Rezaei, Rahman

Rahman Rezaei (رحمان رضایی) was a center-back and the first Iranian to play in Italy’s Serie A. Born in 1975, he has won numerous plaudits in Italy and has been dubbed "The Flying Carpet" and the "Secretary of Defense". He was originally a forward before converting to an indispensable defensive stalwart.

He started his career in Tehran in 1995 playing for Bargh and Rah Ahan before transferring to and playing for Zob Ahan in Isfahan for five seasons. It was during this time and by Hejazi’s request that Rezaei shifted to a central defender and would remain in this position for the rest of his career. After impressive performances for the club and the national team, he was transferred to Perugia in Serie A where he played for two seasons. He then moved to Messina in Serie B for the 2003-04 season where he helped them gain promotion to Serie A where they would finish in mid-table in their 2004–05 season. After steadily playing for his club for three seasons, he would spend another couple of seasons in Serie A playing for Livorno. All together Rezaei would play 175 matches in Italy.

He would return to Iran in 2008 playing for Persepolis for a season before leaving for Qatar and signing a one-year contract with Al Ahli SC. Once his contract was up he returned to Iran to join Shahin Bushehr and then Paykan. He announced his retirement from football in July of 2012.

Rezaei would play for Iran 54 times over a six year span and score three goals. He made his first appearance for Iran in July 2001 against Bosnia and prominently featured in Iran’s lineup throughout the year. He was part of the unsuccessful campaign to qualify for the 2002 World Cup. He would score his first national team goal the following year in a friendly against Kuwait. Due to his club commitments in Italy, he only participated in two qualifying games for the 2004 AsianChampionship, however, he was present for the AFC/OFC Challenge Cup against the reigning OFC champion New Zealand which resulted in a 3-0 win for Iran.

Rezaei would represent Iran in the 2004 Asian Championship and ultimately win a bronze medal although he would be remembered for the wrong reasons. In a bizarre exchange Rezaei and Badavi began arguing over man-marking and ended up exchanging blows in a bizarre confrontation where both were lucky not to receive a red card. 

Once again club commitments limited Rezaei’s contributions to the 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign although he would participate in eight of 12 qualifiers and help guide Iran to the World Cup. He would play in all three games at the 2006 World Cup although late in the opener against Mexico and with the score tied 1-1, Mirzapour’s poor clearance would combine with a giveaway by Rezaei to give Mexico the lead in an ultimate 3-1 loss.

Rezaei would participate in half of the qualifiers for the 2007 Asian Championship, ironically all of the away games. With qualification easily obtained he manned the central defense of Iran in the 2007 Asian Championship. He had a nightmare of a start in the opener against Uzbekistan when his header back to the keeper was overhit and looped over Roudbarian who had came off his line. In spite of the goal Iran would overturn the deficit for a 2-1 win. He would make further appearances against China and Malaysia. In the latter his headed pass contributed to an excellent opportunity that came off of the woodwork. He would once again take the field in the quarterfinals against archrivals South Korea and following 120 minutes of scoreless play, Iran would be eliminated on penalty kicks, thus ending Rezaei’s national team career. He would be included in the tournament’s all star selection.

Following his retirement Rezaei coached for a number of clubs in Iran and eventually became the assistant coach of the national team.