TEHRAN – So many young football fans don’t know “what we talk about when we talk about Mehdi Mahdavikia” but he has already written his name into history book of Iran football.

Mahdavikia, nicknamed "The Rocket", belongs to the Golden Generation of Iran football in the 90s along with Karim Bagheri, Ali Daei, Khodadad Azizi, Ahmadreza Abedzadeh, and Mehdi Pashazadeh.

He started his playing career in Tehran based club Bank Melli in 1991 as a kid and then joined Iranian popular football team Persepolis.  

Four years later, he joined German club VfL Bochum. After Bochum's relegation, he signed for Bundesliga side Hamburg where he stayed for the next eight seasons.

His strongest points were his vision, passing skills, fast-paced runs and set-pieces such as corners, spotkicks and free kicks.

Mahdavikia's greatest national team match, arguably, was against South Korea in the 2004 Asia Cup, where he assisted three goals in Team Melli’s 4–3 win. Many also point to his dynamic game against the U.S. in the 1998 FIFA World Cup that saw him score Iran's second and winning goal, as his best ever. Another excellent match where he scored two great goals against China in the qualification round for the 1998 World Cup when he was just 20 years old.

Mahdavikia, widely regarded as the best winger in Iran football history, currently leads the country’s U21 football team.

The legendary icon turned 45 years on July 24.

Happy birthday.