Mideasttime - Mohammad Royanian, the president of Persepolis FC, believes Ali Karimi is deserved to become 2012 AFC Player of the Year and the player has enough capabilities to repeat his success. Ali Karimi previously became 2004 AFC Player of the Year.

“Ali Karimi is a great player and I think he is deserved to become AFC Player of the Year. Ali Daei, Khodadad Azizi and Mehdi Mahdavikia were three other Iranian players who claimed the title when they were playing for Persepolis FC. Now Karimi can win this title and give extra reputation to our club.” Mohammad Royanian said.

Karimi had a great performance in his club during the last season but the Portuguese coach Manuel Jose decided to fire the 34 years old player from his squad because of the several issues used to be created by Karimi. However on Saturday, Jose allowed Karimi to return to training session in Tehran after two-month absence. Karimi promised to do his best for club’s success and forget the past incidents.

Ali Karimi is one of the most popular football players in Iran especially between Persepolis fans. On 1998, he joined Persepolis FC and spent three seasons in Tehran based club. Karimi used to be a member of Bayern Munich and Schalke 04 too.