior team and moved to Saba Qom. In his first season with Saba, Cheshmi made 25 appearances and scored one goal.

Esteghlal

Cheshmi signed a two-year deal with Esteghlal on 30 June 2015. He later revealed that he down offers from a

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

club to join Esteghlal. Upon his arrival, he chose to wear number 4 which was previously worn by

Amir Hossein Sadeghi Amir Hossein Sadeghi (, born September 6, 1981) is an Iranian former association football, football player who played in the Iran's Premier Football League throughout his career. He played as a defender (association football), defender, usually a ...

Cheshmi made his debut for Esteghlal on 30 July 2015 against Siah Jamegan. On 3 March 2015, he torn his Cruciate ligament in a match against Padideh which caused him to miss the rest of the season. It was also reported that he will miss the first half of 2016–17 season and the team coach

Alireza Mansourian Alireza Mansourian (; born 2 December 1971) is an Iranian association football, football coach and retired player. Club career Mansourian was born in Tehran. During his career, he played for Singapore S.League clubs: Balestier Khalsa FC, Balesti ...

decided to exclude his name from Esteghlal's list for the first half of the season and was reported that he would return to the squad in January. On 29 June 2016, he signed a 3-year contract extension with Esteghlal. He returned to training on 30 December 2016. However, due to the club's transfer ban which did not allow it to register any new players, Esteghlal could not include his name in their squad for the rest of season and meant that he would not be able to play for Esteghlal until the end of the season. Cheshmi scored his first goal for the club against Zob Ahan in a 1–1 draw on 20 September 2017. On 13 February 2018, Cheshmi made his

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 ...

debut in a 2–2 group stage draw with Qatari club

Al-Rayyan Al Rayyan (; also spelled ''Ar Rayyan'') is the third-largest municipalities of Qatar, municipality in Qatar. Its primary settlement is the Al Rayyan (city), city of the same name, which occupies the entire eastern section and is a part of the Do ...

International career

U17

He played 3 games at the 2010 Asian U16 Championships.

U20

He is part of Iran U–20 during

2012 AFC U-19 Championship qualification The qualification for the 2012 AFC U-19 Championship. Format The teams have been divided into two zones – West (23) and East (16). The teams will be divided into seven groups of six and five teams each. West Zone will have three groups of six ...

2012 CIS Cup 2012 Commonwealth of Independent States Cup was the 20th annual Commonwealth of Independent States Cup since its establishment in 1993. It was hosted in Saint Petersburg, Russia between 19 and 29 January 2012. Saint Petersburg hosted the event fo ...

2012 AFF U-19 Youth Championship The 2012 AFF U-19 Youth Championship was held from 2 to 8 September 2012, hosted by Vietnam. All games were played at the Thong Nhat Stadium in Ho Chi Minh City. Vietnam and Thailand were due to represent the AFF but Thailand withdrew and were re ...

and

2012 AFC U-19 Championship The 2012 AFC U-19 Championship is the 37th edition of the tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation. The AFC approved UAE as hosts of the 2012 AFC U-19 Championship on 23 November 2011.

U23

He invited to Iran U-23 training camp by

Nelo Vingada Eduardo Manuel "Nelo" Martinho Bragança de Vingada (born 30 March 1953) is a Portuguese football manager and former footballer. Managerial career Early years Vingada was born in Serpa. His first steps as a professional football manager were ...

to preparation for Incheon 2014 and 2016 AFC U-22 Championship (Summer Olympic qualification). He named in Iran U23 final list for Incheon 2014.

Senior

2018 FIFA World Cup Group B march IRN-MAR 25

Cheshmi was called up for the first time for the Iran senior team in August 2017 by coach

Carlos Queiroz Carlos Manuel Brito Leal de Queiroz (; born 1 March 1953) is a Portuguese football manager. He has served as the manager of his native Portugal's national team, the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Iran, Colombia, Egypt and Qatar, leading ...

for Iran's 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

and

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

. He made his official debut as a substitute in 0–0 draw against

on 31 August 2017. In May 2018, Cheshmi was named in Iran's preliminary

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of Military organization, military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and United States, U.S. doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a fireteam, ...

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 in the competition on 15 June, playing the whole 90 minutes of the 1–0 group stage win against

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

, helping his team to win their first World Cup match since 1998. After helping Iran to keep a clean sheet in their opening win over Morocco, the World Cup turned out to be a personal disappointment for him, as he suffered an injury during training session prior the game against the

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, which ruled him out of the competition. Cheshmi was also selected for

2019 AFC Asian Cup The 2019 AFC Asian Cup (or commonly called the Asian Cup 2019) was the 17th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international association football, football championship of Asia organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) ...

. He was in the initial lineup during the match of the 2022 Qatar World Cup against England. He scored the winning goal in the match against

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

in injury time, before

Ramin Rezaeian Ramin Rezaeian Semeskandi (; born 21 March 1990) is an Iranian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Persian Gulf Pro League club Esteghlal and the Iran national team. He started his career as a right-back, but he often plays as ...

doubled the lead minutes later, thus giving Iran their first victory against a European team at the World Cup.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

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

Honours

Esteghlal *

Persian Gulf 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 ...

: 2021–22 *

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 ...

: 2017–18 , 2024–25 *

Iranian Super Cup The Iranian Super Cup (Persian language, Persian: سوپر جام ایران, ''Super Jam-e 'Iran'') is an Iranian association football trophy awarded to the winner of a match between the Persian Gulf Pro League's season champion and the winner of ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Iran *

CAFA Nations Cup The CAFA Nations Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Central Asian Football Association (CAFA), the governing body of football in Central Asia. History Inau ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

Individuals

All-Star Squad:

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

*Iran vs Wales Man of the match in World Cup 2022

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cheshmi, Rouzbeh Iranian men's footballers 1993 births Living people Esteghlal F.C. players Saba Qom F.C. players Umm Salal SC players Persian Gulf Pro League players Qatar Stars League players People from Sabzevar Sportspeople from Razavi Khorasan province Iran men's under-20 international footballers Men's association football defenders Footballers at the 2014 Asian Games 2018 FIFA World Cup players Iran men's international footballers Iranian expatriate men's footballers 2019 AFC Asian Cup players Asian Games competitors for Iran Expatriate men's footballers in Qatar Iranian expatriate sportspeople in Qatar 21st-century Iranian sportsmen 2022 FIFA World Cup players 2023 AFC Asian Cup players