Kaabi, Hossein

Kaabi began his football career at the Esteglal Ahwaz Academy, and then moved to Fulad . It was in this club that the Croatian coach Vinko Begovic revealed Kaabi's talent and began to put it in the foundation, despite his youth. He was called up to the Iranian national team until the age of 17, and after the Asian Cup he was also called up to the country's main team. European clubs began to show attention to Kaabi, in 2003 he went through a three-week viewing at Wolverhampton Wanderers ^[2] . He was part of the team that won the Iran championship in 2004, for the first time in the history of Fulad. Kaabi disappointed many when he signed a contract with a club from the UAE Emirates . In the UAE, Kaabi did not play and returned to his homeland, but to Persepolis .

On July 5, 2007, Kaabi signed a two-year contract with Leicester City for an unnamed amount ^[3] . He made his debut in England, coming on as a substitute in a winning 4: 1 match with Watford on August 25 ^[4] . Throughout his stay in Leicester, Kaabi used the services of an interpreter, since he did not know English. Problems with form and adaptation led to the fact that the player was transferred to the reserve staff after the dismissal of coach Martin Allen on August 29 ^[5] .

In an interview on September 19, Kaabi stated that he was pleased with everything at Leicester and would like to show his talent to fans ^[6] . But on October 15, he told the Leicester Mercury newspaper that he was upset by his presence in the reserve. He later told Sky Sports that if his stay on the bench continued, he would consider leaving Leicester ^{[7] [8]} .

Finally, Kaabi entered the field on December 11 in a lost 1: 3 match with Ipswich Town ^[9] . Although the new coach Ian Holloway did not include him on the list of players for sale, the next match with Hull City was the last for Kaabi in Leicester ^[10] . The contract was terminated by mutual agreement on February 4, 2008, and the player was prevented from finding work in England by closing the transfer window on February 1.

Kaabi returned to his homeland in Persepolis . He won the championship of Iran for the second time. Despite the proposal from the team to extend the contract, he decided to move to the Saipa club, saying that he wanted to try his hand at the new club, and could not play at Persepolis anymore, without explanation. Many believed that he moved to Saipu due to better financial conditions. After two seasons in Saipa and performances in the Asian Champions League, Kaabi joined Steel Azin . After spending two seasons there, he went to Rah Ahan , where he joined his beloved coach Ali Daei . However, soon there was a conflict between Kaabi and Daei because of the player’s constant lateness in training, and Kaabi moved to Sanat Naft in January 2013, where he played for six months and moved to Esteglal Khuzestan before the start of the 2013-14 season, where he completed career.

Kaabi played his first match for the Iranian national team, he was barely 16 years old, and scored the first goal in an unofficial match against Cameroon on August 15, 2003 ^[11] . Kaabi held his first official goal for Iran against New Zealand in 2003 at the AFC / OFK Challenge Cup. In 2004, he was named among the 10 most promising players in world football according to World Soccer Magazine . Kaabi was part of the 2004 Asian Cup, where Iran won third place and also won the 2004 West Asian Football Federation Championship . Kaabi joined the Iranian team at the 2006 World Cup, having appeared on the field in all three matches of the group stage. His most memorable match in the tournament was the game against Portugal, where he managed to “close” Cristiano Ronaldo and Figo ^[12] . Kaabi was also included in the Asian Cup 2007 team, but appeared on the field only once, in a game against China, which ended in a draw 2-2 ^[13] . He also played in the 2011 Asian Cup selection. In 2010, he made a mistake in a friendly match against Qatar, because of which Iran lost in the last minutes, and subsequently only went for a substitution.

Club :

  Fulad

• Iran Football Championship : 2004-2005

  Persepolis

• Iran Football Championship : 2007-2008

National:

  Iran national team

• AFC / OFC Challenge Cup : 2003
• West Asian Football Federation Championship : 2004
• Asian Football Championship among junior teams (U16) , finalist: 2000

• Player profile on soccerbase.com
• Hossein Kaebi at TeamMelli.com
• Hossein Kaebi's Profile at Leicester City Official Site