Afshin Ghotbi
Afshin Ghotbi (, born 8 February 1964) is an Iranian-American football coach who works as head coach of Vancouver FC in the Canadian Premier League. Early life Afshin Ghotbi was born in Tehran. He 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. He received his BSc qualification in Electrical Engineering from UCLA where he was a member of the football team. Career Early years Prior to coaching at the professional level, Ghotbi founded one of the best youth football academies named AGSS in Southern California, responsible for the discovery and development of players such as Peter Vagenas and John O'Brien and many more. USMNT Ghotbi became assistant manager of the USMNT from 1997 to 1998, working under Steve Sampson. He also 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. South Korea Ghotbi worked for Korea Republic national team under Dutchman Guus Hiddink from December 2000 till July 2002 as a football analyst. He continued his journey in Korea by taking the role of an assistant coach of Samsung Bluewings from 2002 to 2004. He returned to Korean National Team, as an assistant coach under Dick Advocaat from October 2005 until July 2006. He 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. Return to Iran In 2007, Ghotbi was Head-Coach of Persepolis F.C., an Iran Pro League club, in compliance with the new contract he signed in August 2007. In February 2008 his name was on the shortlist for coaching the Iranian national team, however the job went to Ali Daei. He ultimately led Persepolis to Iranian Pro league championship in May 2008. Ghotbi left Persepolis in June 2008. 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. Following the session held at Persepolis club on 18 November 2008, Ghotbi announced his resignation on 19 November 2008. Iran national team After just three weeks after being announced as manager, Mayeli Kohan became the spearhead of a heated dispute between himself and Esteghlal F.C. manager Amir Ghalenoei. This resulted in the IRIFF forcing Mayeli Kohan's resignation as manager of Team Melli. A week later, Ghotbi agreed to succeed Mayeli Kohan as head coach of the Iranian national team, becoming the first American to take the job. After this appointment, Ghotbi said in an interview "A life dream, a longtime ambition and a journey written in the stars is about to be realized I have to thank all the people around the world who have cheered, supported and