Daei :: Ali Daei

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Ali Daei (Persian: pronounced ; born 21 March 1969) is an Iranian football manager and former professional footballer. A striker, he was the captain of the Iranian national team between 2000 and 2006. He played in the German Bundesliga for Arminia Bielefeld, Bayern Munich and Hertha Berlin. He is regarded as one of the greatest Iranian footballers of all time as well as the greatest footballer from Asia. A tall forward, Daei was a prolific goal-scorer, who was known for his heading accuracy and ability in the air. He was the world's top international goal-scorer with 108 goals until his record was broken by Cristiano Ronaldo in 2021 and went to third after being surpassed again by Lionel Messi in 2024. During his playing career, Daei was appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 2001. Following his retirement, Daei served as a member of the FIFA Football Committee between 2007 and 2013. In 2014, he was inducted into the Asian Football Hall of Fame. Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License - Full article