Iranian footballer
Kaveh Rezaei
(
Persian
:
???? ?????
) is an Iranian professional footballer who plays as a
striker
for
Sepahan
and the
Iran national team
.
Club career
[
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]
Foolad
[
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]
Rezaei started his career at
Foolad
. In the 2010?11 season, he scored one goal and provided two assists for his teammates in 16 games. During the next season, Rezaei played in 12 games starting in 4 and playing the whole 90 minutes in one of those games.
Saipa
[
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]
Rezaei transferred to
Saipa
to gain more playing time in the 2012?13 season. Although he was not a regular starter, he managed to make 33 appearances, scoring 5 times against
Saba
,
Paykan
,
Fajr Sepasi
and
Gahar
. He also provided 2 assists during the season. During the 2014?15 season, Rezaei expressed that he does not intend to renew his contract with Saipa and the club transfer listed him in January to make money from his transfer.
[1]
Zob Ahan
[
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]
On 28 December 2014, Rezaei joined
Zob Ahan
with an 18-month contract which would keep him until the end of 2015?16 season with the
Isfahani
side.
[2]
He made his debut for the club on 30 January 2015, in a 1?0 win against
Persepolis
in which he assisted
Masoud Hassanzadeh
's single goal of the game.
[3]
The following week he scored his first goal for the club in a 3?0 away victory against
Rah Ahan
.
[4]
On 16 April 2015, he scored a hat-trick in a 5?3 victory against
Naft Tehran
.
[5]
He also featured in the
2015 Hazfi Cup Final
where Zob Ahan beat
Naft Tehran
3?1 to win the title in which Rezaei scored Zob Ahan's third goal.
[6]
Rezaei made his first appearance of the
2015?16 season
against
Malavan
on the opening day of the
Persian Gulf Pro League season
.
[7]
He scored his first goal of the season in 2?1 win against
Persepolis
.
[8]
On 29 May 2016, Rezaei won the
Hazfi Cup
for the second consecutive time, playing 111 minutes in the
final
as Zob Ahan defeated
Esteghlal
5?4 in penalties.
[9]
Esteghlal
[
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]
On 16 June 2016, Rezaei refused to extend contract with
Zob Ahan
and signed a contract with
Esteghlal
.
[10]
He later revealed that he had an offer from
Persepolis
before but rejected it due to personal reasons.
[11]
He was handed the number 9 jersey that was previously held by Esteghlal's legend
Arash Borhani
.
[12]
Rezaei made his debut on 25 July 2016 in a 1?1 draw against
Naft Tehran
and he assisted
Jaber Ansari
's goal.
[13]
In the next match on 31 July, he scored his first goal for Esteghlal in a 2?1 loss against
Esteghlal Khuzestan
.
[14]
He scored a header in a 1?1 draw against
Machine Sazi
on 11 September.
[15]
On 12 February 2017, Esteghlal defeated
city rivals
Persepolis
3?2, with Rezaei scoring the third goal.
[16]
On 27 February 2017, in an
AFC Champions League
group-stage match against
Al-Taawoun FC
, he scored 53 seconds after kick-off; it was the fastest goal scored by an Iranian in an AFC Champions League match.
[17]
On 11 April, he scored another champions league goal against
Lokomotiv Tashkent
to equalise the scoreline, as the game ended 1?1.
[18]
In the following champions league game against
Al-Ahli
, the match finished at 1?1, where he scored another equaliser.
[19]
On 4 May 2017, he assisted Jaber Ansari's goal in Esteghlal's 2?1 win against
Sepahan
. This assist made him the top provider in the league.
[20]
He finished the season with 7 goals and 9 assists as Esteghlal finished the season as runners-up in the
league
.
[21]
On 10 May, he scored and assisted in the champions league match against
Al-Taawoun
as Esteghlal beat their opponent 2?1 and qualified to the next round.
[22]
On 22 May, he scored a late winning goal from the penalty spot against
Al Ain
the match finished 1?0.
[23]
Charleroi
[
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]
On 14 June 2017, after rumours that he would sign a contract extension with
Esteghlal
, Rezaei signed a two-year contract, with an option to extend for another two years, with
Belgian Pro League
club
Sporting Charleroi
.
[24]
[25]
He was assigned the shirt number 9.
2017?18 season
[
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]
Rezaei made his debut for the club in a 1?0 victory over
Kortrijk
on 29 June 2017, coming on as substitute for
Chris Bedia
.
[26]
On 26 August, he scored his first goal for the club, against
Zulte Waregem
. Later in that match he scored his second goal to help win the match 3?2.
[27]
After his stunning performance in September and scoring two goals in four games, Rezaei was voted as club's best player of the month by the fans.
[28]
[29]
On 18 November, he scored a brace against
KV Mechelen
and dedicated his goals to his fellow citizens who suffered in
earthquake
.
[30]
[31]
2018?19 season
[
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]
Rezaei started the new season by scoring a brace in a 4?1 victory over
Eupen
.
[32]
Club Brugge
[
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]
On 22 August 2018, Rezaei joined
Club Brugge
for a reported club-record fee of €5,000,000.
[33]
[34]
Return to Charleroi
[
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]
On 27 August 2019, he rejoined Charleroi on loan.
[35]
On 31 July 2020, he joined Charleroi on another season-long loan.
[36]
Oud-Heverlee Leuven
[
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]
On 4 August 2021,
OH Leuven
announced the signing of Rezaei for a one year deal with an option of an extra year.
[37]
International
[
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]
Youth
[
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]
Rezaei finished as the top scorer of the
2008 AFC U-16 Championship
scoring in every single game he played in and finishing with 6 goals in 5 games. Iran won the championship winning the final game 2?0 against South Korea.
Rezaei featured for Iran in the
2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup
scoring a goal against
Gambia
.
[38]
Rezaei also made the squad for the unsuccessful
2010 AFC U-19 Championship
. Surprisingly his involvement was highly limited under the guidance of his former U17 manager,
Ali Doustimehr
. However, he started in Iran's last game of the group stages, scoring both goals in the game and helping to record Iran's only win of the tournament.
In 2012, he broke in to coach
Ali Reza Mansourian
's squad and has been regular feature ever since. He was called up for the
2013 AFC U-22 Championship
, where he was the
leading goalscorer
after the group stage with 5 goals in 3 matches, including a hat trick in his last game.
[39]
He named in
Iran U23
final list for
Incheon 2014
.
[40]
Senior
[
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]
Rezaei received his first call-up to the senior side on 30 August 2015 replacing injured
Alireza Jahanbakhsh
.
[41]
He made his debut against
India
during Iran's
2018 World Cup Qualification
campaign on 8 September 2015. After a 2-year absence from the international side, Rezaei received another call-up on 1 October 2017 to play for Iran in friendlies against
Togo
and
Russia
.
[42]
On 17 March 2018, he scored his first international goal in a 4?0 victory against
Sierra Leone
.
[43]
In May 2018, he was named in Iran's preliminary
squad
for the
2018 World Cup
in
Russia
[44]
but did not make the final 23.
[45]
Style of play
[
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]
A hardworking, skillful and creative forward, who is good in the air and is known for his great striking ability.
[46]
A typical
number 9
, Rezaei been used on the wings through his career.
[47]
Charleroi teammate and French goalkeeper
Nicolas Penneteau
heaped praise towards Rezaei, calling him "a complete striker".
[48]
Personal life
[
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]
In May 2017, Rezaei married with
Iran women's national volleyball team
player
Farnoosh Sheikhi
.
[49]
His father in law, Fereydoun Sheikhi was killed in a plane crash in January 2019.
His idol was
Thiery Henry
.
[48]
He is a friend to
Mehdi Rahmati
,
Bakhtiar Rahmani
and
Soroush Rafiei
.
[50]
He cites
Navid Mohammadzadeh
as his favourite actor.
[50]
He can speak
Persian
and
Kurdish
fluently.
[51]
Career statistics
[
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]
Club
[
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]
- As of match played 24 December 2023
[21]
1
Includes
AFC Champions League
matches.
2
Includes
Iranian Super Cup
and
Belgian First Division A Championship Playoff
.
International
[
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]
- As of 15 June 2021.
[52]
Iran
|
Year
|
Apps
|
Goals
|
2015
|
4
|
0
|
2017
|
3
|
0
|
2018
|
5
|
1
|
2019
|
1
|
0
|
2020
|
2
|
1
|
2021
|
3
|
2
|
Total
|
18
|
4
|
International goals
[
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]
- Scores and results list Iran's goal tally first.
[52]
[53]
Honours
[
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]
Club
[
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]
Zob Ahan
International
[
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]
Iran U-16
Individual
[
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]
References
[
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]
External links
[
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]
Awards
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Most Valuable Player
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Top goalscorer
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Best goalkeeper
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Background
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People
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Events
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Lists
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Sanctions
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Related
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