Born Nazi Abad in South Tehran, Iran. His father was a Taxi driver. He began working when he was 13 and started his football career at the same time.
Club career
He was chosen to play in Rah Ahan B in 1980 by his friend's father. Then Rah Ahan coach, Nasser Ebrahimi, moved him to the main Rah Ahan team. He was moved to Shahin in 1986 when Ebrahimi became Shahin's head coach. In first and second year of his playing at Shahin with Ebrahimi was stressful. He left the club in 1988 for Al-Sadd Qatar. After one year, Ghalenoei was transferred to Esteghlal F.C. in 1988, where he spent the rest of his football career, until retirement. He became captain of Esteghlal in 1993 and retired in 1997.
International career
He was invited to Iran national under-23 football team in 1990 and showed a reasonable performance. He was invited to Iran national football team in 1993 by Ali Parvin. He made his debut on September 12, 1993 against Bosnia and Herzegovina. He retired from the national team upon an injury in a match against Qatar.