Karim Bagheri

Bagheri was born in Tabriz, Iran. He was discovered by manager Vasile Godja and began his football playing for his hometown club Tractor where he impressed enough to land himself a contract with Keshavarz. On 1 August 1996, Bagheri was signed on a free transfer by the capital's club, Persepolis. There, Bagheri enjoyed much success winning numerous titles and becoming a fan favorite. Numerous impressive displays ended up in Bagheri attracting attention from many European clubs and on 1 August 1997, a year after he signed a contract with Persepolis, Bagheri signed with Bundesliga side Arminia Bielefeld along with his fellow Iranian international Ali Daei.

Baghali first season in Germany was not a huge success and the club was relegated to the 2. Bundesliga. In his second season, he established himself as a starter playing in the libero position, helping the team make it back to the Bundesliga. His performances during the 1998–99 season earned him a place in Kicker magazine's team of the year. He remained in Arminia for one more season, though his time in Germany ended sourly when he bought out his contract and returned to Persepolis again, though Persepolis loaned him to Al-Nasr in the United Arab Emirates.

At that time English clubs were interested in Bagheri and Charlton Athletic of the Premiership quickly signed him for an initial fee of £400,000.[2] His father's death, international call-ups and injuries restricted him from making appearances in his first year. Alan Curbishley his manager on Bagheri:

"We took him as cover for Kinsella", Curbishley said. "Bagheri is a holding midfielder with great physique and an eye for goal. His goal-scoring record is unbelievable. He's got almost a goal every other game in 70 internationals which is an amazing feat for a midfield player.

"The problem was he never stayed fit while he was with us. After playing against Ipswich he went off to play for Iran and came back with a groin strain. Then it was a hamstring. His father died and he had to return to Iran the next day and we didn't see him for three weeks. Then he injured his hamstring again. It was one thing after another. It was a pity because the boy can play. He has all the attributes and understood the English game.

"He's an affable lad and from day one the other players liked him. Though he didn't speak English he got on with the others who respected him. He can play a bit and in 12 reserve matches for us he managed six goals. Had he stayed fit it may have been a different story. When the loan deal ended he came to me and said `I've loved it here but I haven't done myself justice'.

"I've noticed he is scoring regularly for Iran and whoever picks him up at set pieces on Saturday must be alert while he times his runs from midfield very well."[3]

He had very little success there, only playing 15 minutes during the entire season in a game against Ipswich Town and being the first Iranian to play in the Premiership.[4] He then moved to Al Sadd in Qatar.

Bagheri in training with Persepolis

In 2002, Bagheri decided to return to Persepolis once again. In September 2006, many thought he had been released from the team after arguments with management and staff over the club's financial commitments and unpaid wages. Bagheri was instead disciplined but remained on the team. Bagheri has since established himself as one of the greatest icons of Persepolis and many compare his popularity with Ali Parvin. In the 2007–08 season, he captained the team to glory in the IPL after a six-year drought. During the 2008–09 season he was injured and missed many matches. He also missed matches because of the differences he had with the coach Nelo Vingada at the end of the season. He was the top scorer of the team for 2009–10 season and the most influential player on the team. In the second Sorkhabi derby of the season, Bagheri scored in the 87th minute with a trademark long-range shot to gain victory for Persepolis after six consecutive draws in the derby.

On 1 December 2010, Bagheri announced that he would retire and leave Persepolis.[5]

On 2 June 1997, he scored seven times against the Maldives, and equalled the record for the most goals scored in a World Cup qualifying match, which was held by the Australian Gary Cole since 1981. Their joint record was broken on 11 April 2001 when another Australian, Archie Thompson scored 13 goals against American Samoa.[7] He was named the world's second top goal scorer in official international matches by International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS), having scored 20 goals for Iran in 1997.[8]

Bagheri retired from the national team with 80 caps and 47 goals for the Iran national team after Iran's unsuccessful FIFA World Cup 2002 qualification campaign which ended with an aggregate defeat to Republic of Ireland in November 2001. He was called up to the national team again soon after World Cup 2006, but said he would not participate as he is retired from international football and has no plans on returning to it.[9]

On 9 October 2008, Iran national team coach Ali Daei stated that because of Andranik Teymourian's injury Bagheri would be called up for the national team once again.[10] On 9 November 2008, in a friendly match against Qatar, Bagheri appeared for Team Melli once again after almost seven years. Bagheri captained Iran in the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification match against UAE on 19 November 2008, scoring for Iran. He has been given his favorite number 6 jersey back. He played few important matches for Team Melli in 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification against UAE and South Korea. He was invited again by Afshin Ghotbi but he stated in Navad that he only returned to the Iran national team because of Daei and would not participate in any more matches.

On 2 October 2010, Bagheri announced he would play his last match with the Iran national team on 7 October 2010 against Brazil in the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.[11]

Scores and results list Iran's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Bagheri goal.

List of international goals scored by Karim Bagheri[15]

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	3 June 1993	Azadi Stadium, Tehran, Iran	Pakistan	3–0	5–0	ECO Cup 1993
2	24 April 1996	Olympic Stadium, Ashgabat, Turkmenistan	Turkmenistan	1–1	1–1	Friendly
3	10 June 1996	Azadi Stadium, Tehran, Iran	Nepal	1–0	8–0	1996 AFC Asian Cup qualification
4				5–0
5	12 June 1996	Azadi Stadium, Tehran, Iran	Sri Lanka	2–0	7–0	1996 AFC Asian Cup qualification
6	17 June 1996	Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, Muscat, Oman	Sri Lanka	1–0	4–0	1996 AFC Asian Cup qualification
7				2–0
8				3–0
9	19 June 1996	Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, Muscat, Oman	Nepal	2–0	4–0	1996 AFC Asian Cup qualification
10				3–0
11	21 June 1996	Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, Muscat, Oman	Oman	2–1	2–1	1996 AFC Asian Cup qualification
12	7 December 1996	Al-Maktoum Stadium, Dubai, United Arab Emirates	Saudi Arabia	1–0	3–0	1996 Asian Cup
13	16 December 1996	Al-Maktoum Stadium, Dubai, United Arab Emirates	South Korea	1–1	6–2	1996 Asian Cup
14	2 June 1997	Abbasiyyin Stadium, Damascus, Syria	Maldives	1–0	17–0	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
15				2–0
16				3–0
17				10–0
18				12–0
19				13–0
20				16–0
21	4 June 1997	Abbasiyyin Stadium, Damascus, Syria	Kyrgyzstan	1–0	7–0	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
22				2–0
23	9 June 1997	Azadi Stadium, Tehran, Iran	Kyrgyzstan	2–1	3–1	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
24	11 June 1997	Azadi Stadium, Tehran, Iran	Maldives	2–0	9–0	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
25				5–0
26	17 August 1997	Varsity Stadium, Toronto, Canada	Canada	1–0	1–0	Friendly
27	13 September 1997	Jinzhou Stadium, Dalian, China	China	1–2	4–2	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
28	19 September 1997	Azadi Stadium, Tehran, Iran	Saudi Arabia	1–1	1–1	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
29	26 September 1997	Kuwait National Stadium, Kuwait City, Kuwait	Kuwait	1–1	1–1	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
30	3 October 1997	Azadi Stadium, Tehran, Iran	Qatar	2–0	3–0	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
31				3–0
32	17 October 1997	Azadi Stadium, Tehran, Iran	China	3–0	4–1	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
33	29 November 1997	Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Australia	Australia	1–2	2–2	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
34	10 December 1998	Suphachalasai Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand	Tajikistan	4–0	5–0	1998 Asian Games
35	12 December 1998	Suphachalasai Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand	China	2–1	2–1	1998 Asian Games
36	19 December 1998	Rajamangala National Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand	Kuwait	1–0	2–0	1998 Asian Games
37	9 June 2000	Azadi Stadium, Tehran, Iran	North Macedonia	1–0	3–1	LG CUP
38	12 October 2000	Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium, Beirut, Lebanon	Lebanon	1–0	4–0	2000 AFC Asian Cup
39	23 October 2000	International Olympic Stadium, Tripoli, Lebanon	South Korea	1–0	1–2	2000 AFC Asian Cup
40	24 November 2000	Takhti Stadium, Tabriz, Iran	Guam	2–0	19–0	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
41				3–0
42				4–0
43				5–0
44				6–0
45				7–0
46	25 October 2001	Azadi Stadium, Tehran, Iran	United Arab Emirates	1–0	1–0	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
47	31 October 2001	Al Nahyan Stadium, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates	United Arab Emirates	2–0	3–0	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
48	19 November 2008	Al-Maktoum Stadium, Dubai, United Arab Emirates	United Arab Emirates	1–1	1–1	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
49	2 January 2009	Azadi Stadium, Tehran, Iran	China	2–0	3–1	Friendly
50	9 January 2009	Azadi Stadium, Tehran, Iran	Singapore	2–0	6–0	2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification