Alireza Haghighi

Persepolis

Having joined the senior squad of Persepolis at the age of 16, he made his debut in the match against Saipa on 17 October 2006. He saved a very important penalty against the legendary Ali Daei. Haghighi had been playing for Persepolis Youth teams since 2002, after being scouted by coaches of Persepolis Football School in the past years. He started the 2007–08 season with two other goalkeepers already ahead of him in the pecking order at Persepolis (Hassan Roudbarian, Team Melli's number one and Mehdi Vaezi, who was also invited to the national team, but never capped). During this season, Haghighi did not play at all but extended his contract at the end of the season. During the 2008–09 season, Haghighi was lucky to play in every game because of injuries to two other goalkeepers, making Haghighi the first keeper for every game. Statistically, he was the number-one keeper during this season. He trained under legendary Iranian keeper Ahmad Reza Abedzadeh. In the 2007–08 season, he captained Persepolis for the first time in the 2–1 victory against Saipa, making him the youngest captain of Persepolis in its history.

Rubin Kazan

In December 2011, Russian Premier League side Rubin Kazan sent a transfer request to Persepolis. He officially left Persepolis on 9 January 2012. On 14 January 2012, Haghighi signed a 4-year deal with Rubin Kazan. He signed a contract with the Russian club on 11 January and made his debut three days later in a pre-season…

Youth teams

Haghighi led Iran to the finals of the West Asian U-15 tournament, held in Qatar in 2002, He was the first keeper of Iran U-17 at the 2004 AFC U-17 Championship, also playing all three games for Iran U-20 at the 2006 AFC Youth Championship. He made three appearances in the 2005 Valentin A.Granatkin Memorial – International Youth Tournament for Iran U20.

Olympic team

Haghighi was invited to Iran U23 in the Asian Games 2006, although he did not play any matches. He did not play in the 2008 AFC Men's Pre-Olympic Tournament and Sosha Makani was the first choice. Under Gholam Peyrovani's management of Iran U23, He was invited again; but missed many trainings and friendly matches of Iran U23, including Tehran 6-Team Tournament, South Africa Camp, and a friendly match against Poland. Peyrovani did not invite Haghighi for the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games stating "he is too old to play in the 2012 London Olympics", despite inviting 28-year-old Mehdi Rahmati as a Wild Card player. Peyrovani also rejected having any problems with Haghighi.

Senior team

Haghighi was called up to the Iran national football team in 2010 under the management of Afshin Ghotbi. In 2012 Haghighi was called up to the 2012 WAFF Championship in Kuwait. He started in a game against Bahrain. The game ended 0–0.

2014 FIFA World Cup

On 1 June 2014, he was included in Iran's 2014 FIFA World Cup squad by Carlos Queiroz. On 16 June 2014, Haghighi started in Iran's…

As of 6 April 2018

On 5 January 2026, Haghighi publicly supported the 2025–2026 Iranian protests on his Instagram, stating: "Protesting is not a crime! The crime is not to hear the people's voices! Iran is alive because its people are still standing."