Ebrahim Sadeghi (Persian: ابراهیم صادقی, born 4 February 1979) is an Iranian football coach and retired player who played for Saipa for 17 years.[3]
Sadeghi has been playing for Saipa since 2000. In 2010, Saipa Cultural and Athletic Corporation celebrated a testimonial ceremony for him because of "his loyalty to the club", calling him The Orange Loyal. He was also gifted a Saipa Tiba.[4][5]
On 13 December 2015, in a match against Esteghlal Ahvaz Sadeghi played his 400th league match for the club, becoming the only player in the history of the Persian Gulf Pro League to reach this feat.[6] He retired on 4 May 2017 after playing 17 seasons at Saipa at the top flight.
Club career
Youth career
Sadeghi was born in Karaj, Iran. He joined Keshavarz at the age of thirteen and played at the club until 1995 where he was spotted by Persepolis and joined their academy. After three years at Persepolis he joined Moghavemat Tehran before settling at Saipa a year later.
Saipa
Sadeghi graduated from the Saipa youth ranks and was signed to the club in 2000. He has played for Saipa for his entire. His good performances since 2006–07 season made big clubs to show some interest on him. In 2008 Sadeghi was nominated for Asian Footballer of the Year, but failed to win the award. He played in AFC Champions League for Saipa and continued to play for the club in 2008–09 season.
In April 2008, Sadeghi was nominated for the 2008 Asian footballer of the year, as the sole Iranian player in the 21-player list of AFC.[7]