Shoja' Khalilzadeh

It was his first career stop outside of his home country and became the second Iranian to play for Al-Rayyan since 1980s, after his former coach Ghasempour.

Under the coach Aguirre, he played a central defender, and Mercado moved to the right-back in the following games.

Shojae Khalilzadeh (born 14 May 1989) is an Iranian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Persian Gulf Pro League club Tractor and Iran national team.

He is known for his pace, artistic tackles and positional sense.

Khalilzadeh began his professional career with Mes Rafsanjan in 2008.

He spent two seasons at Mes Rafsanjan in Azadegan League.

Khalilzadeh starting his career in Kerman where he moved to two clubs, first joining Mes Rafsanjan and then signing with Mes Kerman in 2010.

In late June 2010, Khalilzadeh joined Iran Pro League side Mes Kerman.

He made a debut for the club under coach Samad Marfavi in the league 2010–11 season.

In his second season, under Croatian coach Miroslav Blažević, he reached with the team the semi-finals of the 2011–12 Hazfi Cup.

In June 2012, Khalilzadeh extended his contract for a third season a worth R800m.

His performance did not go unnoticed, as Esteghlal, Persepolis and Sepahan teams showed interest in signing of the defender.

His performance earned him a transfer to Sepahan Isfahan in 2013 and spent four years with Talaei Pooshan, which included a successful loan spell with Tractor in Tabriz.

In late June 2013, Khalilzadeh was presented as a player of Isfahani club Sepahan on a four-year contract.

In his first season, under Croatian coach Zlatko Kranjčar, he formed a partnership in the heart of the Sepahan defensive with the captain Hadi Aghily.

He helped the team to won of the 2014–15 Persian Gulf Pro League.

Khalilzadeh was loaned to Tractor to complete his mandatory military service.

He was one of the best players under coach Amir Ghalenoei, the club reached the top of their group at the 2016 AFC Champions League, outperforming the Saudi giant Al-Hilal.

He returned to Sepahan at the end of the loan spell in July 2016.

Sepahan coach Abdollah Veisi talking about efforts to move Khalilzadeh to Persepolis in the 2016–17 season.

"As long as Shojae is in our team, even if [Gerard Piqué] comes to our team, I will play Shojae. I advise Persepolis not to follow Shojae, because if he is with a stick, I will send him to the field."

In the Round of 16 against Al-Sadd, the role and interventions of Khalilzadeh in the game were more influential, before Persepolis scored the winning goal in the 89th minute.

He was also "Player of the Week" at the AFC Champions League semi-final following his performance in his last match with the team against Al Nassr and help Persepolis to reach the final, where the east champion was determined on 13 December.

Khalilzadeh played a great role in winning three titles in the Iran Pro League and helped Persepolis to reach AFC Champions League final twice in three years.

In May 2017, Khalilzadeh joined Persepolis side that he helped turn into one of the strongest on the continent, before joining Qatari side Al-Rayyan in October 2020.

At the age of 16, Khalilzadeh started playing football with local youth teams for three years.

On 6 May 2017, it was confirmed that Khalilzadeh would join the Persian Gulf Pro League champions Persepolis on a two-year contract to play under Croatian coach Branko Ivanković.

In his debut match in the league, he scored his first goal against Foolad Khuzestan.

He scored his second goal for Persepolis in the 2017 AFC Champions League quarter-finals match against Al Ahli.

Persepolis reached the semi-final for the first time in its history before FIFA imposed sanctions on the team's top scorer and the club.

In his first season with the red half of Tehran, Persepolis, Khalilzadeh played 41 games and scored five goals.

The following year was the most successful in Persepolis history against all odds, the Reds finished runner-up in the 2018 AFC Champions League.

Khalilzadeh was selected in two squads "Team of the Season" for his performance in the tournament.

Since 2018, Khalilzadeh has been linked with a move to the Qatar Stars League and the Chinese Super League.

Persepolis was scoreless with Al Ahli on Matchday Three 2019 AFC Champions League, when Khalilzadeh showed superb agility to adjust his body and acrobatically bicycle kick home the opening goal, which was named as the best goal of the 2019 AFC Champions League by the fans.

He scored two goals in the competition but his team were eliminated of the group stage.

In the 2020 AFC Champions League, the last tournament before increasing the number of clubs to 40 teams, Khalilzadeh’s goal in the final minutes of the Al Taawoun match was a leap for the team after a faltering start in the tournament.

At the age of 31, before the start of the 2020–21 season, after not reaching an agreement to renew his contract, he moved to Qatar.

Khalilzadeh was reportedly chosen as one of the candidates for the 2020 Asian Footballer of the Year award before the award was confirmed to be cancelled in late December.

On 25 October 2020, Al-Rayyan announced on the last day of the summer transfer window the signing of Khalilzadeh on a two-year contract a worth $700,000.