Hadi Aghily

Hadi Aghily
Personal information
Full name	Seyyed Hadi Aghily Anvar
Date of birth	15 January 1980 (age 44)
Place of birth	Tehran, Iran
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s)	Central Defender
Youth career
	Rah Ahan
1999–2001	Persepolis
Senior career*
Years	Team
2000–2001	Persepolis
2001–2004	Saipa
2004–2011	Sepahan
2011–2012	Al-Arabi
2012–2013	Qatar SC
2013–2016	Sepahan
International career‡
2006–2012	Iran
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 13 February 2016; ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 11 September 2012

Hadi Aghily (Persian: هادی عقیلی, born 15 January 1980 in Tehran, Iran)^[2] is a retired Iranian footballer. He played for Saipa, Sepahan, Al-Arabi, Qatar SC and Iran national football team.

Career

Early years

Aghily was born in Tehran. He was part of the Persepolis youth academy, but he left the club for Saipa in 2001.

Sepahan

After three years at Saipa, he moved to Sepahan where he won the Hazfi Cup and also played in the AFC Champions League final in 2007. He also played in the 2007 FIFA Club World Cup. After his good games he was linked with a move to Japanese teams and also with a return to Persepolis, but he decided to extend his contract with Sepahan. He had so many injuries during the 2008–09 season that he did not play many matches for Sepahan and missed some of the matches of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification for Team Melli.

On 28 July 2009, Aghili traveled to Freiburg in order to negotiate a future move to the Bundesliga side. However, negotiations were cut short after a few days and the club released a statement saying that "Hadi was not the player that they were looking for."^[3] He won the league with Sepahan twice in a row before joining Al-Arabi in 2011. He left Sepahan in summer 2011 after seven seasons.

Qatar Stars League

In July 2011, Aghili signed a new contract with Al-Arabi. He wears the number 55 and was the club's captain. He won the Sheikh Jassem Cup while with the club. There were rumors that he would join Persepolis after the Iran Pro League season had finished,^[4] but he signed with Qatar SC on 22 June 2012, remaining in Qatar Stars League for another season. He played many matches for the team.

Return to Sepahan

On 19 June 2013, he returned to his former club, Sepahan, after spending two seasons in Qatar.^[5] He officially rejoined the club on 1 July 2013, signing a two-year contract. He made his debut in a 2–0 win over Foolad and scored his first goal at the next match from penalty kicks in a 2–1 away win against Esteghlal. He was also the captain of Sepahan for their match with Esteghlal, as Moharram Navidkia did not play because of injury. On 9 June 2014, Aghily signed a new three-year contract with Sepahan, extending it until 30 June 2017.

Club career statistics

Last Update: 10 December 2016 '

Club performance			League		Cup		Continental		Total
Season	Club	League	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Iran			League		Hazfi Cup		Asia		Total
2000–01	Persepolis	Azadegan League	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
2001–02	Saipa	Iran Pro League	21	1	0	0	—		21	1
2002–03			22	1	0	0	—		22	1
2003–04			20	0	0	0	—		20	0
2004–05	Sepahan		26	0	0	0	3	1	26	0
2005–06			27	0	0	0	—		27	0
2006–07			27	3	5	4	12	0	44	7
2007–08			28	2	2	1	5	2	35	5
2008–09			23	1	1	0	5	1	29	1
2009–10			22	5	2	0	6	0	30	5
2010–11			25	4	3	1	8	3	36	8
Qatar			League		Emir of Qatar Cup		Asia		Total
2011–12	Al-Arabi	Qatar Stars League	20	0	0	0	5	0	25	0
2012–13	Qatar SC	Qatar Stars League	16	4	0	0	—		16	4
Iran			League		Hazfi Cup		Asia		Total
2013–14	Sepahan	Iran Pro League	27	5	1	0	6	0	33	5
2014–15			15	0	0	0	0	0	15	0
2015–16			28	3	3	0	0	0	31	3
Total	Iran		311	29	18	6	43	7	372	42
Total	Qatar		36	4	0	0	5	0	41	4
Career total			319	25	18	6	49	7	386	38

Assist Goals

Season	Team	Assists
05–06	Sepahan	1
07–08	Sepahan	1
0–09	Sepahan	1
10–11	Sepahan	1
11–12	Al-Arabi	7
12–13	Qatar SC	1
13–14	Sepahan	1
14–15	Sepahan	0

International career

In October 2006, he was called up to join Team Melli for an LG cup tournament held in Jordan. He made his debut for Iran on 4 October 2006 in a match against Iraq. In July 2007 Aghily was selected again to join the Iranian squad at the 2007 Asian Cup.

He has been a member of the Iranian squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches and the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches. He served as the captain of Team Melli during the West Asian Football Federation Championship 2008 and won the Cup. Aghily also played in the 2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification for Team Melli. He was one of the main players of Team Melli in West Asian Football Federation Championship 2010 and 2011 Asian Cup.

Retirement

Prior to the 2015 Asian Cup Qualifying match against Lebanon, he left the team camp because he knew he would not be in the starting lineup. He was banned for one year and Carlos Queiroz announced that Aghily would not be part of the team anymore. Before the last three matches in June 2013 for World Cup qualifications, he publicly apologised to the fans and the coach, but he still was not invited to play. In July 2013 he revealed that the Iranian FA and Carlos Queiroz wanted him to sign an apology letter, but Mehdi Rahmati advised him not to, as he believed Iran would lose the first match and would then beg him to return.^[6]

International goals

Scores and results list Iran's goal tally first.

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	26 May 2008	Azadi Stadium, Tehran	Zambia	3–2	3–2	Friendly
2	11 August 2008	Takhti Stadium, Tehran	Qatar	3–0	6–1	2008 WAFF
3	15 August 2008	Takhti Stadium, Tehran	Jordan	1–0	2–1	2008 WAFF
4	6 January 2010	National Stadium, Singapore, Kallang	Singapore	1–0	3–1	2011 ACQ
5	11 August 2010	Hrazdan Stadium, Yerevan	Armenia	1–1	3–1	Friendly
6	11 August 2010	Hrazdan Stadium, Yerevan	Armenia	3–1	3–1	Friendly
7	24 September 2010	Amman International Stadium, Amman	Bahrain	1–0	3–0	2010 WAFF
8	24 September 2010	Amman International Stadium, Amman	Bahrain	2–0	3–0	2010 WAFF
9	6 September 2011	Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, Doha	Qatar	1–0	1–1	2014 WCQ
10	11 October 2011	Azadi Stadium, Tehran	Bahrain	3–0	6–0	2014 WCQ