Ali Kazemaini

Last updated

Ali Kazemaini
Personal information
Full name Ali R. Kazemaini
Date of birth (1963-06-21) June 21, 1963 (age 60)
Place of birth Tehran, Iran
Height 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
1980–1983 Cleveland State Vikings
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1984–1988 Cleveland Force (indoor) 144 (74)
1988–1990 Tacoma Stars (indoor) 72 (30)
1990–1991 Cleveland Crunch (indoor) 38 (2)
1991–1992 Baltimore Blast (indoor) 15 (1)
1992 North York Rockets 2 (0)
1992–1993 Canton Invaders (indoor) 29 (10)
Managerial career
1992–2005 John Carroll Blue Streaks
2006–2016 Cleveland State Vikings
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

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.

Contents

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. [1] 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. [2] [3]

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. [4]

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. [5] When the Force folded following the 1987–1988 season, he moved to the Tacoma Stars. [6] At some point, he moved to the Baltimore Blast, playing for them during at least the 1991–1992 season. [7] 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, [8] [ better source needed ] after having appeared for the North York Rockets in the outdoor Canadian Soccer League. [9] [ better source needed ]

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. [10] On December 15, 2005, Kazemaini moved to Cleveland State. [11]

In 2005, Kazemaini coached the Cleveland Soccer Academy in the USL Super Y-League. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992)</span> Indoor soccer league in the United States

The Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL), known in its final two seasons as the Major Soccer League, was an indoor soccer league in the United States that played matches from fall 1978 to spring 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minnesota Strikers</span> Defunct American soccer club

The Minnesota Strikers were an American soccer team that competed in the North American Soccer League (NASL) for the 1984 season and in the Major Indoor Soccer League from 1984 through 1988. The team was based in Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area and played their outdoor home games at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome and the Met Center for indoor games. Founded in 1967 as the Washington Darts and playing in Miami as the Gatos and the Toros before playing seven season as the Fort Lauderdale Strikers the team left Florida following the 1983 North American Soccer League season. After the 1987–88 season and playing four seasons in the MISL the team ceased operations.

Andrew Chapman is an English-American retired soccer player who saw his greatest success as an indoor player in the United States. He spent six seasons in the American Soccer League, ten in the Major Indoor Soccer League, four in the National Professional Soccer League and two in the Continental Indoor Soccer League.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Schweitzer</span> American soccer player (born 1971)

Scott Schweitzer is an American soccer coach and former player. He spent two years as the head coach of Carolina RailHawks FC.

William Bruce Savage is an American retired soccer defender. He played four seasons in the North American Soccer League, nine in Major Indoor Soccer League and earned sixteen caps with the U.S. national team between 1983 and 1992. On March 12, 2014, it was announced that he would be a 2014 inductee into the Indoor Soccer Hall of Fame. He currently coaches youth soccer in Florida.

Jean Wilhelm Willrich is a German-American soccer player who played as a forward. He played in his native Germany, then two seasons in the Netherlands, eight in the North American Soccer League and twelve in the Major Indoor Soccer League.

Al Miller is an American former collegiate and professional soccer coach. After leaving coaching, he then became a general manager for two indoor soccer clubs in Cleveland, Ohio. He is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victor Nogueira</span> Mozambique-born American soccer player

Victor Nogueira is a retired American soccer goalkeeper. Nogueira spent six seasons in the North American Soccer League, but gained his greatest recognition in over twenty seasons in three indoor leagues, the Major Indoor Soccer League, National Professional Soccer League and the second Major Indoor Soccer League. He was also a member of the U.S. futsal team which took second place at the 1992 FIFA Futsal World Championship, and he is the father of FC Kansas City and United States forward Casey Loyd. He was elected to the Indoor Soccer Hall of Fame in 2011.

John Ball is an American soccer player who most recently played for the PASL team Cleveland Freeze. He has an extensive career, playing both indoor and outdoor soccer. He spent one season in Major League Soccer with the Chicago Fire and was a part of the United States national futsal team which went to the second round of the 2004 FIFA Futsal World Championship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baltimore Blast</span> Soccer club

The Baltimore Blast is an American professional indoor soccer team based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The team is a part of the Major Arena Soccer League.

Gino DiFlorio is an Italian-Canadian former professional soccer player who had an extensive indoor career in North America during the 1990s. Since 2020 he is the Technical Director at the Capital Area Soccer Association (CASA) in Harrisburg, PA. From 2001 to 2020, he was the director of coaching at the youth soccer club in Eastern Pennsylvania called HMMS.

Sean Patrick Bowers is a retired U.S. soccer defender. He spent most of his career playing indoor soccer, earning the 1992 NPSL Rookie of the Year, four-time Defender of the Year and a six-time first team All Star in four different indoor leagues. He also played four seasons with the Kansas City Wizards in Major League Soccer. He currently is the General Manager for the San Diego Sockers of the Professional Arena Soccer League.

Kia Zolgharnain is an Iranian-American soccer coach and former player who is the current head coach and technical director of Akron City FC. As a player, Zolgharnain was a forward who led the American Indoor Soccer Association in scoring during the 1986–1987 season. He coaches youth soccer in Cleveland. During his playing days, he was known by his first name alone.

David Vaudreuil is an American former professional soccer player whose career spanned fifteen teams in over six leagues including seven seasons in Major League Soccer. He is the former head coach of Tulsa Roughnecks. Vaudreuil was terminated halfway through the Tulsa Roughnecks 2018 season.

Keith Furphy is an English-American former professional footballer who played forward or winger, spending most of his career in the United States. He played four seasons in the North American Soccer League, seven in the Major Indoor Soccer League and one each in the American Soccer League and the National Professional Soccer League. Furphy also made six appearances in the Football League for Plymouth Argyle. He is the son of Ken Furphy, a former footballer and coach.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Omid Namazi</span> American soccer player-coach

Omid Hamid Namazi is an Iranian-American former professional soccer player and coach. Namazi played professionally as a defender in the American Soccer League, American Professional Soccer League, Major League Soccer, USISL and National Professional Soccer League where he was the 2001 Defender of the Year and he played for United States national futsal team. He is a two-time Coach of the Year in the Major Indoor Soccer League and coached in the Women's United Soccer Association. As assistant coach of Iran, he led the team to qualification to the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2015 AFC Asian Cup.

Doug Neely is a retired American soccer defender who had an extensive career in several American indoor leagues including the original Major Indoor Soccer League, Continental Indoor Soccer League and National Professional Soccer League.

The 1983–84 Major Indoor Soccer League season was the sixth in league history and ended with the Baltimore Blast winning their first MISL championship. The Blast would beat the St. Louis Steamers in the championship series, the third time in five seasons the Steamers would lose in the MISL championship round. This would be the first time the MISL finals would be a best-of-seven series, part of the league's expanded playoff format.

The Major Indoor Soccer League, known in its final two seasons as the Major Soccer League, was an indoor soccer league in the United States that played matches from fall 1978 to spring 1992.

References

  1. ↑ "Visa Renewed". The New York Times. June 20, 1983.
  2. ↑ "1981 All Americans". Archived from the original on August 29, 2006. Retrieved August 9, 2008.
  3. ↑ "1983 All Americans". Archived from the original on June 14, 2011. Retrieved August 9, 2008.
  4. ↑ "The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service has announced a..." upi.com. UPI. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  5. ↑ "The Year in American Soccer – 1985". Archived from the original on July 31, 2009. Retrieved August 9, 2008.
  6. ↑ STARS' RESTART STARTS FRIDAY HINTON'S HANDIWORK HAS A NEW, AND OLD, LOOK TO IT
  7. ↑ "Game 20: January 10, 1992: at Baltimore Blast 9 Dallas Sidekicks 4".
  8. ↑ "howesportsdata.com". Archived from the original on September 27, 2007.
  9. ↑ "Ali Kazemaini soccer statistics on StatsCrew.com".
  10. ↑ John Carroll University Annual Soccer Records
  11. ↑ Cleveland State names Ali Kazemaini as men's soccer coach [ permanent dead link ]
  12. ↑ "Cleveland Soccer Academy". Archived from the original on July 8, 2008. Retrieved August 9, 2008.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.