Firouz Karimi (Persian: فیروز کریمی, born 13 April 1958)[1] is an Iranian football coach and former player.

Firouz Karimi
Karimi managing Gostaresh Foulad in 2017
Personal information
Full name Firouz Karimi
Date of birth (1958-04-13) 13 April 1958 (age 66)
Place of birth Tehran, Iran
Position(s) Defender
Team information
Current team
Sanat Naft (manager)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1970–1976 Shahrbani
1976–1981 Pas Tehran
1981–1984 Sarbaz
1984–1988 Pas Tehran
Managerial career
1989–1993 Pas Tehran
1993–1994 Sepahan
1994–1996 Bahman
1996–1997 Pas Tehran
1997–1998 Polyacryl
1998–1999 Tractor
1999–2000 Esteghlal Ahvaz
2000–2001 Aboomoslem
2001 Pas Tehran
2001–2002 Esteghlal Ahvaz
2002 Shahab Zanjan
2002–2004 Aboomoslem
2004–2006 Rah Ahan
2006–2007 Esteghlal Ahvaz
2007–2008 Esteghlal
2008–2009 Saba Battery
2009–2010 Damash Gilan
2011 Gostaresh
2012 Esteghlal Ahvaz
2012–2013 Shahin Bushehr
2013 Paykan
2013 Sang Ahan
2014 Zob Ahan
2014–2015 Malavan
2016–2017 Oxin Alborz
2017 Sanat Naft
2017–2018 Gostaresh Foulad
2018 Machine Sazi
2019 Naft Masjed Soleyman
2019–2020 Atrak Bojnourd
2020–2021 Shams Azar Qazvin
2021 Tractor
2022 Sanat Naft
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Early life

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Firouz Karimi was born on 13 April 1958 in Tehran, Iran.

Playing career

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He began playing football in Shahrbani F.C. in 1970 and joined Pas Tehran in 1976. He won the Takht Jamshid Cup twice with Pas. He left Pas in 1981 and joined Sarbaz but returned to Pas in 1984. He was also invited to the Iran national football team in 1980 but never played for the national team. He retired in 1984.[2]

Coaching career

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He was selected as head coach of Pas Tehran in 1989. He could bring the team from 2nd Division to the Azadegan League in 1990. He won the 1991–92 and 1992–93 seasons and brought the Asian Club Championship for the team in 1993. He resigned after it and was appointed as Sepahan head coach later. He was sacked by the club in 1994 and became the head coach of Bahman going on to win the Hazfi Cup one year later. He was re-appointed as head coach of Pas in 1996 for one season.[3] After these events, Polyacryl Esfahan signed a contract with Karimi but resigned after bad results. He was also head coach of Tabriz based Tractor Sazi from 1998 to 1999. He became head coach of Esteghlal Ahvaz in 1999 and led the team until 2000. He was manager of Aboomoslem for just six months in 2000 and was again selected to be Esteghlal Ahvaz's head coach in 2001. He resigned as head coach Esteghlal Ahvaz to become the head coach of PAS for a third spell. Shahab Zanjan and Aboomoslem was his next teams. He was appointed as Rah Ahan head coach in June 2004. He led the team in two seasons and was sacked in February 2006. He was again appointed as Esteghlal Ahvaz head coach in June 2006. After the resignation of Nasser Hejazi as head coach of Esteghlal, he became head coach of Esteghlal in November 2007 who, under his management, were ranked 13th. This was regarded as a bad result for the team in the history of Esteghlal.[4] He resigned in May 2008 and was appointed as head coach of Saba Battery in July 2008. He was sacked by the club in June 2009. After it he signed a contract with Azadegan League side Damash Gilan in July 2009 but resigned after the team failed to get promoted to the Iran Pro League in the play-off. He became head coach of Shahin Bushehr on 6 October 2011 after Hamid Derakhshan's departure.[5] He led the Shahin to the final of the 2011–12 Hazfi Cup but, after bad results in the league, he was fired by the club. On 27 January 2013, he became head coach of Paykan but his side was relegated to the Azadegan League at the end of the season.

In May 2013, Karimi was fired by Paykan and was replaced by Farhad Kazemi. Subsequently he was named as manager of Zob Ahan. He saved the club from relegation, however, he left the club at the end of the season after not agreeing on a new contract. On 6 December 2014, Karimi became head coach of Malavan.[citation needed]

Statistics

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As of 5 November 2021
Team From To Record
G W D L Win %
Pas Tehran May 1989 May 1993 56 39 13 4 069.64
Sepahan July 1993 July 1994 26 7 8 11 026.92
Pas Tehran June 1996 July 1997 30 15 11 4 050.00
Tractor Sazi June 1998 May 1999 30 7 13 10 023.33
Pas Tehran July 2001 September 2001 6 5 0 1 083.33
Rah Ahan June 2004 February 2006 30 10 7 13 033.33
Esteghlal Ahvaz July 2006 November 2007 42 21 14 7 050.00
Esteghlal November 2007 May 2008 20 6 5 9 030.00
Saba Battery July 2008 June 2009 34 11 18 5 032.35
Damash Gilan July 2009 May 2010 26 14 6 6 053.85
Shahin Bushehr October 2011 February 2012 14 3 5 6 021.43
Paykan January 2013 July 2013 12 1 2 9 008.33
Zob Ahan February 2014 June 2014 4 3 0 1 075.00
Malavan December 2014 July 2015 13 5 4 4 038.46
Oxin Alborz July 2016 December 2016 16 8 2 6 050.00
Sanat Naft January 2017 July 2017 15 4 5 6 026.67
Gostaresh Foulad September 2017 July 2018 19 6 6 7 031.58
Machine Sazi July 2018 August 2018 5 0 4 1 000.00
Tractor July 2021 August 2021 6 4 0 2 066.67
Tractor September 2021 November 2021 5 1 0 4 020.00
Total 409 170 123 116 041.56

Honours

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As player

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Pas Tehran

As manager

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Pas Tehran
Bahman

References

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  1. ^ "زندگینامه: فیروز کریمی (۱۳۳۵-)". 20 December 2008.
  2. ^ Firouz Karimi
  3. ^ Biography of Firouz Karimi
  4. ^ Firouz Karimi, 23rd head-coach of Esteghlal
  5. ^ Derakhshan left Shahin, Karimi became new head coach
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Awards and achievements
Preceded by Iran Pro League Winning Manager
1991–92, 1992–93
Succeeded by