Daei, Ali

Ali Daei (علی دایی) is a former Iranian forward who played in Iran, Qatar, Germany and the UAE. Born in March of 1969 in Ardebil, he was known for his heading accuracy and ability in the air. He was the world's top international goal-scorer with 108 goals until his record was broken by Cristiano Ronaldo in 2021 and went to third after being surpassed again by Lionel Messi in 2024.

He began his playing career at 19 with his hometown club Esteghlal Ardebil. His next club was Taxirani F.C. of Tehran, where he played for one season, before joining another Tehran-based club, Tejarat Bank. His tenure with Tejarat Bank lasted four years, scoring 49 goals in 75 games and winning Tehran League’s top scorer title in 1993 and 1994. In 1994 Daei joined Persepolis, forming a deadly attacking duo with Farshad Pious with the pair scoring 35 goals in their first season together (15 for Daei, 20 for Pious). He scored 26 goals in 44 games for the club from 1994 to 1996, winning the Azadegan League in his final season. He would then move to Al Sadd in Qatar for one season, scoring 10 times in 18 games.

Following the Bosman ruling and increased flexibility for European clubs signing foreigners, Daei would move to Bundesliga side Arminia Bielefeld along with fellow countryman Karim Bagheri in 1997. He would play a single season with them, scoring 7 goals in 26 games before being scooped up by German giants Bayern Munich. 

With a stacked roster and constant absences due to national team duty, finding playing time was a constant challenge for Daei. He would remain with Bayern for a single season, overall scoring 6 goals in 32 appearances, mainly as a sub. During his stint with Bayern he would win the DFL-Ligapokal, the Bundesliga and finish runners up in the Champions League.

The following year Daei would transfer to Hertha BSC where he would spend the next three seasons. Daei would have a good couple of years with them, scoring 12 times in 76 games including in the Champions League and UEFA Cup, however, during his last season he would be fighting to playing time. He would play a mere 12 games, going scoreless, before transferring to Al Shabab of the UAE League. He would play a single season with them averaging better than a goal every other game. In 2003 he would return to Iran and rejoin Persepolis and in his single season with them would maintain his UAE goalscoring average while also finishing as the league top scorer.

He spent the next two years at Saba Battery, scoring 35 goals, winning the Hazfi Cup and Iranian Super Cup and participating in the Asian Champions League. At age 37, despite rumors of retirement, he signed for Saipa. With five games into the season, Saipa’s German coach departed and Daei acted as player/coach. During his final season of play, Daei was fined $2,000 and suspended for four games by the Iranian Football Federation after incidents in a league game where he delivered a head-butt to the face of Sheys Rezaei. At the end of the 2006-07 season and with Saipa winning the Iran Pro League, Daei announced his retirement.

Daei would make his first national team appearance in 1993 during the ECO Cup. Later that year he would play an integral role in Iran’s unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 1994 World Cup, scoring 7 goals in the process. 1994 would prove to be a lackluster year as Daei’s only appearance would be in the opening game of the 1994 Asian Games in which he suffered a mid-air collision with the Bahraini goalkeeper’s kung fu kick resulting in several broken ribs, three broken fingers and a ruptured spleen.

With the changing of guard and retiring of older payers, Daei formed an attacking trio along with Azizi and Bagheri in the qualifiers for the 1996 Asian Championship. Daei would score 12 goals enroute to a first place group finish and spot in the finals in the UAE. In the 1996 Asian Championship Daei would score in every game except a scoreless semifinal loss to Saudi Arabia in which he would also miss his penalty kick in the subsequent shootout. In the quarterfinals Daei would net 4 goals against ancient rivals South Korea in a 6-2 demolition. At the end of the tournament Daei would be crowned the top scorer with 8 goals.

Daei resumed his scoring with the national team during the 1998 World Cup qualifiers. In the first round aside from a lone tie against Syria, Iran would win every game. However, in the Syrian game Daei was benched in favor of Garousi, which led to him criticizing the coaching staff and subsequently getting dropped from the team. Prior to the final round of qualifiers, and with the intervention of the Iranian Football Federation, Daei rejoined the team practices.

While initially it seemed like smooth sailing for Iran, accompanied by 2 goals by Daei, however, a late run of poor results led to Iran finishing second in the group. In the Asian playoff Daei would score against Japan although Iran would end up losing 3-2 and have to face Australia in the Intercontinental playoff. Iran would tie 1-1 in Tehran but in the return match, after going down 2-0, Azizi would tie the match on a Daei through ball and Iran would advance to the World Cup on away goals.

In the buildup to the 1998 World Cup Iran would go through 2 coaching changes. Daei would not only go scoreless in the process but also get into a verbal and later physical confrontation with teammate Shahroudi. In spite of this Daei would still be the team’s starting forward in the World Cup. While Daei’s scoreless streak would continue, however, he would provide the pass that Mahdavikia converted in Iran’s 2-1 win against the US. Daei would round out the year by winning a gold medal in the 1998 Asian Games while scoring 8 goals in the process, although in the game against Laos his freekick hit the post and deflected off of the keeper into the net. While this was registered as an own goal, however, had he received credit for it he would have become joint top scorer of the competition. In 1999 he would win Asia’s Footballer of the Year award.

In the 2000 Asian Championship qualifiers Daei would score 6 goals to ensure qualification. He would go on the score once in each group game of the 2000 Asian Championship although a loss in the quarterfinals against South Korea would end his campaign. Daei’s mishandling of a loose ball in the 90^th minute allowed the Koreans to tie the game and eventually bag the winner in extra time.

Daei captained Iran in the 2002 World Cup qualifiers. In the preliminary rounds of qualification Daei would score 5 goals against Guam and Tajikistan to advance to the final round. He would score 5 more times in this round including once in the final game against Bahrain, a 3-1 loss that would send Iran to the playoffs. Daei would score once against the UAE but Iran would come up short against Ireland and fail to qualify. With the Asian Games now being conducted as a U23 competition, Daei would participate as an overage player in the 2002 edition. He would score three goals as Iran would once again win gold although midway through the event he returned to Iran due to the passing away of his father.

In spite of his advancing age, Daei was retained for the 2004 Asian Championship qualifiers. He would score 4 goals to allow Iran to qualify to the tournament. A 35-year old Daei would keep his starting spot in the 2004 Asian Championship but have a disappointing campaign, scoring only 3 goals, 2 of which were penalties. Ultimately he would win a bronze medal with Iran and become the tournament’s all time highest scorer with 14 goals.

With his disappointing performance, advanced age, and an in form Hashemian’s repeated call up rejections due to being Daei’s sub, much criticism was aimed at Daei being included in the 2006 World Cup qualifiers. He still managed to score 9 goals to achieve qualification for the 2006 World Cup although 6 of them were against Laos. He became the first male footballer with 100 international goals when he scored four times against Laos. Leading up to the 2006 World Cup a 37 year-old Daei inclusion as Iran’s main striker caused much drama with the disagreement regarding this issue trickling down to the players as well, causing the national team camp to be split and ununified in the form of pro-Daei and anti-Daei players. Daei would start Iran’s opener against Mexico and following another weak output was selected by the organizers as Iran’s weakest player. He would be benched for the game against Portugal but back in the lineup against Angola. In his last national team match he would have a golden opportunity to give Iran the lead, but somehow headed high from eight yards out with the goal at his mercy.

Following his retirement Daei would begin a coaching career that would also include a stint with the national team during the 2020 World Cup qualifiers. However, following a 2-1 home loss to Saudi Arabia he was removed from his position. He would win 3 Hazfi Cups, twice with Persepolis in 2010 and 2011 and once with Naft in 2017.