Ali Daei

At 55 years old, Ali Daei has this physical status:

Club career

Daei was born in Ardabil, Imperial Iran. Daei graduated from Sharif University of Technology in Materials Engineering (Metallurgical) with a BSc degree. Degree of success. He began his playing career at 19 with hometown team Esteghlal Ardabil. Taxirani F.C., his next club, was Taxirani F.C. He spent a season in Tehran before joining Bank Tejarat, another Tehran-based club. His time with Bank Tejarat spanned four years, scoring 49 goals in 75 games for the club.

Daei joined Persepolis, one of Tehran's top clubs, following his success with Bank Tejarat FC in 1994. He went on to score 23 goals in 38 games for the club from 1994 to 1996. Following his success in the Asian Cup in 1996, he moved to Al Sadd for the 1996–1997 season before joining Bundesliga side Arminia Bielefeld in 1997.

Nevertheless, he was left behind in the pecking order at Bayern. Daei had little time for playing, despite the fact that the Iranian national team's schedule had a lot of time. When Bayern won the championship championship in 1999, Daei was dissatisfied with his role in the club and decided to transfer to Hertha BSC before the end of his three-year contract ended.

Daei became the first Asian player to play in a UEFA Champions League match. In a group stage match against Chelsea that was won by Hertha 2–1, he scored his first and second goals in the UEFA Champions League on September 21, 1999. In a 1–1 draw against A.C. Milan at the San Siro, he scored twice. He was a hero at Hertha, because he was only one of the squad's many valuable players who had to bring hertha's Bundesliga and UEFA Champions League aspirations.

Daei was playing in numerous continental friendlies against world class opposition, but he was also unable to secure a solid starting lineup for his club. He was not one of the top scorers in the Asian Qualifying round in 2001, and he did not have to face the team as captain for the first time in the World Cup. At 34 years of age, he joined Al-Shabab as a free agent. Daei joined his UAE team in Tehran, Pirouzi FC, in 2003. Daei went from Persepolis to Saba Battery on a free transfer for a modest salary of about $300,000.

He spent two years at Saba Battery, scoring 23 goals, winning the Hazfi Cup, and participating in the Asian Champions League. Farhad Kazemi, Saba Battery's current manager, announced that he was no longer required on the team and that his deal would not be renewed following World Cup 2006 and the arrival of World Cup 2006. Despite rumors of his resignation, he signed for another company affiliated with Tehran, Saipa, on August 1, 2006.

Ali Daei was fined $2000 and suspended for four games by the Iranian Football Federation following the incidents in a league match where he gave a headbutt to Sheys Rezaei.

Daei announced his retirement from playing football and that he would focus on his coaching career on May 28, 2007, after Saipa won the 2006-07 Persian Gulf Cup in a match versus Mes Kerman.

International career

Daei was named the world's best scorer in official international competitions by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS), having scored 20 goals for Iran in 1996, including his historic four-goal victory over South Korea in Asian Cup 1996. He had scored 29 goals in 38 appearances for Iran by the 1996 Asian Cup. He was on top of the charts again in 1998 World Cup qualifying matches for Iran, scoring nine goals in 17 games for Iran, totaling 38 goals in 52 appearances for his country.

Daei joined the elite group of players with a century of caps. He scored his 85th international goal in a qualifier in Tehran against Lebanon on November 28, raising him to the top of the all-time scorers in international matches. In a World Cup qualifier against Laos on November 17, he scored four goals against Laos, making him the first male player to score 100 goals in international play. He has 149 caps for Iran and is currently ranked 28th among the world's most capped players list as of September 13, 2019.

Daei was called up to participate in Team Melli's ECO Cup tournament in Tehran, where he made his Iran debut against Pakistan against Iran. He continued his national team appearances and was named the top scorer of the final Asian round of 1994 FIFA World Cup qualifications with four goals in 5 matches.

Daei scored four times against Laos in a 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifier on November 17, 2004, becoming the first male footballer with 100 international goals.

Despite criticism, Daei participated in the 2006 FIFA World Cup; however, his deficiencies were primarily concerned with his fitness and the inability of younger players to participate in the World Cup; Ali Daei has always defended his position in Team Melli, and he has denied that he was too old to play for the team, despite Iranian media's calls for his departure.

Daei ended his international career with 109 goals, an all-time record that stood unbeaten until September 2021, when it was deposed by Portuguese striker Cristiano Ronaldo. "I am honored that this remarkable feat will go to Ronaldo," Daei posted on Instagram.

College career

Daei captained the Islamic Azad University football team in the 2007 World Interuniversity Games, winning the gold medal and a hat-trick in the final match against University of Osijek.

Daei, the head coach of Iran's national team, was in charge in 2007 Summer University.

In 2009 World Interuniversity Games, he was the technical manager of the Islamic Azad University team.

Managerial career

On October 8, 2006, the interim manager of Saipa was named after the sudden departure of Saipa's German coach Werner Lorant. He was later confirmed as the full-time boss. Saipa became the Persian Gulf Cup champions in Daei's first season at the helm on May 28. Daei, the defending champions' second season as manager, rescheduled his playing time and found himself on the sidelines full-time. Saipa's 2007–2008 campaign were not as fruitful as his team finished 11th in the 18 team Iran Pro League table, which includes Iran. However, Daei led Saipa to an Asian Champions League quarterfinal birth before deciding to hand over the Iranian national football team as the full manager.

Ali Daei, Team Melli's new head coach, was officially appointed by the IRIFF on March 2nd. Despite admitting that his appointment as the head of the Iranian national team was a "surprise," Daei refused to leave his current coaching job at Saipa F.C., thus working in two managerial careers until Saipa reached the Asian Champions League quarterfinals, after which Daei left Saipa by mutual consent. Though Daei guided Iran to a respectable 16–3-3 record, his third loss in 2009 to a Saudi Arabian team in Tehran, which was down 1–0 to Iran was the last straw.

The Iranian team had the lowest World Cup Qualifications in its history during their tenure as head coach, with just one victory out of five WCQ games. Daei was fired as head coach after the match after losing in the 2010 World Cup Qualifier. Although Daei's squad was often in doubt as to who would be allowed to a match, such as Gholamreza Rezaei and Ehsan Hajsafi. Many commentators referred to Daei's team's toil's flops as well as an unsolved central defense weakness as reasons for his downfall.

Daei refused to work as the Rah Ahan's boss in 2009, a change that was sadly missed. Daei had been widely predicted that Daei would be the next in-line for Persepolis' coaching position, but the club picked Zlatko Kranjar. Daei was selected as a Persepolis coach on December 28, 2009. Persepolis finished fourth in the league in the 2009–10 season, but they were the Hazfi Cup champions. Persepolis defeated Azadegan League side Gostaresh Foolad Tabriz 4–1 on aggregate to qualify for the 2011 AFC Champions League. Persepolis finished fourth in the 2011 AFC Champions League and was disqualified in the group stage of the 2011 AFC Champions League, but Persepolis won the 2010-11 Hazfi Cup after defeating rivals Sepahan, Foolad, and Malavan. While at Persepolis, Daei had many people against him, including the chairman, Habib Kashani, and after a spat with Kashani, he said "I will not work with Kashani Anymore."

Daei was re-appointed as Persepolis' head coach on June 20, 2011, but he resigned on June 21. Hamid Estili was named as Daei's replacement by the technical committee on that day. Thanks to Daei, he recruited many youngsters, including Hamidreza Ali Asgari and Saman Aghazamani, as well as other sports such as Hadi Norouzi and Maziar Zare. Despite the fact that many challenges and obstacles, including the club's chairman, were in Daei, Persepolis, were ignored by the fans, who adored and cheered Daei, but did not cheer for any player. Persepolis also won back-to-back trophies for the first time in 13 seasons under Daei's leadership.

Daei signed Rah Ahan's head coach on July 14 for one year. He shared a 2–2 draw with Zob Ahan in his first match as head coach of Rah Ahan. Rah Ahan's head coach led the team to the 11th position in his first season as the club's head coach.

Ali Daei's 2013-2013 season featured many young players, including Mojtaba Shiri and Omid Alishah, as well as Rah Ahan, who finished in 8th place, the club's highest finish in the league since 1937. Because of Daei's fame, more people started to watch Rah Ahan's matches, and Daei defeated his former club Persepolis for the second year in a row.

Despite numerous rumors that Daei will leave Rah Ahan for other clubs, such as Persepolis or Tractor, he decided to remain with the club "to create a team that can qualify for the AFC Champions League." However, his deal was terminated on May 20, 2013, clearing the way for him to become Persepolis's head coach.

After a long discussion, he decided on a three-year contract to be Persepolis' head coach on May 20, 2013. It was his second time he had signed with Persepolis, and he returned to his former team after two seasons. On June 1, 2013, Persepolis officially began his career. Persepolis won 1–0 after Mehdi Seyed Salehi's first match against Tractor, Persepolis's first match. His team finished runners-up in Persepolis' first year, two points less than champions Foolad.

After a rough start to the 2014–15 season, he was fired on September 10th, 2014.

Daei took over as Saba Qom's head coach on July 1, 2015, signing a two-year deal. He finished ninth and seventh in the Persian Gulf Pro League in two seasons with Saba. Due to rumors regarding Saba's ownership situation, he left Saba a few weeks before the 2016-17 season began.

Daei took over Naft Tehran on July 5, 2016, after replacing Alireza Mansourian. He led Naft to the Hazfi Cup but left the team at the end of the season.

Daei took over Saipa on May 14, 2017, a club he started his coaching career in 2006 and led them to the league championship in 2007. He served with the club for two seasons before being fired at the end of the 2018–19 season.

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