View source for Amir Ghalenoei

{{short description|Iranian football coach and former player (born 1963)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name= Ardeshir "Amir" Ghalenoei
| image = Amir Ghalenoei 14021114000776638425776058160814 23579.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Ghalenoei in 2024
| fullname = Ardeshir "Amir" Ghalenoei
| height = {{height|m=1.65}}
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=y|1963|11|22}}
| birth_place = [[Tehran]], [[Imperial State of Iran]]
| currentclub = [[Iran national football team|Iran]] (Manager)
| clubnumber =
| position = [[Midfielder]]
| youthyears1 = 1979–1981
| youthclubs1 = [[Rah Ahan F.C.|Rah Ahan]]
| years1 = 1981–1982
| years2 = 1982–1987
| years3 = 1987–1989
| years4 = 1989–1997
| clubs1 = [[Rah Ahan F.C.|Rah Ahan]]
| clubs2 = [[Shahin F.C.|Shahin]]
| clubs3 = [[Al-Sadd Sports Club|Al-Sadd]]
| clubs4 = [[Esteghlal Tehran FC|Esteghlal]]
| caps1 = 
| caps2 = 
| caps3 = 
| caps4 = 
| goals1 = 
| goals2 = 
| goals3 = 
| goals4 = 
| nationalyears1 = 1979–1981
| nationalteam1 = [[Iran national under-20 football team|Iran U-20]]
| nationalyears2 = 1985–1996
| nationalteam2 = [[Iran national football team|Iran]]
| nationalcaps1 = 
| nationalgoals1 = 
| nationalcaps2 = 20
| nationalgoals2 = 1
| manageryears1 = 1999–2000
| manageryears2 = 2001–2002
| manageryears3 = 2002
| manageryears4 = 2002–2003
| manageryears5 = 2003–2006
| manageryears6 = 2006–2007
| manageryears7 = 2008
| manageryears8 = 2008–2009
| manageryears9 = 2009–2011
| manageryears10 = 2011–2012
| manageryears11 = 2012–2015
| manageryears12 = 2015–2017
| manageryears13 = 2017–2018
| manageryears14 = 2018–2020
| manageryears15 = 2020–2023
| manageryears16 = 2023–
| managerclubs1 = [[Keshavarz F.C.|Keshavarz]]
| managerclubs2 = [[Bargh Tehran F.C.|Bargh Tehran]]
| managerclubs3 = [[Esteghlal Tehran FC|Esteghlal]] {{small|(caretaker)}}
| managerclubs4 = [[Esteghlal Ahvaz F.C.|Esteghlal Ahvaz]]
| managerclubs5 = [[Esteghlal Tehran FC|Esteghlal]]
| managerclubs6 = [[Iran national football team|Iran]]
| managerclubs7 = [[Mes Kerman F.C.|Mes Kerman]]
| managerclubs8 = [[Esteghlal Tehran FC|Esteghlal]]
| managerclubs9 = [[Sepahan S.C.|Sepahan]]
| managerclubs10 = [[Tractor S.C.|Tractor]]
| managerclubs11 = [[Esteghlal FC|Esteghlal]]
| managerclubs12 = [[Tractor S.C.|Tractor]]
| managerclubs13 = [[Zob Ahan F.C.|Zob Ahan]]
| managerclubs14 = [[Sepahan S.C.|Sepahan]]
| managerclubs15 = [[Gol Gohar Sirjan F.C.|Gol Gohar]]
| managerclubs16 = [[Iran national football team|Iran]]
| medaltemplates = 
{{medalSport|Men's [[Association football|football]]}}
{{Medal|Country|{{Fb|IRI}}}}<small> (as manager)</small>
{{MedalComp|[[CAFA Nations Cup|CAFA Championships]]}}
{{Medal|W|[[2023 CAFA Nations Cup|2023 KGZ-UZB]]|}}

}}'''Ardeshir "Amir" Ghalenoei''' ({{langx|fa|{{audio|Ghalenoei.ogg|امیر قلعه‌نویی}}}}; born 22 November 1963) is an Iranian [[association football|football]] coach and former player who currently manages [[Iran national football team]]. He has been the most successful coach in the [[Iran Pro League]] and managed several clubs, including [[Esteghlal Tehran FC|Esteghlal]], [[Mes Kerman F.C.|Mes Kerman]], [[Sepahan S.C.]] and [[Tractor S.C.|Tractor]], with two of which he won a total of five championships and two [[Hazfi Cup]] titles. He was also the head coach of [[Iran national football team]] from August 2006 to July 2007 where he managed the team for the [[2007 AFC Asian Cup]] where Iran was eliminated in the quarter-finals. He returned as coach of Iran in 2023 and led them to a semi-final appearance at the [[2023 AFC Asian Cup]].

==Club career==

===Rah Ahan===
Ardeshir (Amir) Ghalenoei was born on 21 November 1963 in Tehran, Iran. His father, a taxi driver, died when Amir was only thirteen years old. He began his career in the late 1970s after passing a technical test for [[Rah Ahan F.C.|Rah Ahan]], one of the oldest clubs in the Iranian football. He played for the club's youth team for two years and was promoted to the first team squad in 1981 by [[Nasser Ebrahimi]]. He had a good performance there and scored three goals during the domestic Tehran Hazfi cup. Ghalenoei left the club after the club's head coach signed for [[Shahin F.C.|Shahin]].

===Shahin===
When Ebrahimi became [[Shahin F.C.|Shahin]]'s coach, Ghalenoei moved to Shahin along with him. Shahin had several national players such as [[Nasrollah Abdollahi]], [[Mehdi Dinvarzadeh]], [[Hamid Majd Teymouri]]. Ebrahimi left the club in 1984, succeeded by [[Mehrab Shahrokhi]] who was the head coach for a short period before being replaced by Nasrollah Abdollahi. Ghalenoei became the club's captain after the retirement of Dinvarzadeh. During his time in Shahin, he helped the team to finish as runner-up in two [[Tehran Football Competitions|Tehran leagues]] in 1985 and 1986.

He played his last match for Shahin in a 2–0 victory against [[Persepolis F.C.|Persepolis]] where both goals were on Ghalenoei's assists. He left the team in the middle of the 1987–88 season and signed with the Qatari club of [[Al-Sadd]].

===Al-Sadd===
He signed a {{frac|1|1|2}}-year contract with [[Al-Sadd]] in 1987. He helped his side to two domestic league titles and one [[Emir of Qatar]] (FA Cup) title. Al-Sadd also won [[1988–89 Asian Club Championship|1988–89 edition]] of [[AFC Champions League]] in spring of 1989 after defeating [[Al-Rasheed]] in the final. However, Ghalenoei had already left the club and returned to Iran, and thus was not a member of the Asian champions squad.

===Esteghlal===
[[File:Esteghlal FC vs Gol Gohar Sirjan FC, 6 March 2023 - 13.jpg|left|thumb|[[Esteghlal F.C.|Esteghlal]] shirt with Ghalenoei name given to him by the club in 2023]]
He joined [[Esteghlal F.C.|Esteghlal]] in July 1989 and played for the club until his retirement. He made his debut in a game against [[Persepolis F.C.|Persepolis]] in a quarter final [[Hazfi Cup]] match where he lost his penalty kick.

He won the Iran league title in his first full season (1989–90) at the club in spring 1990. Esteghlal also won the [[Asian Club Championship]] on the following season (1990–91) after nearly twenty years.

Ghalenoei lost most of the next season (1991–92) due to a heavy injury. At that season, Esteghlal could not obtain an entry to the next season (1992–93) of Azadegan league and thus was asked to play in the [[Iran Football's 3rd Division|3rd Division]] for one season. This meant the departure of many players like [[Ahmad Reza Abedzadeh]], [[Shahrokh Bayani]], [[Majid Namjoo-Motlagh]], [[Samad Marfavi]] and [[Reza Ahadi]] but Ghalenoei remained at the team and was chosen as the club's new captain. Esteghlal again rose to the top level of Iranian football in 1994–95 and was ranked second on their first season return to the competition. Ghalenoei also scored twice in the final game of the following season (1995–96) [[Hazfi Cup]]. In his last season in Esteghlal, they started off successfully both in the Iranian and Asian Cup Winners' Cup, but could not sustain the good performance. Their head coach, [[Mansour Pourheidari]] – who had the club to the Asian glory – resigned midseason and [[Nasser Hejazi]] was appointed as the head coach and finished the league with sixth position. He retired at the end of this season after missing many matches due to injury.

He was the captain of Esteghlal in the last four years of his career, known as "General", a title bestowed on him by fans due to his outstanding skills in leading the team during his career as the club.

==International career==
===International goals===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Date !! Venue !! Opponent !! Result !! Competition !! Goals
|-
| 1996-06-18 || [[Kuwait City]], Kuwait || {{fb|Kuwait}} || 2–2 || Friendly || 1
|-
|}

==Managerial career==

===Esteghlal Ahvaz===
After serving as the Esteghlal's interim head coach in 5 matches in spring 2002 and winning the Hazfi cup with this team, he was appointed as Esteghlal's assistant coach for the next season (2002–03). However, he left the team before the season started and joined [[Esteghlal Ahvaz]] in the 5th week of the 2002–03 league.

===Esteghlal Tehran===
[[File:78th Esteghlal Perspolis derby 06.jpg|thumb|Ghalenoei managing Esteghlal at [[Tehran derby]]]]
He was officially named as Esteghlal's head coach before the [[2003–04 Iran Pro League|2003–04 season]] by the club chairman [[Mohammad Gharib]]. He succeeded [[Mansour Pourheidari]] who Ghalenoei was his assistant for the years. At the end of the season, Esteghlal lost the league after a defeat to [[Esteghlal Ahvaz F.C.|Esteghlal Ahvaz]], team Ghalenoei coached in 2002 in the final match.

===Iranian national team===
[[IRIFF]] appointed Ghalenoei as head coach of the Iran national football team on 17 July 2006 to succeed [[Branko Ivanković]]. After finishing first in the qualifying round 2 points ahead of South Korea and then finishing first in the group stage of the final tournament in Malaysia, Iran lost to [[South Korea national football team|South Korea]] in the penalty shoot-outs of the Quarters Final match and was eliminated from the [[2007 Asian Cup]]. Ghalenoei was heavily criticized by the press. After a period of discussion in the Iranian football federation, his contract was not renewed and national team was left with a caretaker manager for several months.

===Mes Kerman===
Despite being in negotiations with [[Uzbek League]] champions [[FC Pakhtakor Tashkent]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Amir Ghalenoei in Pakhtakor talks|url=http://www.afcchampionsleague.com/en/news/index.asp?aid=51826&cid=1397|publisher=The-AFC.com|access-date=1 January 2008}}{{Dead link|date=October 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> on 1 January 2008, Ghalenoei signed a contract until the end of the [[2007–08 Persian Gulf Cup|2007–08]] season with [[Iran Pro League]] side [[Mes Kerman F.C.|Mes Kerman]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Ghalenoei becomes Head Coach of Mes Kerman F.C.|url=http://www.iransport.net/News/asp/Detail_News.asp?id=44261|publisher=IranSport.net|access-date=1 January 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080104071054/http://www.iransport.net/News/Asp/Detail_News.asp?id=44261|archive-date=4 January 2008|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref> where he led the club to finish among the top teams of the second half-season, even though it was at the bottom of the table when he accepted the job.

===Sepahan===
He signed for [[Sepahan F.C.|Sepahan]] in summer 2009. Where he won the [[Persian Gulf Cup]] for the second time in a row, but failed to qualify for last 16 in the [[AFC Champions League]] for the second time in the row.

Ghalenoei renewed his contract with Sepahan for the upcoming season, where he won the league for the third time in the row and second time with Sepahan. Sepahan had excellent performance in [[AFC Champions League]] as well and qualified for quarter final with five wins in seven matches. However, after that he left Sepahan on 4 June 2011 due to conflict with the new board director<ref>[http://www.tabnak.ir/fa/news/168761/جدایی-قلعه- Ghalenoei resigns as Sepahan Head Coach]</ref> though he had led the club to the quarter finals of the [[AFC Champions League]] as the best team of the west Asian division.

===Tractor===
[[File:Tractor Sazi coaching staff.jpg|thumb|250px|Ghalenoei and his staff at [[Tractor S.C.|Tractor]]]]
On 13 June 2011, he was named as new [[Tractor S.C.|Tractor]] head coach.<ref>[http://www.varzesh3.com/news.do?itemid=46281&title=امير_قلعه‌نويي_سرمربي_تراكتورسازي_تبريز_شد_ Ghalenoei becomes Tractor's head coach]</ref>

===Club statistics===
These statistics include all formal club-level games since Ghalenoei started coaching at the highest division of Iran football in 2002: Iran Pro League, Hazfi Cup, and AFC Champions League.

{{updated|5 April 2022}}
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: center"
|-
!rowspan=2|Team
!rowspan=2|From
!rowspan=2|To
!colspan=8|Record
|-
!G!!W!!D!!L!!Win %!!GF!!GA!!+/-
|-
|[[Esteghlal Tehran FC|Esteghlal]]
|align="left"|June 2002
|align="left"|June 2002
{{WDL|5|3|1|1}}||12||9||+3
|-
|[[Esteghlal Ahvaz F.C.|Esteghlal Ahvaz]]
|align="left"|November 2002
|align="left"|June 2003
{{WDL|21|5|9|7}}||18||20||−2
|-
|[[Esteghlal Tehran FC|Esteghlal]]
|align="left"|July 2003
|align="left"|July 2006
{{WDL|95|52|31|12}}||163||92||+71
|-
|[[Sanat Mes Kerman F.C.|Mes Kerman]]
|align="left"|January 2008
|align="left"|May 2008
{{WDL|17|7|7|3}} ||20||12||+8
|-
|[[Esteghlal Tehran FC|Esteghlal]]
|align="left"|May 2008
|align="left"|June 2009
{{WDL|45|21|15|9}}||90||47||+43
|-
|[[Sepahan F.C.|Sepahan]]
|align="left"|July 2009
|align="left"|June 2011
{{WDL|86|47|26|13}}||155||72||+83
|-
|[[Tractor S.C.|Tractor]]
|align="left"|July 2011
|align="left"|June 2012
{{WDL|35|19|10|6}} ||57||32||+25
|-
|[[Esteghlal F.C.|Esteghlal]]
|align="left"|June 2012
|align="left"|June 2015
{{WDL|121|64|32|25}}||165||99||+66
|-
|[[Tractor S.C.|Tractor]]
|align="left"|December 2015
|align="left"|May 2017
{{WDL|62|35|16|11}} ||104||53||+51
|-
|[[Zob Ahan F.C.|Zob Ahan]]
|align="left"|June 2017
|align="left"|June 2018
{{WDL|40|19|12|9}} ||58||43||+15
|-
|[[Sepahan F.C.|Sepahan]]
|align="left"|June 2018
|align="left"|August 2020
{{WDL|70|31|28|11}} ||97||52||+45
|-
|[[Gol Gohar Sirjan F.C.|Gol Gohar]]
|align="left"|September 2020
|align="left"|March 2023
{{WDL|92|43|25|24}} ||124||96||+28
|-
!colspan=3|Total
!689!!346!!213!!281!!50.86!!1063!!627!!+436
|}

====As manager of Esteghlal====
[[File:Amir Ghalenoei in press conference 1.jpg|thumb|Ghalenoei in press conference before [[Tehran derby]] as manager of Esteghlal]]
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:100%; text-align: center;"
|-
!width="100"|Tournament
!width="60"|Games
!width="40"|Won
!width="40"|Draw
!width="40"|Lost
!width="40"|GF
!width="40"|GA
|-
|[[Iran Pro League|League]]
|212||113||67||35||330||198
|-
|[[Hazfi Cup|Cup]]
|43||33||5||5||104||30
|-
|[[AFC Champions League|ACL]]
|24||9||8||7||33||27
|-
!Total
!265!!138!!81!!46!!422!!246
|-
|}

===Iran National Team statistics===
{{Updated|match played 10 June 2025}}
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: center"
|-
!rowspan="2"|National Team
!rowspan="2"|From
!rowspan="2"|To
!colspan="8"|Record
|-
!G!!W!!D!!L!!Win %!!GF!!GA!!+/-
|-
| rowspan="2" |{{flagicon|Iran}} [[Team Melli|Iran]]
|align="left"|August 2006
|align="left"|July 2007
{{WDL|17|10|6|1}} ||30||12||+18
|-
|align="left"|March 2023
|align="left"| ''Present''
{{WDL|33|25|6|2}} ||81||25||+56
|-
!colspan="3"|Total
!50!!35!!12!!3!!70.00!!111!!37!!+74
|}

==Honours==

===Player===
;Rahahan
*[[Tehran Hazfi Cup]]: [[Tehran Football Competitions|1980]] (Runner-up)

;Shahin
*[[Tehran Football Competitions|Tehran League]]: [[Tehran Football Competitions|1985]] (Runner-up), [[Tehran Football Competitions|1986]] (Runner-up)

;Esteghlal
*[[Asian Club Championship]] (1): [[1990–91 Asian Club Championship|1990–91]], [[1991–92 Asian Club Championship|1991–92]] (Runner-up)
*[[Iranian Football League|Iranian league]] (1): [[Qods League|1989–90]], [[Iranian Football League|1991–92]] (Runner-up), [[Iranian Football League|1994–95]] (Runner-up)
*[[Hazfi Cup]] (1): [[Hazfi Cup|1990–91]] (Runner-up), [[Hazfi Cup|1995–96]]
*[[Tehran Football Competitions|Tehran league]] (1): [[Tehran Football Competitions|1989]] (Runner-up), [[Tehran Football Competitions|1990]] (Runner-up), [[Tehran Football Competitions|1991]]

;Al-Sadd
*[[Qatar League]] (1): [[Qatar League|1987–88]]
*[[Emir of Qatar Cup|Emir Cup]] (1): [[Emir of Qatar Cup|1988]]

===Manager===
;Esteghlal
*[[Iranian Football League|Iranian league]] (3): [[2005–06 Iran Pro League|2005–06]], [[2008–09 Iran Pro League|2008–09]], [[2012–13 Iran Pro League|2012–13]]
*[[Hazfi Cup]] (2): [[Hazfi Cup|2001–02]], [[Hazfi Cup|2003–04]]

;Sepahan
*[[Iranian Football League|Iranian league]] (2): [[2009–10 Iran Pro League|2009–10]], [[2010–11 Iran Pro League|2010–11]]

===Individual===
*[[Asian Football Confederation|Asian Manager of the Year]]: 2007 (Runner-up)
*[[List of Iranian football league winning managers|Iranian Manager of the Year]] (5): 2006, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2018
*[[Iran football award winners|Iran Football Federation Award]] coach of the season (1): [[2012–13 Iran Pro League|2012–13]]
*[[Navad]] Manager of the Month (5): January 2018, April 2018, May 2018, September 2018, October 2018

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Amir Ghalenoei}}
*{{Instagram|amirghalenoei}}

<!--Navigation boxes-->

{{s-start-collapsible|header={{s-ach}}}}
{{succession box|title=[[List of Iranian football league winning managers|Iran Pro League Winning Manager]]|before= [[Mladen Frančić]] |after= [[Ali Daei]]|years=2005–06}}
{{succession box|title=[[List of Iranian football league winning managers|Iran Pro League Winning Manager]]|before= [[Afshin Ghotbi]]|after= [[Zlatko Kranjčar]] |years=2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11}}
{{succession box|title=[[List of Iranian football league winning managers|Iran Pro League Winning Manager]]|before= [[Zlatko Kranjčar]]|after= [[Hossein Faraki]] |years=2012–13}}
{{s-end}}

{{S-start}}
{{s-sports}}
{{succession box
|title=[[Esteghlal Tehran FC]] captain
|before= [[Shahin Bayani]]
|after= [[Javad Zarincheh]]
|years=1992–1997}}
{{S-end}}

{{Current managers of AFC national teams}}
{{Navboxes
|title = Iran squads
|bg = white
|fg = #DA0000
|bordercolor = #239F40
|list1=
{{Iran squad 2007 AFC Asian Cup}}
{{Iran squad 2023 AFC Asian Cup}}
}}
{{Navboxes
|title=Awards
|bg=gold
|fg=navy
|list1=
{{Iran Coach of the Year}}
{{Hazfi Cup winning managers}}
}}
{{Navboxes
|title= Managerial positions
|list1=
{{Esteghlal Ahvaz F.C. managers}}
{{Esteghlal F.C. managers}}
{{Iran national football team managers}}
{{Mes Kerman F.C. managers}}
{{Sepahan F.C. managers}}
{{Teraktor Sazi F.C. managers}}
{{Zob Ahan F.C. managers}}
}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghalenoei, Amir}}
[[Category:1963 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Footballers from Tehran]]
[[Category:Iranian men's footballers]]
[[Category:Esteghlal F.C. players]]
[[Category:Esteghlal F.C. managers]]
[[Category:Sepahan S.C. managers]]
[[Category:Shahin Tehran F.C. players]]
[[Category:Iranian football managers]]
[[Category:Iran men's international footballers]]
[[Category:Iran national football team managers]]
[[Category:Sanat Mes Kerman F.C. managers]]
[[Category:Al Sadd SC players]]
[[Category:Gol Gohar Sirjan F.C. managers]]
[[Category:Iranian expatriate men's footballers]]
[[Category:2007 AFC Asian Cup managers]]
[[Category:2023 AFC Asian Cup managers]]
[[Category:Tractor S.C. managers]]
[[Category:Men's association football midfielders]]
[[Category:Iranian restaurateurs]]
[[Category:Qatar Stars League players]]
[[Category:Footballers at the 1994 Asian Games]]
[[Category:Asian Games footballers for Iran]]
[[Category:Esteghlal Ahvaz F.C. managers]]
[[Category:Persian Gulf Pro League managers]]