Ali Kazemaini
{{Short description|Iranian-American soccer player and coach}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2016}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name= Ali Kazemaini
| fullname = Ali R. Kazemaini
| image =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1963|6|21}}
| height = {{height|ft=6|in=0}}
| position = Forward
| youthyears1 = 1980–1983
| youthclubs1 = Cleveland State Vikings
| years1 = 1984–1988
| years2 = 1988–1990
| years3 = 1990–1991
| years4 = 1991–1992
| years5 =1992
| years6 = 1992–1993
| clubs1 = Cleveland Force (indoor)
| clubs2 = Tacoma Stars (indoor)
| clubs3 = Cleveland Crunch (indoor)
| clubs4 = Baltimore Blast (indoor)
| clubs5= North York Rockets
| clubs6 = Canton Invaders (indoor)
| caps1 = 144
| caps2 = 72
| caps3 = 38
| caps4 = 15
| caps5 = 2
|caps6 = 29
| goals1 = 74
| goals2 = 30
| goals3 = 2
| goals4 = 1
| goals5 = 0
|goals6=10
| manageryears1 = 1992–2005
| manageryears2 = 2006–2016
| managerclubs1 = John Carroll Blue Streaks
| managerclubs2 = Cleveland State Vikings
}}
Ali Kazemaini (born in Tehran, Iran) is a retired Iranian-American soccer forward and former men's head coach at Cleveland State. He spent eight seasons in the Major Indoor Soccer League and one in the National Professional Soccer League, earning 1985 MISL Rookie of the Year honors.
Youth
Born in Tehran, Iran, Kazemaini moved to the United States to attend Orange High School in Orange County, California. He graduated from Orange High School in 1980 and entered Cleveland State University that fall. While at Cleveland State, he played on both the school's soccer and tennis teams. In June 1983, the U.S. government discovered that he had allowed his student visa to lapse in January 1979, thus placing him in the country illegally. He subsequently reapplied for a visa as well as U.S. citizenship.{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F04E3DB123BF933A15755C0A965948260|title=Visa Renewed|work=The New York Times |date=June 20, 1983}} Kazemaini played for the Vikings from 1980 to 1983. He finished his career ranked fifth on the career goals list with 41, sixth in points with 102 and ninth in assists with 20. He was a second team All American in 1981 and 1983.{{Cite web |url=http://www.nscaa.com/awards-detail.php?it=I&yr=1981 |title=1981 All Americans |access-date=August 9, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060829031824/http://www.nscaa.com/awards-detail.php?it=I&yr=1981 |archive-date=August 29, 2006 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}{{Cite web |url=http://www.nscaa.com/awards-detail.php?it=I&yr=1983 |title=1983 All Americans |access-date=August 9, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110614234422/http://www.nscaa.com/awards-detail.php?it=I&yr=1983 |archive-date=June 14, 2011 |url-status=dead }}
Following his collegiate career, Kazemaini was selected for the 1984 U.S. Olympic soccer team. However, he had not yet received his citizenship before the games began and was dropped from the team.{{cite web |title=The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service has announced a... |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/06/08/The-US-Immigration-and-Naturalization-Service-has-announced-a/5061423892800/ |website=upi.com |publisher=UPI |access-date=10 April 2023}}
Professional
In 1983, Kazemaini was drafted by both the Cleveland Force of Major Indoor Soccer League and the San Diego Sockers of the North American Soccer League. He signed with the Force, earning Rookie of the Year honors for the 1984–1985 season.{{cite web|url=http://www.sover.net/~spectrum/year/1985.html|title=The Year in American Soccer – 1985|access-date=August 9, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090731130642/http://www.sover.net/~spectrum/year/1985.html|archive-date=July 31, 2009|url-status=dead}} When the Force folded following the 1987–1988 season, he moved to the Tacoma Stars.[http://www.seattlepi.com/archives/1988/8801300496.asp STARS' RESTART STARTS FRIDAY HINTON'S HANDIWORK HAS A NEW, AND OLD, LOOK TO IT] At some point, he moved to the Baltimore Blast, playing for them during at least the 1991–1992 season.{{cite web|url=http://www.kicksfan.com/1991-92/box/season/game20.htm|title=Game 20: January 10, 1992: at Baltimore Blast 9 Dallas Sidekicks 4}} Both MISL and the Blast folded at the end of the season, and Kazemaini moved to the Canton Invaders of the National Professional Soccer League for the 1992–1993 season,{{cite web|url=http://www.howesportsdata.com/howesportsdata/stats/soccer/misl/misl93.txt |title=howesportsdata.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927231258/http://www.howesportsdata.com/howesportsdata/stats/soccer/misl/misl93.txt |archive-date=September 27, 2007 }}{{Better source needed|date=April 2023}} after having appeared for the North York Rockets in the outdoor Canadian Soccer League.{{cite web| url = https://www.statscrew.com/minorsoccer/stats/p-kazemali001| title = Ali Kazemaini soccer statistics on StatsCrew.com}}{{Better source needed|date=April 2023}}
Coach
In 1992, John Carroll University hired Kazemaini as head coach. Over fourteen seasons, his team won seven Ohio Athletic Conference regular season titles and four post-season tournament titles and compiled a 177–61–13 record.[http://jcusports.com/Sports/msoc/2007/MS_seasonbyseason.asp John Carroll University Annual Soccer Records] On December 15, 2005, Kazemaini moved to Cleveland State.[http://horizonleague.cstv.com/sports/m-soccer/spec-rel/121505aac.html Cleveland State names Ali Kazemaini as men's soccer coach] {{Dead link|date=October 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
In 2005, Kazemaini coached the Cleveland Soccer Academy in the USL Super Y-League.{{Cite web |url=http://supery.uslsoccer.com/teams/2005Finals/2975852.html |title=Cleveland Soccer Academy |access-date=August 9, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080708213654/http://supery.uslsoccer.com/teams/2005Finals/2975852.html |archive-date=July 8, 2008 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://csuvikings.cstv.com/sports/m-soccer/mtt/kazemaini_ali00.html Cleveland State coaching profile]
- [http://www.nasljerseys.com/MISL/Players/K/Kazemaini.Ali.htm MISL stats]
{{Cleveland State Vikings men's soccer coach navbox}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kazemaini, Ali}}
Category:American soccer coaches
Category:American men's soccer players
Category:Baltimore Blast (1980–1992) players
Category:Canton Invaders players
Category:Cleveland Crunch players
Category:John Carroll University
Category:Cleveland Force (original MISL) players
Category:Cleveland State Vikings men's soccer coaches
Category:Cleveland State Vikings men's soccer players
Category:Iranian emigrants to the United States
Category:Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players
Category:National Professional Soccer League (1984–2001) players
Category:Men's association football forwards