Afshin Ghotbi
Encyclopedia
Afshin Ghotbi is an Iranian-American
football
coach
and current head coach of the Japanese side Shimizu S-Pulse
in J-League.
from UCLA where he was a member of the men's soccer team.
youth soccer scene, responsible for the discovery and development of players such as Peter Vagenas
and John O'Brien.
under Dutchman
Guus Hiddink
from December 2000 till July 2002 as a football analyst. He continued his journey in Korea by taking the role of an assistant coach of Samsung Bluewings from 2002–2004. He returned to Korean National Team, as an assistant coach under Dick Advocaat
from October 2005 until July 2006. He continued as an assistant coach for Korea under Dutch
head coach Pim Verbeek from July 2006 till July 2007.
.
He ultimately led Persepolis to Iranian Pro league championship in May 2008. Ghotbi left Persepolis in June 2008.
However, it was reported that Persepolis F.C. were holding talks with Ghotbi again just four weeks after his departure.
Afshin Ghotbi was re-appointed as the new Persepolis head coach on 3 July 2008, after agreeing to sign a two year deal following meeting Persepolis officials in Dubai.
In a letter released on Persepolis’ official website, Ghotbi said, “I returned to Persepolis with great hopes but I think there is a conspiracy outside the club to prevent the team’s success. I am the target of this conspiracy. I love Persepolis and its fans, however I ought to leave the team.
I am heartbroken and leave Persepolis in hope of the team’s prosperity. If my presence hinders the success of the team, I would rather leave.”
. This resulted in the IRIFF forcing Mayeli Kohan's resignation as manager of Team Melli. A week later, Afshin Ghotbi agreed to succeed Mayeli Kohan as head coach of the Iranian national team. After this appointment, Ghotbi said in an interview "A life dream, a longtime ambition and a journey written in the stars is about to be realized I have to thank all the people around the world who have cheered, supported and inspired me to have this opportunity ,however, under Afshin Ghotbi, Iran failed to qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. This was in spite of the teams reasonable performance gaining 5 points from 3 games. His contract has now been renewed to continue coaching Team Melli.
He continued to coach Team Melli in 2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification
where he won 3 matches out of 4 and lost the other one to Jordan Away which he the team earned 13 points and qualified as the group leaders.But he had some results in the friendlies (such as winning against Bosnia-Herzegovina and China and South Korea in their land) which surprisingly caused a lot of criticism and even some people in IRIFF decided to replace him as iranian coachs and journalists could not accept an American-Iranian success over Team-melli. However, after a few days his job was secured and the Iranian Federation decided to keep him at least up to 2011 Asian Cup .He had poor results in the friendlies at the beginning and then was able qualify for the 2011 Asian Cup and slowly improved the results.In 2010 his team was able to win 8 matches in a row and gain trust.Later on he finished second in West Asian Football Federation Championship 2010.His team won all the three matches in the group stage of 2011 Asian Cup but got knocked out after the extra time goal against Korea Republic and finished the era of Afshin Ghotbi
.
's J. League Division 1 side Shimizu S-Pulse
.
, the cousin of Farah Pahlavi
. The rumor was widely circulated on the net and in the Iranian discussion forums because of its political sensitivity in Iran. However, that account was challenged by other Iranian newspapers by showing that in Ghotbi's birth certificate, his father's name is Mohammad, not Reza. Ghotbi himself has mentioned that his father was a teacher in Iran and that they left Iran in 1977.
On August 3, 2009, Afshin Ghotbi was present in the presidential endorsement ceremony of Mahmood Ahmadinejad while many elite Iranians did not attend to protest against the recent Iran's controversial presidency election. He faced harsh criticism of his fans after his attendance in Ahmadinejad's second presidential term approval ceremony. His wife also received some hate threats in their United Arab Emirates
based residential home back in August 2009.
Iranian-American
Iranian-Americans are Americans of Iranian ancestry or people possessing Iranian and American dual citizenship.Iranian-Americans are amongst the most highly educated groups in the United States...
football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
coach
Coach (sport)
In sports, a coach is an individual involved in the direction, instruction and training of the operations of a sports team or of individual sportspeople.-Staff:...
and current head coach of the Japanese side Shimizu S-Pulse
Shimizu S-Pulse
is a professional Japanese association football club. Located in Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, S-Pulse currently competes in the J. League Division 1 . Formed as recently as 1991, S-Pulse are one of the youngest professional teams in Japan, but are among only five to have competed in...
in J-League.
Early life
Though his family were from Shiraz, Mr. Afshin Ghotbi was born in the country's capital Tehran. He is the son of a teacher in Iran (See below) with whom he left Iran at the age of 13 and moved to Los Angles , United States of America where he has been a resident for more than two decades. He received his B.Sc. qualification in Electrical EngineeringElectrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
from UCLA where he was a member of the men's soccer team.
Early years
Prior to coaching in the professional ranks, for years he was one of the elite coaches in the talent-rich, highly competitive Southern CaliforniaSouthern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
youth soccer scene, responsible for the discovery and development of players such as Peter Vagenas
Peter Vagenas
Panayiotis Alexiou "Peter" Vagenas born February 6, 1978 in Pasadena, California is an American soccer player who currently plays for Vancouver Whitecaps FC in Major League Soccer.-High School and College:...
and John O'Brien.
In Korea
He worked for Korea Republic national football teamKorea Republic national football team
The Korea Republic national football team represents Korea Republic in international football and is controlled by the Korea Football Association. Korea Republic is the most successful Asian football team in the history of the FIFA World Cup having participated in eight World Cup tournaments,...
under Dutchman
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
Guus Hiddink
Guus Hiddink
Guus Hiddink is a Dutch football manager and former player. He was the most recently manager of the Turkish national football team. He is considered to be one of the best managers of his generation and was the best-paid coach in international football in 2009...
from December 2000 till July 2002 as a football analyst. He continued his journey in Korea by taking the role of an assistant coach of Samsung Bluewings from 2002–2004. He returned to Korean National Team, as an assistant coach under Dick Advocaat
Dick Advocaat
Dirk Nicolaas "Dick" Advocaat is a Dutch football manager and former player currently the manager of the Russia national football team.He has been moderately successful as a football player and as a coach, which included two stints with the Dutch national football team...
from October 2005 until July 2006. He continued as an assistant coach for Korea under Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
head coach Pim Verbeek from July 2006 till July 2007.
Return to Iran
In 2007 he was Head-Coach of Persepolis F.C., an Iran Pro League club, in compliance with the new contract he signed in August 2007. In February 2008 his name was on the shortlist for coaching the Iranian national team, however the job went to Ali DaeiAli Daei
Ali Daei is an Iranian retired football player and former national team coach who currently manages a local Iranian team, Rah Ahan. He is a former captain of the Iran national football team, and is the world's all-time leading goalscorer in international matches...
.
He ultimately led Persepolis to Iranian Pro league championship in May 2008. Ghotbi left Persepolis in June 2008.
However, it was reported that Persepolis F.C. were holding talks with Ghotbi again just four weeks after his departure.
Afshin Ghotbi was re-appointed as the new Persepolis head coach on 3 July 2008, after agreeing to sign a two year deal following meeting Persepolis officials in Dubai.
Leaving Iran
Following the session held at Persepolis club on 18 November 2008, Ghotbi announced his resignation to the club’s board and left Iran on 19 November 2008.In a letter released on Persepolis’ official website, Ghotbi said, “I returned to Persepolis with great hopes but I think there is a conspiracy outside the club to prevent the team’s success. I am the target of this conspiracy. I love Persepolis and its fans, however I ought to leave the team.
I am heartbroken and leave Persepolis in hope of the team’s prosperity. If my presence hinders the success of the team, I would rather leave.”
Appointment as the National Team Coach
After just three weeks after being announced as manager, Mayeli Kohan became the spearhead of a heated dispute between himself and Esteghlal F.C. manager Amir GhalenoeiAmir Ghalenoei
Amir Ghalenoei is an Iranian football coach and former player. He is currently the head coach of Tractor Sazi...
. This resulted in the IRIFF forcing Mayeli Kohan's resignation as manager of Team Melli. A week later, Afshin Ghotbi agreed to succeed Mayeli Kohan as head coach of the Iranian national team. After this appointment, Ghotbi said in an interview "A life dream, a longtime ambition and a journey written in the stars is about to be realized I have to thank all the people around the world who have cheered, supported and inspired me to have this opportunity ,however, under Afshin Ghotbi, Iran failed to qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. This was in spite of the teams reasonable performance gaining 5 points from 3 games. His contract has now been renewed to continue coaching Team Melli.
He continued to coach Team Melli in 2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification
2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification
The 2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification saw various countries take part to determine 10 spots to the final tournament in Qatar under the new qualification system set by the Asian Football Confederation ....
where he won 3 matches out of 4 and lost the other one to Jordan Away which he the team earned 13 points and qualified as the group leaders.But he had some results in the friendlies (such as winning against Bosnia-Herzegovina and China and South Korea in their land) which surprisingly caused a lot of criticism and even some people in IRIFF decided to replace him as iranian coachs and journalists could not accept an American-Iranian success over Team-melli. However, after a few days his job was secured and the Iranian Federation decided to keep him at least up to 2011 Asian Cup .He had poor results in the friendlies at the beginning and then was able qualify for the 2011 Asian Cup and slowly improved the results.In 2010 his team was able to win 8 matches in a row and gain trust.Later on he finished second in West Asian Football Federation Championship 2010.His team won all the three matches in the group stage of 2011 Asian Cup but got knocked out after the extra time goal against Korea Republic and finished the era of Afshin Ghotbi
Afshin Ghotbi
Afshin Ghotbi is an Iranian-American football coach and current head coach of the Japanese side Shimizu S-Pulse in J-League.-Early life:Though his family were from Shiraz, Mr. Afshin Ghotbi was born in the country's capital Tehran...
.
Move to J. League
After the Asian Cup, Ghotbi signed one-year contract with JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
's J. League Division 1 side Shimizu S-Pulse
Shimizu S-Pulse
is a professional Japanese association football club. Located in Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, S-Pulse currently competes in the J. League Division 1 . Formed as recently as 1991, S-Pulse are one of the youngest professional teams in Japan, but are among only five to have competed in...
.
Coaching career statistics
| Nat | Team | From | To | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | GF | GA | +/- | ||||
 |
San Fernando Valley | 1997 | 1997 | 18 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 50% | 30 | 31 | −1 |
 |
Persepolis | 27 July 2007 | 18 November 2008 | 51 | 26 | 15 | 10 | 51% | 88 | 59 | |
| |
Iran Iran national football team The national football team of Iran represents Iran in international football competitions and is controlled by the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran... |
22 April 2009 | 22 January 2011 | 30 | 16 | 6 | 8 | 53% | 39 | 27 | |
 |
Shimizu S-Pulse Shimizu S-Pulse is a professional Japanese association football club. Located in Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, S-Pulse currently competes in the J. League Division 1 . Formed as recently as 1991, S-Pulse are one of the youngest professional teams in Japan, but are among only five to have competed in... |
22 January 2011 | Present | 33 | 11 | 12 | 10 | 50% | 41 | 48 | −7 |
| Total | 132 | 62 | 40 | 30 | 65% | 198 | 165 | +33 | |||
Honours
- Iran's Premier Football LeagueIran's Premier Football LeagueThe Iran Pro League , is a professional football league competition for clubs located at the highest level of the Iranian football league system.The league system resembles the system being used in England currently...
Winner: 1- 2007/08 with Persepolis
Individual
- Football Iran News & Events
- Manager of the year (2007–08), Persepolis
- Iran Football Federation Award
- Manager of the year (2007–08), Persepolis
Controversy
At the time of his arrival in Iran some media outlets reported that Afshin is the son of former National Iranian Radio and Television director Reza GhotbiReza Ghotbi
Reza Ghotbi Gilani is a former Iranian politician who currently lives in the United States. He was head of NIRT from 1967 to 1979.Reza Ghotbi is a son of Mohammad Ali Ghotbi, cousin of Farah Dibah.-References:...
, the cousin of Farah Pahlavi
Farah Pahlavi
Farah Pahlavi is the former Queen and Empress of Iran. She is the widow of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, and only Empress of modern Iran...
. The rumor was widely circulated on the net and in the Iranian discussion forums because of its political sensitivity in Iran. However, that account was challenged by other Iranian newspapers by showing that in Ghotbi's birth certificate, his father's name is Mohammad, not Reza. Ghotbi himself has mentioned that his father was a teacher in Iran and that they left Iran in 1977.
On August 3, 2009, Afshin Ghotbi was present in the presidential endorsement ceremony of Mahmood Ahmadinejad while many elite Iranians did not attend to protest against the recent Iran's controversial presidency election. He faced harsh criticism of his fans after his attendance in Ahmadinejad's second presidential term approval ceremony. His wife also received some hate threats in their United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...
based residential home back in August 2009.