AFC Champions League 2016 Key Players: Kaveh Rezaei

AFC – KUALA LUMPUR, With the long-awaited AFC Champions League 2016 Group Stage just around the corner, lets take a look at one of the competition’s key players, Zobahan’s striker Kaveh Rezaei.

KEY PLAYER: KAVEH REZAEI – Zobahan

AFC Champions League Record
Appearances: 0
Goals: 0

PROFILE
Having fired in goals at every youth level of AFC competition, the 2016 AFC Champions League could be where Zobahan striker Kevah Rezaei makes his mark at the highest level of the game.

While Rezaei has already bagged Top Scorer accolades at the 2008 AFC U-16 and 2014 AFC-U22 Championships and it was without a doubt 2015 that was his banner year.

After netting the third goal in Zobahan’s 3-1 Hazfi Cup final victory over Naft Tehran last June, Rezaei made his debut for Iran’s senior national team three months later in the 2018 FIFA World Cup-2019 AFC Cup joint qualifiers.

Now embarking on his first AFC Champions League campaign, the 23-year-old will be looking to fire 2010 runners-up Zobahan back to the upper echelons of the continental game.

IMPORTANCE TO TEAM
Wearing the Zobahan number 9 shirt, Rezaei is a true penalty-box poacher whose physical presence will unsettle defences at the 2016 AFC Champions League.

Good with either foot, although he favours his right, and blessed with a turn of pace that saw him played as a wide forward at former clubs Foolad Khouzestan and Saipa, Rezaei is now very much the central figure in attack for his team.

ONES TO WATCH
Club captain Ghasem Hadadifar was exceptional in the 2014-15 Iran Pro League season as he was named Iranian Footballer of the Year and he is accompanied by Morteza Tabrizi and young star Ehsan Pahlevan, who recently appeared for Iran at the 2016 AFCU23 Championship, in Zobahan’s talented midfield.