Hadi Aghily

Seyed Hadi Aghily (Persian: سيد هادی عقیلی, born 15 January 1981) is a former Iranian professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Known for his toughness, positioning and intelligent movement, he was nominated for the Asian Player of The Year award twice in 2009 and 2011.[2][3]

Hadi Aghily
Aghily after scoring for Iran in 2011
Personal information
Full name Seyyed Hadi Aghily Anvar
Date of birth (1981-01-15) 15 January 1981
Place of birth Tehran, Iran[1]
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s) Centre-back
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2001–2004 Saipa 63 (2)
2004–2011 Sepahan 178 (15)
2011–2012 Al-Arabi 20 (0)
2012–2013 Qatar SC 16 (4)
2013–2016 Sepahan 76 (8)
Total 353 (29)
International career
2006–2012 Iran 69 (10)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Aghily began his career at Saipa, then moved to Sepahan and reached the 2007 AFC Champions League Final. He spent two successful seasons in Qatar with Al-Arabi and Qatar SC, before returning to Sepahan and concluding his football career in 2016.

He captained the Iranian national team on multiple occasions.

Club career

Early years

Aghily was born in Tehran. He was part of the Persepolis youth academy, but left for Saipa in 2001.

Sepahan

After three years at Saipa, he moved to Sepahan where he won the Hazfi Cup and also played in the AFC Champions League final in 2007. He also played in the 2007 FIFA Club World Cup. After his good games, he was linked with a move to Japanese teams and also with a return to Persepolis, but he decided to extend his contract with Sepahan. He had so many injuries during the 2008–09 season that he did not play many matches for Sepahan and missed some of the matches of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification for Team Melli.

On 28 July 2009, Aghili traveled to Freiburg in order to negotiate a future move to the Bundesliga side. However, negotiations were cut short after a few days and the club released a statement saying that "Hadi was not the player that they were looking for."[4] He won the league with Sepahan twice in a row. He left Sepahan in the summer of 2011 after seven seasons.

Qatar Stars League

In July 2011, Aghili signed a new contract with Al-Arabi. He wears the number 55 and was the club's captain. He won the Sheikh Jassem Cup while with the club. There were rumors that he would join Persepolis after the Iran Pro League season had finished,[5] but he signed with Qatar SC on 22 June 2012, remaining in Qatar Stars League for another season. He played many matches for the team.

Return to Sepahan

On 19 June 2013, after spending two seasons in Qatar, he returned to his former club, Sepahan.[6] He officially rejoined the club on 1 July 2013, signing a two-year contract. He made his debut in a 2–0 win over Foolad and scored his first goal in the next match from penalty kicks in a 2–1 away win against Esteghlal. He was also the captain of Sepahan for their match with Esteghlal, as Moharram Navidkia did not play because of injury. On 9 June 2014, Aghily extended his contract with Sepahan until 30 June 2017.

International career
Aghily in a match against South Korea in the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification phase

In October 2006, he was called up to the Iranian national team for the 2006 LG Cup held in Jordan. He made his debut for Iran on 4 October 2006 in a match against Iraq.

He was an important member of the Iranian squad at various major tournaments, such as the 2007 and 2011 AFC Asian Cups, the 2008 and 2010 WAFF Championships, as well as the 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification phases.

Retirement

Prior to a 2014 World Cup qualifying match against Lebanon, Aghily left the team camp because he knew he would not be in the starting lineup. He was banned for one year and Carlos Queiroz left him out of the team. Before the last three World Cup qualifying matches in June 2013, he publicly apologised to Queiroz and Iranian fans but was still not called up. In July 2013, he revealed that the Iranian FA and Queiroz wanted him to sign an apology letter, but Mehdi Rahmati advised him not to as he believed that Iran would lose the first match and would then beg him to return.[7]

Career statistics

Club

Last updated on 10 December 2016.

Club performance League Cup Continental Total
SeasonClubLeague AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals
Iran League Hazfi Cup Asia Total
2001–02SaipaIran Pro League21100—211
2002–0322100—221
2003–0420000—200
2004–05Sepahan2600031260
2005–0627000—270
2006–0727354120447
2007–082822152355
2008–092311051291
2009–102252060305
2010–112543183368
Qatar League Emir of Qatar Cup Asia Total
2011–12Al-ArabiQatar Stars League2000050250
2012–13Qatar SC16400—164
Iran League Hazfi Cup Asia Total
2013–14SepahanIran Pro League2751060335
2014–151500000150
2015–16 28 3 3 0 0 0 31 3
Total Iran 3112918643737242
Qatar 3640050414
Career total 3192518649738638
SeasonTeamAssists
05–06Sepahan1
07–08Sepahan1
0–09Sepahan1
10–11Sepahan1
11–12Al-Arabi7
12–13Qatar SC1
13–14Sepahan1
14–15Sepahan0

International goals
Scores and results list Iran's goal tally first.
#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
126 May 2008Azadi Stadium, Tehran Zambia3–23–2Friendly
211 August 2008Takhti Stadium, Tehran Qatar3–06–12008 WAFF
315 August 2008Takhti Stadium, Tehran Jordan1–02–12008 WAFF
46 January 2010Singapore National Stadium, Kallang Singapore1–03–12011 ACQ
511 August 2010Hrazdan Stadium, Yerevan Armenia1–13–1Friendly
611 August 2010Hrazdan Stadium, Yerevan Armenia3–13–1Friendly
724 September 2010Amman International Stadium, Amman Bahrain1–03–02010 WAFF
824 September 2010Amman International Stadium, Amman Bahrain2–03–02010 WAFF
96 September 2011Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, Doha Qatar1–01–12014 WCQ
1011 October 2011Azadi Stadium, Tehran Bahrain3–06–02014 WCQ

Honours
Hadi Aghily as Al-Arabi captain with Cabore

Sepahan

Al-Arabi

Iran

Individual

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hadi Aghily.
  1. "Roster Aghili". Archived from the original on 29 September 2012. Retrieved 27 September 2010.
  2. "Japan's Yasuhito Endo Named AFC Player Of The Year". Goal.
  3. "Uzbekistan's Server Djeparov wins AFC Player of the Year award". Goal.
  4. Aghili eyes Freiburg move
  5. Hadi Aghili tipped to join Persepolis – report Archived 26 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine Iran Sports Press on 23 February 2012
  6. "هادی عقیلی به جمع طلائی پوشان سپاهان پیوست". Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  7. Aghily banned from the Iran national team
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.