Ali Daei

Ali Daei (born 21 March 1969) is an Iranian football manager and former professional footballer.

After his success with Bank Tejarat FC, in 1994, Daei joined one of Tehran's leading clubs, Persepolis.

He scored 23 goals in 38 games for the club from 1994 to 1996.

Following his impressive performance in the Asian Cup in 1996, he moved to Al Sadd for the 1996–1997 season before joining Bundesliga side Arminia Bielefeld in 1997 alongside fellow Iranian national teammate Karim Bagheri.

Yet at Bayern, he found himself low in the pecking order.

This, coupled with the Iranian national team's scheduling, Daei had found very little time for playing.

Daei was named the World's top scorer in official international competitions by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS), having scored 20 goals in competitive matches for Iran in 1996, including his famous four-goal haul against South Korea in Asian Cup 1996.

By the end of the 1996 Asian Cup, he had scored 29 goals in 38 appearances for Iran.

In the 1998 World Cup qualifying campaign, he was again on top of the charts, scoring nine goals in 17 matches for Iran, reaching at that time, 38 goals in 52 appearances for his country.

Daei joined the exclusive circle of players with a century of caps.

Daei was unhappy with his club position and decided to move to Hertha BSC before the end of his three-year contract when Bayern won the championship title in the 1999 Bundesliga.

Daei became the first Asian player to feature in a UEFA Champions League match.

He scored his first and second goal in the UEFA Champions League on 21 September 1999 in a group stage match against Chelsea, won by Hertha 2–1.

He also scored in a 1–1 draw against A.C. Milan at the San Siro.

At Hertha he was a hugely influential player since he was only one of the squad's many successful players, who were to fulfill Hertha's Bundesliga and UEFA Champions League dreams.

Daei was playing in numerous continental friendlies against world-class opposition, yet was still unable to maintain a stable position in his club's starting line-up.

A striker, he was the captain of the Iranian national team between 2000 and 2006.

He played in the German Bundesliga for Arminia Bielefeld, Bayern Munich and Hertha Berlin.

He is regarded as one of the greatest Iranian footballers of all time as well as one of the greatest footballers from Asia.

A tall forward, Daei was a prolific goal-scorer, who was known for his heading accuracy and ability in the air.

He was the world's top international goal-scorer with 108 goals until his record was broken by Cristiano Ronaldo in 2021.

During his playing career, Daei was appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 2001.

In 2001, he was not among the top scorers in the Asian Qualifying round and he did not manage to take the team into the World Cup as captain for the first time.

He joined the UAE league at 34 years of age, signing a contract with Al-Shabab as a free agent.

In 2003, Daei quit the UAE team and joined his team in Tehran, Persepolis.

Daei moved from Persepolis to Saba Battery on a free transfer for a modest contract of around $300,000.

He spent two years at Saba Battery, scoring 23 goals, winning the Hazfi Cup and participating in the Asian Champions League.

In a 28 November 2003 Asian Cup qualifier in Tehran against Lebanon, he scored his 85th international goal, elevating him past the Hungarian Ferenc Puskás to top the all-time list of scorers in international matches.

After World Cup 2006 and the arrival of Saba Battery's new manager, Farhad Kazemi, it was announced that he was no longer needed on the team and his contract would not be renewed.

Despite rumors of retirement, he signed for another industry-linked club from Tehran, Saipa, on 1 August 2006.

Following his retirement, Daei served as a member of the FIFA Football Committee between 2007 and 2013.

On 6 March 2007, Ali Daei was fined $2000 and suspended for four games by the Iranian Football Federation after the incidents in a league game where he delivered a head-butt to the face of Sheys Rezaei.

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

In 2014, he was inducted into the Asian Football Hall of Fame.

Daei was born in Ardabil, Imperial Iran, to an Iranian Azerbaijani family.

Daei graduated from Sharif University of Technology in Materials Engineering (Metallurgical) with a BSc.

degree.

He began his playing career at 19 with his hometown club Esteghlal Ardabil.

His next club was Taxirani F.C. in Tehran, where he played for one season, before joining another Tehran-based club, Bank Tejarat.

His tenure with Bank Tejarat lasted four years, scoring 49 goals in 75 games.