1. Afshin Ghotbi is an Iranian football coach who works as head coach of Vancouver FC in the Canadian Premier League.
18 Facts About Afshin Ghotbi
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Afshin Ghotbi is the son of a teacher in Iran with whom he left Iran at the age of 13 after his father remarried and moved to Los Angeles, where he has been a resident for more than two decades.
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Afshin Ghotbi received his BSc qualification in Electrical Engineering from UCLA where he was a member of the soccer team.
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Afshin Ghotbi became assistant manager of the USMNT from 1997 to 1998, working under Steve Sampson.
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Afshin Ghotbi participated in the USMNT squad for 1998 FIFA World Cup, where he had an emotional moment as his adopted country he worked played against Iran, the country of his origin.
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Afshin Ghotbi worked for Korea Republic national team under Dutchman Guus Hiddink from December 2000 till July 2002 as a football analyst.
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Afshin Ghotbi continued his journey in Korea by taking the role of an assistant coach of Samsung Bluewings from 2002 to 2004.
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Afshin Ghotbi continued as an assistant coach for Korea under Dutch head coach Pim Verbeek, who he knew back in 2000 as part of South Korea's 2002 World Cup perpetration, from July 2006 till July 2007.
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In 2007, Afshin Ghotbi was Head-Coach of Persepolis FC, an Iran Pro League club, in compliance with the new contract he signed in August 2007.
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Afshin Ghotbi ultimately led Persepolis to Iranian Pro league championship in May 2008.
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Afshin Ghotbi was re-appointed as the new Persepolis head coach on 3 July 2008, after agreeing to sign a two-year deal following meeting Persepolis officials in Dubai.
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Afshin Ghotbi continued to coach Team Melli in 2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification where they won three matches out of four and lost the other one to Jordan Away and in which the team earned 13 points and qualified as the group leaders.
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Afshin Ghotbi led the team for the end of 2011 season which ended in the tenth rank.
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On 30 July 2014, Afshin Ghotbi left Shimizu by mutual contest after leaving the club at the 12th place.
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Afshin Ghotbi became the first Asian American foreign head coach of the club.
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Afshin Ghotbi was appointed by China League One team Shijiazhuang Ever Bright in November 2016.
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Afshin Ghotbi led the team to promotion into the Chinese Super League that year.
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In November 2022, Afshin Ghotbi was named the first head coach of Canadian Premier League expansion side Vancouver FC.