 Reza with Sint-Truiden in 2012. | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Reza Ghoochannejhad Nournia | ||
| Date of birth | 20 September 1987 | ||
| Place of birth | Mashhad, Iran | ||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||
| Playing position | Forward | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Standard Liège | ||
| Number | 7 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| LAC Frisia 1883 | |||
| Cambuur | |||
| –2005 | Heerenveen | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2005–2009 | Heerenveen | 2 | (0) |
| 2006–2007 | → Go Ahead Eagles (loan) | 13 | (4) |
| 2009 | → Emmen (loan) | 12 | (1) |
| 2009–2010 | Go Ahead Eagles | 10 | (6) |
| 2010–2011 | Cambuur | 37 | (15) |
| 2011–2013 | Sint-Truiden | 31 | (18) |
| 2013– | Standard Liège | 10 | (4) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2003 | Netherlands U16 | 1 | (0) |
| 2003–2004 | Netherlands U17 | 4 | (0) |
| 2005 | Netherlands U18 | 1 | (0) |
| 2006–2007 | Netherlands U19 | 3 | (1) |
| 2012– | Iran | 10 | (8) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 23:22, 31 October 2013 (UTC).
† Appearances (Goals).
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 17:37, 19 November 2013 (UTC) | |||
Reza Ghoochannejhad (Persian: رضا قوچاننژاد, born 20 September 1987), commonly known asGucci, is an Iranian-Dutch footballer who plays for Belgian club Standard Liège and for the Iran national football team as a forward.
Club career
Heerenveen
Reza was born in Mashhad, Iran, and migrated to the Netherlands with his family when he was a child, and was also musically talented as a violinist. Reza rose through the ranks at Leeuwardenclubs LAC Frisia 1883 and Cambuur, before transferring to Heerenveen in 2005.
In April 2006 he made his debut in professional football by the home match against AZ as a replacement for Fernando Derveld. Being loaned out of SC Heerenveen, he found playing time for theGo Ahead Eagles. The same was true of the first half of the 2008–09 season, but after the winter, the attacker loaned out to FC Emmen.
In the summer of 2009 Ghoochannejhad folded his contract with Heerenveen due to focus on his academic studies. In addition, he joined as an amateur with Go Ahead Eagles in his second contract with a club.
Cambuur
Although Ghoochannejhad was a member of Go Ahead in the winter season of 2009–10, he decided immediately to go to SC Cambuur, where he signed a contract for 2.5 years. In his first game for Cambuur, on 22 January 2010 against BV Veendam, nine seconds after he scored his first goal for his new team. In the first half-year at SC Cambuur, he is not always up to its promise. Partly because he often was used as a winger, by the strong play of Mark de Vries in rush hour. In addition, he played mostly as a substitute. Eventually, he played in 13 games this season and scored two goals against BV Veendam and against FC Oss.
In the 2010–2011 season Ghoochannejhad finally broke through at Cambuur. The highlight of that season was his first hat trick of Cambuur (and in his career) against FC Emmen on 14 February 2011.
Sint-Truiden
On 17 June 2011 Reza transferred to Sint-Truiden. The duration of his contract with STVV was three years. His first goal in the Belgian Pro League came against the Belgian powerhouse club, Club Brugge. Despite injury woes that kept Reza sidelined for several weeks, he still managed to net 12 times in 22 appearances for Sint Truidense to not only attract interest from top sides in Germany, Netherlands, and Belgium, but to also spark the high possibility that Reza will move on to a bigger club at the end of the Belgian play-offs.
Standard Liège
On 31 August 2012, Sint-Truiden came to an agreement with Standard Liège. Ghoochannejhad joined Standard Liège in January 2013 after signing a 3.5-year deal, while scoring 10 goals in 12 matches in the half season he remained with Sint-Truiden.[1] He scored his first goal for Liege on 19 May in a 4–3 playoffmatch win against Lokeren. The following season, he represented Liege in the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League.
International career
He has represented the Netherlands U-19 team but is eligible to play for Iran. In the game against Lierse, Ghoochanejhad made a big impression on Iran National team coach Carlos Queiroz. In March 2012, Ghoochannejhad's uncle said that they are working on the paperwork to bring Ghoochannejhad to Iran to play for National Team. He made his national team debut on 16 October 2012 in Iran's 1–0 World Cup qualifier victory against South Korea, while scoring his first two goals in his third international cap against Lebanon in a 5–0 Asian Cup qualifier win. On 4 June, 2013, Gucci scored the lone goal in a World Cup qualifier win against Qatar. Days later, he scored against Lebanon in a 4–0 win. He scored the winning goal again in the next match, a 1–0 win against South Korea. This led to Iran's qualification at the top of their group for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. His goal-scoring streak continued, scoring in each of the Asian Cup qualifying matches against Thailand and Lebanon to secure Iran's spot in the 2015 Asian Cup as well as bringing his tally to 6 goals in the last 6 consecutive international matches.
