who is Iran greatest ever player?

[perspolis#1]

Mahdavikia/Nekounam in my mind because they played consistenly in Europe as starters for their teams and even took them places(CL runs/Europa runs/up the La Liga table).
That's the model I want our players following in Europe.

It's easy to say the guy scoring goals is our greatest ever player, but Nekounam/Mahdavikia had roles in their teams that were equally as important. Never forget how at the age of 34+ Nekounam silenced that Omar Abdulrahman and shut down Nigeria/Argentina(mostly).


Daei was amazing and his international record is a source of pride, but I think in the long run, Mahdavikia/Nekounam opened more doors for future players than Daei did.

[kia]

You've left out much more than that even not counting the decades you admit to. Players such as Mehrab Shahrokhi, Homayoun Behzadi, Gholam Hossein Mazloomi, Ghafour Jahani, Safar Iranpak....

Ghafour jahani? LOL. He is a Fereidoun Fazli at best. Even Mazloumi was nothing to write home about. Hala Rowshan ra migofti yek chizi.

[KC McElroy]

Ghafour jahani? LOL. He is a Fereidoun Fazli at best. Even Mazloumi was nothing to write home about. Hala Rowshan ra migofti yek chizi.

Clearly we have different opinions about our players.

[Ali.Karimi79]

There is no such thing as the greatest ever. According to what? International achievements, starting 11, trophys. etc. ?
Every decade brings its talents. Sometimes talents flourish, sometimes they go down the drain.

[Omid177]

I'd vote for Javad Nekounam. He was always there in our dark era (2008-2011). A real leader with character who never gave up and played with gheyrat. I swear to god these years with Daei and Ghotbi were so hard for TM fans but Javad always stepped up in hopeless moments.

[8008s]

let me ask you this, how many goals did Daei serve in the WC, the true international venue ??? at the higher level he could not duplicate.
Although Germany raped Brazil in the WC final, I believe once you lead by 5 or 6 goals you don't attempt to embarrass other team.
That record holds in Asia but this could or would never happen elsewhere.

We have always played against these weak teams. Why didn't others score as many goals as Daei?

[BacheLot]

Daei put up the numbers.

Kia had the most successful international career

Karimi had the most talent

Een for me too
I'd Add Neku next to Kia
That kootoleh Parvin was a bad modafker too ..!growing up he was my fave, Then AK8 , now Azmoun

[Ghermez Agha]

Een for me too
I'd Add Neku next to Kia
That kootoleh Parvin was a bad modafker too ..!growing up he was my fave, Then AK8 , now Azmoun

I always like hearing from older Iranian football fans who followed the 70s era....I'll never know them like I know the 98' and onward generations of Iranian football. My uncle laughs at me when I say daie, AK8 or Kia were better than gheichkani or parvin but I can't really argue it bc I've never seen them play enough. How do they compare?

[Gotham]

KC McElroy should make this poll, Idk many of our older players but there should be more names from our 60s/70s squad when they won the Asian Cup three times. He probably knows them better than most here.

[FeLFeL]

Nekounam, Kia, and Daie (in that order) had the best overall international careers due to their consistency, discipline, work-ethic, and willingness to adapt to different cultures; Something Azizi, Karimi, and Bagheri had issues with (all of whom were just as talented), but if you are talking about their overall contribution to TM, there is really no one person that I can rank above someone else. Every one of these guys were just as important to Team Melli's success as the next guy at some point for us (hence the concept of a "team")!

The same goes for: Parvin, Hassan Rowshan, Parviz Ghelichkhani, Hejazi, Ghayeghran, Farshad Pious, Abedzadeh, Shojaie, Hashemian, and now: Azmoun, Jahanbakhsh, Gucci, and Dejagah.

[KC McElroy]

KC McElroy should make this poll, Idk many of our older players but there should be more names from our 60s/70s squad when they won the Asian Cup three times. He probably knows them better than most here.

I don't see the point in doing it when most people don't know those players. They will simply vote for the recent players that they know.

[Gotham]

I don't see the point in doing it when most people don't know those players. They will simply vote for the recent players that they know.

I always wanted to know a bit more about the 68-76 squads, or at least watch their Asian Cup highlights but I couldn't find many videos of them. Who was our best player in that time interval do you think? I mean you're one of few who got to watch them play.

[KC McElroy]

I always wanted to know a bit more about the 68-76 squads, or at least watch their Asian Cup highlights but I couldn't find many videos of them. Who was our best player in that time interval do you think? I mean you're one of few who got to watch them play.

No actually what I have seen has been youtube highlights. They were before my time but during my teen years I was always reading articles about our previous TM lineups and performances.

[Sly]

let me ask you this, how many goals did Daei serve in the WC, the true international venue ??? at the higher level he could not duplicate.

Although Germany raped Brazil in the WC final, I believe once you lead by 5 or 6 goals you don't attempt to embarrass other team.

That record holds in Asia but this could or would never happen elsewhere.

Are you serious? Not scoring goals in only 3 WC games is not basis for judgment (I don't count his second WC tournament as he shouldn't even have played then). Which one of our other strikers have scored goals in the WC? If you want scoring goals at higher level, take a look at his goals against Milan and Chelsea in the CL! It is specially not easy to score goals against defensive minded Italian teams, let alone against Milan of that time who possessed some of the best defenders in the history of the game.

Now I'm not saying Daei was the greatest Iranian player ever (I have indicated whom I think it is earlier in this thread) but you can not undermine his achievements by saying most of his goals were scored against weak Asian teams, or else all of our strikers could have scored that many goals against them.

Daei is hands down the biggest International face for the Iranian football and if a lot of people select him as the greatest ever, I completely understand why.

[8008s]

He played second WC as he felt he could contribute so we're looking at no score in half dozen WC games. I myself value defense and midfielders more that forwards as they reap benefits of the team work many times. Daei was great, his record brought recognition for Iran. I consider him top three players of Iran but don't consider his record meaningful considering level of some opponents.

Put ronaldo (or another hungry player ) and Purtegal against Maldives & Sri Lanka and Guam and he could reset the record in two or three games for you.

Are you serious? Not scoring goals in only 3 WC games is not basis for judgment (I don't count his second WC tournament as he shouldn't even have played then). .