Footballer Ghoddos; invited by Sweden but love Iran shirt
Saman Ghoddos was born on September 6, 1993 in Malmö, Sweden.
He is a professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder, striker or winger for Premier League club Brentford and the Iran national team.
Born in Sweden to Iranian parents, he first played for the Swedish national team, before switching allegiance to Iran in 2017.
On 25 August 2017, Ghoddos revealed in an interview that he obtained his Iranian passport from the embassy.
The following day, 26 August 2017, he announced on his Instagram page that he would be joining Iran for their 2018 World Cup qualifiers against South Korea and Syria.
Ghoddos was called up for the first time to Iran’s senior team training camp on 27 August 2017 by coach Carlos Queiroz for Iran’s 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against South Korea and Syria.
After Ghoddos was unable to make his debut for Iran due to administrative issues with FIFA, he was called into Sweden’s World Cup qualifying squad on 27 September for matches against Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
But on September 29, the Swedish Football Association released a statement on its website stating that Ghoddos had rejected the offer and chose to play for Iran instead.
He made his debut for Iran in a 2–0 friendly win against Togo on 5 October 2017. On 9 November, he scored his first goal for Iran in a friendly against Panama.
Ghoddos featured in Team Melli’s 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia campaign against Morocco, Spain and Portugal.
Ghoddos made his World Cup debut against Morocco on 15 June 2018, winning a free-kick that led to a goal for Iran’s first World Cup victory in twenty years.
He was used as a substitute in all three World Cup matches against Morocco, Spain and Portugal.
Iran’s Saman Ghoddos goal against Yemen was nominated for winning the best goal in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup group stage.
In the 36 matches played in the group stage of the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019, a total of 96 goals were scored -2.67 per match – and some of them were truly memorable goals.
He came through the youth system in Malmö and featured in Graham Potter’s Östersund side, before joining the Bees in 2020.
Arsenal head coach Arsene Wenger once admitted that he was a fan of Iranian Ostersund striker Saman Ghoddos.
“The most impressive player in the first game was Ghoddos, who was a fantastic player technically, tactically,” enthused Wenger.
The FIFA World Cup will take place in Qatar from November 21 to December 18, 2022.
The ‘Persian Leopards’ in Group B of the tournament will face England, USA and Wales.
The Iran national football team became the 14th team to book its place in the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
In addition, the ‘Persian Leopards’ became the first Asian team to book their place in a major competition.
Iran, number 21 in the current FIFA world rankings, will kick off their World Cup campaign in Qatar against fifth-ranked England on November 21.
“Iran in the World Cup is always a big story,” revealed Middle Eastern and North African football journalist Uri Levy. “They had a good qualifying campaign. Under Dragan Skocic they showed they have the quality. It’s the talent up front that makes the difference for them. Bayer Leverkusen’s Sardar Azmoun and Porto’s Mehdi Taremi are prominent names in the squad.”
Reported by Amin Mohammadzadegan Khoyi