Amir Ghalenoei

Amir Ghalenoei

Ghalenoei in 2024
Personal information
Date of birth	(1963-11-22) 22 November 1963
Place of birth	Tehran, Imperial State of Iran
Height	1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Position	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Iran (manager)
Youth career
1979–1981	Rah Ahan
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1981–1982	Rah Ahan
1982–1987	Shahin
1987–1989	Al-Sadd
1989–1997	Esteghlal
International career
1979–1981	Iran U-20
1985–1996	Iran	20	(1)
Managerial career
1999–2000	Keshavarz
2001–2002	Bargh Tehran
2002	Esteghlal (caretaker)
2002–2003	Esteghlal Ahvaz
2003–2006	Esteghlal
2006–2007	Iran
2008	Mes Kerman
2008–2009	Esteghlal
2009–2011	Sepahan
2011–2012	Tractor
2012–2015	Esteghlal
2015–2017	Tractor
2017–2018	Zob Ahan
2018–2020	Sepahan
2020–2023	Gol Gohar
2023–	Iran
Medal record Men's football Representing Iran (as manager) CAFA Championships Winner 2023 KGZ-UZB
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Ardashir Amir Ghalenoei (born 22 November 1963) is an Iranian football coach and former player who is the current manager of the Iran national football team.

Club career

Esteghlal

Esteghlal shirt with Ghalenoei name given to him by the club in 2023

He joined Esteghlal in July 1989 and played for the club until his retirement. He made his debut in a game against Persepolis in a quarter final Hazfi Cup match where he lost his penalty kick.

He won the Iran league title in his first full season (1989–90) at the club in spring 1990. Esteghlal also won the Asian Club Championship on the following season (1990–91) after nearly twenty years.

Ghalenoei lost most of the next season (1991–92) due to a heavy injury. At that season, Esteghlal could not obtain an entry to the next season (1992–93) of Azadegan league and thus was asked to play in the 3rd Division for one season. This meant the departure of many players like Ahmad Reza Abedzadeh, Shahrokh Bayani, Majid Namjoo-Motlagh, Samad Marfavi and Reza Ahadi but Ghalenoei remained at the team and was chosen as the club's new captain. Esteghlal again rose to the top level of Iranian football in 1994–95 and was ranked second on their first season return to the competition. Ghalenoei also scored twice in the final game of the following season (1995–96) Hazfi Cup. In his last season in Esteghlal, they started off successfully both in the Iranian and Asian Cup Winners' Cup, but could not sustain the good performance. Their head coach, Mansour Pourheidari – who had the club to the Asian glory – resigned midseason and Nasser Hejazi was appointed as the head coach and finished the league with sixth position. He retired at the end of this season after missing many matches due to injury.

International career

International goals

Date	Venue	Opponent	Result	Competition	Goals
1996-06-18	Kuwait City, Kuwait	Kuwait	2–2	Friendly	1

Managerial career

Ghalenoei meeting with IRGC commander-in-chief Hossein Salami (as Iran's manager)

Esteghlal Ahvaz

After serving as the Esteghlal's interim head coach in 5 matches in spring 2002 and winning the Hazfi cup with this team, he was appointed as Esteghlal's assistant coach for the next season (2002–03). However, he left the team before the season started and joined Esteghlal Ahvaz in the 5th week of the 2002–03 league.

Esteghlal Tehran

Ghalenoei managing Esteghlal at Tehran derby

He was officially named as Esteghlal's head coach before the 2003–04 season by the club chairman Mohammad Gharib. He succeeded Mansour Pourheidari who Ghalenoei was his assistant for the years. At the end of the season, Esteghlal lost the league after a defeat to Esteghlal Ahvaz, team Ghalenoei coached in 2002 in the final match.

First term with Iran national team

The Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran appointed Ghalenoei as head coach of the Iran national football team on 17 July 2006 to succeed Branko Ivanković. After finishing first in the 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualifying two points ahead of South Korea and then finishing first in the group stage of the 2007 AFC Asian Cup Group C in Malaysia, Iran lost to South Korea in the penalty shoot-outs of the quarter-finals. Ghalenoei was heavily criticized by the press. After a period of discussion in the Iranian football federation, his contract was not renewed and national team was left with a caretaker manager for several months.

Mes Kerman

Despite being in negotiations with Uzbek League champions FC Pakhtakor Tashkent on 1 January 2008, Ghalenoei signed a contract until the end of the 2007–08 season with Iran Pro League side Mes Kerman.

Sepahan

Ghalenoei renewed his contract with Sepahan for the upcoming season, where he won the league for the third time in the row and second time with Sepahan. Sepahan had excellent performance in AFC Champions League as well and qualified for quarter final with five wins in seven matches. However, after that he left Sepahan on 4 June 2011 due to conflict with the new board director though he had led the club to the quarter finals of the AFC Champions League as the best team of the west Asian division.

Tractor

On 13 June 2011, he was named as new Tractor head coach.

Managerial statistics

As of match played 26 June 2026

Managerial record by team and tenure

Team	Nat.	From	To	Record								Ref.
				G	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Esteghlal (caretaker)		23 May 2002	30 June 2002	5	3	1	1	12	9	+3	060.00
Esteghlal Ahvaz		1 November 2002	30 June 2003	21	5	9	7	18	20	−2	023.81
Esteghlal		3 July 2003	18 July 2006	95	52	31	12	163	92	+71	054.74
Iran		19 July 2006	20 July 2007	17	10	6	1	30	12	+18	058.82
Mes Kerman		1 January 2008	1 June 2008	17	7	7	3	20	12	+8	041.18
Esteghlal		1 July 2008	30 June 2009	45	21	15	9	90	47	+43	046.67
Sepahan		1 July 2009	4 June 2011	86	47	26	13	155	72	+83	054.65
Tractor		1 July 2011	30 June 2012	35	19	10	6	57	32	+25	054.29
Esteghlal		1 July 2012	30 June 2015	121	64	32	25	165	99	+66	052.89
Tractor		10 December 2015	30 June 2017	62	35	16	11	104	53	+51	056.45
Zob Ahan		1 July 2017	30 June 2018	40	19	12	9	58	43	+15	047.50
Sepahan		1 July 2018	11 August 2020	70	31	28	11	97	52	+45	044.29
Gol Gohar		2 September 2020	19 March 2023	92	43	25	24	124	96	+28	046.74
Iran		12 March 2023	Present	48	31	12	5	106	37	+69	064.58
Career Total				905	387	231	287	1,199	676	+523	042.76

Honours

Player

Rahahan

• Tehran Hazfi Cup: 1980 (Runner-up)

Shahin

• Tehran League: 1985 (Runner-up), 1986 (Runner-up)

Esteghlal

• Asian Club Championship (1): 1990–91, 1991–92 (Runner-up)
• Iranian league (1): 1989–90, 1991–92 (Runner-up), 1994–95 (Runner-up)
• Hazfi Cup (1): 1990–91 (Runner-up), 1995–96
• Tehran league (1): 1989 (Runner-up), 1990 (Runner-up), 1991

Al-Sadd

• Qatar League (1): 1987–88
• Emir Cup (1): 1988

Manager

Esteghlal

• Iranian league (3): 2005–06, 2008–09, 2012–13
• Hazfi Cup (2): 2001–02, 2003–04

Sepahan

• Iranian league (2): 2009–10, 2010–11

Individual

• Asian Manager of the Year: 2007 (Runner-up)
• Iranian Manager of the Year (5): 2006, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2018
• Iran Football Federation Award coach of the season (1): 2012–13
• Navad Manager of the Month (5): January 2018, April 2018, May 2018, September 2018, October 2018

External links

• Amir Ghalenoei on Instagram

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Mladen Frančić	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 Zlatko Kranjčar
Preceded by Zlatko Kranjčar	Iran Pro League Winning Manager 2012–13	Succeeded by Hossein Faraki