Amir Ghalenoei

Amir Ghalenoei

Personal information
Full name	Ardeshir Ghalenoei
Date of birth	November 23, 1963 (1963-11-23)
Place of birth	Tehran, Iran
Playing position	Manager (Former Midfielder)
Club information
Current club	Tractor Sazi (Head coach)
Youth career
1980–1984	Rah Ahan
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1984–1986	Rah Ahan
1986–1988	Shahin
1988–1989	Al-Sadd
1989–1997	Esteghlal
National team
1990–1993	Iran U-23	23	(7)
1993–1997	Iran	17	(1)
Teams managed
1998–1999	Bargh Tehran
1999–2000	Keshavarz
2002	Esteghlal Ahvaz
2003–2006	Esteghlal
2006–2007	Iran
2007–2008	Mes Kerman
2008–2009	Esteghlal
2009–2011	Sepahan
2011–	Tractor Sazi
Honours Competitor for Iran Asian Games Gold 1990 Beijing Team Competition
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Ardeshir "Amir" Ghalenoei (Persian: امیر قلعه نوعی‎, born July 9, 1964 in Tehran, Iran) is an Iranian football coach and former player. He is currently the head coach of Tractor Sazi. He has been the most successful coach in Iran Pro League and managed several clubs, including Esteghlal, Mes Kerman, Sepahan and Tractor Sazi, with 2 of which he won a total of 4 championships and 2 Hazfi Cups. He was also the head coach of Iran national football team from August 2006 to July 2007.

Early life

He was born on July 9, 1964 in Nazi Abad in South Tehran, Iran. His father was a Taxi driver. He began working when he was 13 and started his football career at the same time.

Club career

He was chosen to play in Rah Ahan B in 1980 by his friend's father. Then Rah Ahan coach, Nasser Ebrahimi, moved him to the main Rah Ahan team. He was moved to Shahin in 1986 when Ebrahimi became Shahin's head coach. In first and second year of his playing at Shahin with Ebrahimi was stressful. He left the club in 1988 for Al-Sadd Qatar. After one year, Ghalenoei was transferred to Esteghlal F.C. in 1988, where he spent the rest of his football career, until retirement. He became captain of Esteghlal in 1993 and retired in 1997.

International career

He was invited to Iran national under-23 football team in 1990 and showed a reasonable performance. He was invited to Iran national football team in 1993 by Ali Parvin. He made his debut on September 12, 1993 against Bosnia and Herzegovina. He retired from the national team upon an injury in a match against Qatar.

International goals

Date	Venue	Opponent	Result	Competition	Goals
1992-10-18	Kuwait City, Kuwait	Kuwait	1–1	Friendly	1

Managerial career

Ghalenoei is the first Iranian football manager who passed Manchester United managerial class when he was 40 after taking Europe grade C at Bayer Leverkusen football club six month earlier.

In 2005–06 season, he led Esteghlal FC, which he had once played for, to the championship in Iran's Premier Football League. IRIFF Chair Qumars Hashemi, appointed Ghalenoei as manager of the Iran national football team on July 17, 2006 to succeed Branko Ivanković. After a quarterfinals finish during the 2007 Asian Cup, Ghalenoei was heavily criticized for substituting the goalkeeper just prior to the penalty shoot-outs, which Iran lost to South Korea. He was ultimately sacked after a period of negotiation, after which the Team Melli was left with a caretaker manager for several months.

Despite being in negotiations with Uzbek League champions FC Pakhtakor Tashkent on January 1, 2008, Ghalenoei signed a contract until the end of the 2007–08 season with Iran Pro League side Mes Kerman F.C.. where he led the club to finish among the top teams by the end of season, even though it was at the bottom of the table when he accepted the job.

In 2008 he signed a one-year deal with Esteghlal F.C.. He won one Hazfi Cup and on League for Esteghlal in 12 months but had a hard time in ACL where he could not advance to knockout stages and left the club due to problems and conflicts with the chairman which hurt many of Esteghlal fans. He signed for Sepahan in summer 2009. Where he won the Persian Gulf Cup for the second time in a row and also failing to qualify for last 16 in AFC Champions League for the second time in the row again. Ghalenoei renewed his contract with Sepahan for one billion Iranian toman salary for the upcoming season, where he won the league for the third time in the row and second time with Sepahan. He resigned as Head Coach of Sepahan on June 4, 2011. even though he had led the club to the knockout stage of the AFC Champions League as the best team of the west Asian division, for the first time in his managerial career. On June 13, 2011, he was named as new Tractor Sazi F.C. head coach to manage team in 2011–12 Persian Gulf Cup and 2011–12 Hazfi Cup. His title is General and Amir Pasha. (Əmir Paşa in Azerbaijani)

Statistics

As of 8 February 2012

Team	From	To	Record
			G	W	D	L	Win %	GF	GA	+/-
Esteghlal	July 2003	July 2006	86	46	30	10	55%	141	83	+58
Iran	August 2006	July 2007	17	10	6	1	59%	30	12	+18
Esteghlal	April 2008	July 2009	42	20	14	8	48%	86	45	+41
Sepahan	June 2009	June 2011	76	40	24	12	52%	131	65	+66
Tractor Sazi	July 2011	Present	25	13	7	5	52%	46	30	+16
Total			246	130	81	35	62%	435	234	+199

Honours

Player

• Qods League
  • Winner:1
    • 1989/90

• AFC Champions League
  • Winner:1
    • 1990

• Tehran League
  • Winner:1
    • 1991

• Tehran Super Cup
  • Winner:1
    • 1994

• Hazfi Cup
  • Winner:1
    • 1996

Coach

• Iran Pro League
  • Winner: 4
    • 2005–06 with Esteghlal
    • 2008–09 with Esteghlal
    • 2009–10 with Sepahan
    • 2010–11 with Sepahan
  • Runner up: 1
    • 2003–04 with Esteghlal

• Hazfi Cup
  • Winner: 2
    • 2002 with Esteghlal
    • 2008 with Esteghlal
  • Runner up: 1
    • 2004 with Esteghlal

References

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Luka Bonačić	Iran Pro League Winning Manager 2005–06	Succeeded by Ali Daei
Preceded by Afshin Ghotbi	Iran Pro League Winning Manager 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11	Succeeded by Incumbent