KARIM BAGHERI
Closer to home

Problems adjusting to life in Germany both on and off the pitch have brought Iranian international midfielder Karim Bagheri back to Asian football with Dubai club Al Nasr.

Michael Church caught up with the former Arminia Bielefeld player to find out the story of his return.

t the beginning I didn't have any real difficulties with Germany outside of football and as time went on we were all happy and getting on with our lives. But my wife could not get used to the system and that caused us problems staying together in Germany. We decided to go back to Iran, analyse the situation in this part of the world and then start again. Initially that will be the target. I have signed a short-term contract with Al Nasr and while I'm here I'll be looking at going back to play in Europe."

As the sun sears down through a cloudless azure blue sky it's not hard to see why Iranian international Karim Bagheri, his wife Layla and their 15-month old son Amir, have decided to head back to the Middle East, leaving behind a cold, grim existence in central Europe for the sunny climes of the Arabian peninsula.

Bagheri shuffles back into his chair in Dubai's Diera City Centre Hotel, a 10-minute drive from the international airport where he just arrived three days earlier from Tehran, and is at pains to explain that it wasn't just for football reasons that he finally packed his bags and left life in the Bundesliga during the league's winter break.

"I had a slight difficulty with the coach. I used to get to play 45 minutes or 60 minutes each game and for me that wasn't something that I was looking for. Also, there was a slight problem with my wife living in Germany, mixing with the people there. It was not very good for her so we decided to leave Arminia Bielefeld and come back to this part of the world, continue playing and then see what's next."

Bagheri's return to Asian football came swiftly at the end of January after two-and-a-half years with Arminia Bielefeld when his registration was bought back by the Pirouzi club, who had originally sold him to the Germans in June 1997. Within a matter of days, after realising that their star midfielder would not be eligible to play in the latter stages of the Asian Club Championship, Bagheri was loaned out to Al Nasr and a new chapter in the 26-yar-old's football career was about to begin.

When you walk through the various shopping centres in the rapidly developing city on the shores of the Persian Gulf, you quickly become aware why Dubai was an attractive, if short-term, career move for Bagheri.

Two luxury four-wheel drive vehicles sit, their highly polished chrome gleaming under the strip lighting of one of Dubai's most recently completed shopping malls. Nothing altogether strange in that except that both these high class automobiles are prizes for raffles held at EVERY match played at home by Dubai's Al Wahda club, the current league leaders. It's a sight that makes it rapidly apparent just how much money there is in Emirati football.

Bagheri, though, walks past them without so much as batting an eyelid; he's only been in Dubai less than a week and already he's becoming oblivious to the almost obscene wealth within the oil-producing nation.

But while the Iranian ignores the lavish gifts the owners of the clubs are prepared to bestow on their supporters, never mind those available to the players, Bagheri is unable and unwilling to avoid the attentions of Dubai's football fans.

As he strolls around the marble hallways of the centre, supporters accost him. Not surprisingly, several are Iranian, the town having a sizeable expatriate Persian community, one of the reasons Al Nasr were keen to sign him and a reason why Bagheri himself, along with the Emirates' proximity to Iran, was happy to move to Dubai. Those fans, as much as anyone else, are fully aware of what Karim Bagheri means to Asian football.

When Karim Bagheri, along with compatriot Ali Daei, stepped on the plane to Frankfurt at Tehran International Airport to embark on their journey into German football with newly promoted Bundesliga side Arminia Bielefeld , no Iranian had ever played professional football in Europe.

The pair, who had impressed internationally for Iran in the previous year's Asian Cup, were seen as the Islamic Republic's perfect ambassadors and their moves were seen as the dawning of a new ear for Asian football - the European invasion, it was believed, had begun.

Yet they were taking a massive step into the unknown. The hopes and dreams of the nation's 60 million population were being carried by the two moustachioed men from Pirouzi, players who were capable of showing what both Iranian and Asian football could achieve.

Facial hair and destination, though, were where the similarity ended in the German experiences of Daei and Bagheri. Striker Daei caught the eye of Franz Beckenbauer, the legendary president of Bayern Munich and was soon swept away to join one of the biggest clubs in world football while Bagheri was left to face life in the second division after Bielefeld's relegation.

It got better for Bagheri before it got worse. As Daei was facing up to the frustrations of being a squad player in Munich, his compatriot was making a name for himself in the second division, starring for Bielefeld in the lower league.

"The departure of Ali Daei (from Arminia Bielefeld in June 1998) had an impact on me," says Bagheri. "I felt that I was a little bit lonely. When Ali was with me we were both from the same country, we had a better understanding of each other and we played better football together. When he left I felt that I was kept behind but in football you can't stop and think about these things, about staying behind and being unhappy. I had to continue with my relationship with Ali. He wanted another club but I stayed because the club wanted me to stay."

Daei's move came after a disappointing first season for the pair. Despite their own reasonable form, the club slipped into the relegation zone and were demoted into the Bundesliga's second division. As Daei headed off to Munich and the frustration of life at one of the world's biggest clubs, Bagheri was left to battle it out in lower echelon of Germany football. It was a scenario that, rather than demoralising him, spurred Bagheri towards some of his best football in his time in Europe.

"When we dropped into the second division our coach gave me more opportunities," he says. "I played all of the games and I became more interested, more motivated. I was devoting my time to football and we had a good chance to go up again.

"There wasn't a big difference between the first and second divisions. Both play good, classical style football and in a good spirit, there's lots of fighting spirit and the technical level is very close between the two leagues. Therefore I don't feel there was a big drop for me going from the first to the second division.

"Over the two-and-a-half years that I stayed and played in Germany, I learned a lot from the Bundesliga. I learned a lot from the two coaches that I worked under so that was useful. I watched games on television and gained lots of experience from German football and in general from European football. It has helped me greatly and enhanced my knowledge and understanding further in football."

Bielefeld, though, never saw the true talents of Karim Bagheri, the man who many see as the heart and soul of the Iranian national team. The midfielder says that came about as a result of never being allowed to settle into his accustomed central midfield role.

"Apart from goalkeeper, they used me everywhere - striker, attacking midfield, libero, central midfield, everywhere but not for very long in my best position in the heart of the midfield, the position which I am made for. This was frustrating because in the national team of Iran I'm used in this position but when I was going back to Bielefeld I was used in other positions. It didn't allow me to enhance my football and it didn't help me to add to my skills. I couldn't focus my thoughts on the position I was made for. The coaches were changing me from one position to another and I was unable to focus on one position, to devote most of my thoughts and energy and continue playing in this position.

"Most of the things in Germany were the same as in Iran so I could adjust to the European style of life easily, there were no great problems. The only thing I missed was scoring!"

His new life in the Emirates has already remedied that, the Iranian hitting the back of the net twice in only his second game at the club as Al Nasr hauled themselves back into contention for the title with a 4-1 demolition of 1998 champions and then-leaders Al Ain.

Bagheri is not the first Iran to have suffered in Germany; Khodadad Azizi had such a hard time he ended up terminating his contract with FC Koln while others have struggled to break into the first team, even at second division clubs. B

ut, Bagheri argues, things are not as bad as they seem for the Iranians in the Bundesliga - Mehdi Mahdavikia and Ali Daei are not the only success stories.

"In addition to Mahdavikia and Ali Daei, Ali Mousavi (at Fortuna Koln) is now a fixed played, Sirous Dinmohammadi (at Mainz) is a fixed player as is Dariush Yazdani (Bayer Leverkusen). Almost all of the Iranians in Germany are now playing first team football. There are no difficulties for our players in having a chance to play full matches.

"Between me and Khodadad Azizi, I can only tell you about me because Azizi was in a different club. I did my best in training with the team, I listened to the coaches yet they still asked me to stay on the bench. I couldn't change the coach's mind, that was his decision but as time went on and as I played in friendly matches I justified myself to them and I became a fixed player from there on."

Now, though, the German chapter in the book of Bagheri looks to have come to an end, with the 26-year-old looking to move again, away from Duabi, once his current contract is up.

"I'm very interested in English teams, even before I went to play in Germany I was interested in playing in English football," he says. "This was something I had thought about but I went to Germany, now I'm here but I will try to go to somewhere like England in the future."

According to his agent, Jassem Al Sayed, the man who brokered the deal that took him to Dubai, several clubs in England have expressed an interest but as yet Bagheri is no closer than that to realising his dream. Bagheri is sure that, if it does come, he will be ready for the physically demanding English Premier League.

"I moved from a very tough league in Iran to Germany without any problems. In Iran we have very specific training on fitness, we climb mountains and work very hard! That meant I was as fit as everyone else when I went there and I was able to do everything everyone else was able to do. The majority of our players are coming from a very strong fitness background and that's why they don't find it difficult to adjust to the fitness side of things in Germany."

But huge differences still remain between Asian and European football, as Bagheri explains.

"European football focuses a lot on the physical and technical side of the game but in Asia the focus is more on skill so the level of football in Europe is higher because they have more professionals and more professional football. They are more advanced in their fitness work, they work on their stamina and on the technical side of the game.

"I'm now back in top form after coming back from European football. Now I'm in Asian football but I'm looking forward to playing European football again. I have learned a lot of discipline during my stay in Germany. Time keeping was very exact, training was very precise and professional life was very exact - everything was recorded, everything written down. Now I'm using this experience of life in Germany in my daily life here.