Sardar Azmoun

On 29 August, he scored his first goal in just his second senior appearance for Rubin in a 3–0 Europa League win against Molde, coming on as a substitute in the 64th minute.

He scored his first goal of the season in a 1–1 draw against Terek Grozny in the 87th minute.

Sardar Azmoun ( (Sardâr Âzmun); born 1 January 1995) is an Iranian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Serie A club Roma, on loan from Bayer Leverkusen, and the Iran national team.

In a match against Krylia Sovetov on 10 May, Azmoun came on as a substitute in the 55th minute, scoring a goal and providing an assist in a 4–0 win.

While he appeared for the club during their pre-season friendlies abroad in Turkey, he did not make a professional appearance for the club as Sepahan won the 2011–12 Iran Pro League and lifted the trophy.

During the 2012–13 season, thanks to Azmoun's great display in Iran's youth team, Sardar became sought after by a couple of European clubs, namely Rubin Kazan.

Azmoun became Iran's youngest Legionnaire when later that year he transferred to Rubin Kazan at the age of 17.

In January 2013, Azmoun received an offer from Russian team Rubin Kazan to join them; meanwhile he had interest from two Iranian teams, Persepolis and Esteghlal, as well as an offer for first team contract in Sepahan.

He chose to work with Turkmen speaking Kurban Berdyev and became Iran's first football player in the Russian Premier League.

In his first season at the club, he made 8 appearances for his club's reserve team, scoring two goals and receiving one yellow card.

He was also picked for the 18-man match day squad on a number of occasions, but failed to make his senior debut.

On 25 July 2013, Azmoun made his debut for the senior team in a UEFA Europa League match against Jagodina, coming on as a 73rd-minute substitute as Rubin won 1–0.

He made his league debut with a goal and an assist on 6 October 2013, coming on as a substitute in the 72nd minute in a 5–1 win over Anzhi Makhachkala.

Azmoun made his debut for the Iran national team in 2014 aged 19.

On 27 March 2014, English Premier League side Arsenal reportedly made a £2 million offer to Kazan for the transfer of 19-year-old Azmoun, sparking interest from A.C. Milan, Juventus, Liverpool, Tottenham, and Barcelona as well.

Three days later, he scored his second league goal for Rubin Kazan in a 2–1 defeat to Rostov.

On 6 April, he scored a goal in Rubin Kazan's defeat to Zenit St. Petersburg.

On 4 July 2014, Rubin Kazan announced through their official website that Azmoun would remain at the club despite transfer offers from Arsenal, Liverpool and Zenit St. Petersburg.

He scored Rubin Kazan's goal in a 1–1 draw against Hellas Verona in a pre-season friendly match on 27 July 2014.

On 30 October, he scored a goal in their victory over Spartak Moscow in the 2014–15 Russian Cup.

At the end of the 2014–15 season, Azmoun extended his loan deal with Rostov until the end of the 2015–16 season.

He has been a regular with Team Melli, playing in the 2015, 2019 and 2023 editions of the AFC Asian Cup, as well as the 2018 and 2022 editions of the FIFA World Cup.

After Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Azmoun is the second-most expensive Iranian player of all-time.

He was also the youngest Iranian to score in a UEFA Champions League match.

According to Sardar, he was first introduced to the sport when he started to kick some balls on a family trip in Turkmenistan when he was 9.

He began his career at Oghab Gonbad of Gonbad-e Kavus.

He also played volleyball and was invited to Iran's national under-15 volleyball team.

After some years, he joined Shamoushak Gorgan, before joining Etka Gorgan, who were playing in Division 1 (the second tier) in Iran at the time.

At age 15, Azmoun joined Sepahan's youth ranks.

On 26 February 2015, Azmoun signed a three-and-a-half-month loan deal with relegation-battling Russian Premier League club FC Rostov until the end of the season.

Azmoun again found the back of the net on 26 April 2015 in Rostov's 2–2 draw against Dynamo Moscow.

His good performance earned him a place on the Russian Premier League Team of the Week.

He scored Rostov's winning goal in the relegation play-offs on 7 June.

He scored his first goal of the season on 22 August 2015 in a 2–1 loss to CSKA Moscow.

After his good performances in the first half of the season, he was linked with English Premier League club Stoke City.

On 16 March, Azmoun came on as a substitute in the 73rd minute and scored the match winner in the 88th minute against Kuban Krasnodar.

Later in March 2016 he was also linked with a move to English side Everton.

After a long goalless drought, Azmoun scored in Rostov's 3–0 win against Zenit Saint Petersburg on 24 April 2016.

He scored a brace in a 3–1 victory over Dynamo Moscow on 12 May 2016, which kept Rostov in second place and in contention for the Russian Premier League championship.

On 16 May 2016 with his goal, Rostov defeated Ural Sverdlovskaya Oblast 1–0 and clinched at least an UEFA Champions League play–off spot for the 2016–17 season.