{"id":14455,"date":"2013-05-06T22:52:58","date_gmt":"2013-05-07T05:52:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/?p=14455"},"modified":"2013-05-06T23:05:42","modified_gmt":"2013-05-07T06:05:42","slug":"two-asian-legends-announce-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/2013\/05\/06\/two-asian-legends-announce-retirement\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Asian legends bid farewell to playing football [VIDEO]"},"content":{"rendered":"

AFC – Tehran, Two former AFC Player of the Year from Iran Ali Karimi and Mehdi Mahdavikia announced retirement from football after their team <\/strong>\"mahdavikia-karimi\"<\/a>Persepolis were defeated by Sepahan in the Hazfi Cup final on Sunday.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mahdavikia had won the honour in 2003 while Karimi had scooped the AFC Player of the Year award the following year.<\/p>\n

Karimi, who had spells with European giants Bayern Munich as well as Schalke 04, made 127 appearances with the Team Melli with his last appearance being Iran\u2019s 1-0 defeat to Lebanon in the World Cup Qualifiers match back in September 2012.<\/p>\n

\u201cI announce my retirement from football tonight. I think it\u2019s better for me to concentrate on my personal life. I also quit my international career, and will no longer play for Iran national football team,\u201d he told Iranian media.<\/p>\n

Mahdavikia, the former star of Hamburger SV of Bundesliga, also made decision to call it a quit to his playing career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was really interested in ending my career with a cup. However, this didn\u2019t happen. I\u2019m really sorry for the spectators who came to stadium today,\u201d he told local press after a heart wrenching penalty shootout defeat to rival Sepahan in the Hazfi Cup.<\/p>\n

Mahdavikia made 111 appearances for Iran and had two spells at Persepolis with the first one being a four-year stint from 1995 to 1998.<\/p>\n