Ferydoon Zandi

Germany

Zandi was called up for the Germany under-17 national football team and played for SV Meppen before being signed by SC Freiburg. There, he failed to establish himself as a starter and was traded to the 2. Bundesliga club VfB Lübeck. After struggling again initially, Zandi broke through and established himself as one of the most dangerous and versatile attackers of the league. He regularly was one of the top scorers and assist givers. After enjoying two successful seasons in Lübeck, he was signed by 1. FC Kaiserslautern in 2004 and given the number 10. In the 2005–06 season, in which 1. FCK fell to the end of the table, he lost his position as a starting playmaker, was benched for a longer period of time, and had periods when he failed to be nominated as a bench player at all. Trainer Wolfgang Wolf refused to play him in the second half of the season, and after the relegation of the club, Zandi was confirmed to be cut from the squad. Also, Amir Ghalenoei, the new manager of Iran national team, did not invite Ferydoon to the Iranian squad for the AFC Asian Cup qualification games. In September 2006, he signed a one-year contract with 2. Bundesliga club TuS Koblenz, which he left in January 2007 due to the limited number of appearance he made.

Cyprus

On 2 January 2007, Zandi signed a contract till the end of the 2006–07 season with Apollon Limassol of Cyprus. After his return from the 2007 AFC Asian Cup he was linked with moves to Steaua București,…

Raised in Germany, Zandi did not initially have the permission to play for his ancestral Iran as he did not have Iranian citizenship. However, the Iranian Football Federation obtained permission for him to play for them, and Zandi began to compete on the Iran national team in the second round of 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification against Bahrain. After the qualifications he did not compete again on the team until being invited again for the 2007 AFC Asian Cup. He was recalled to the national squad in March 2007 for a friendly against Qatar, included in the Asian Cup squad, and was featured for Iran in the friendly match against Mexico in June 2007. On 15 July 2007, Zandi scored from a free kick for Iran in their 2–2 draw versus China in the Asian Cup. Zandi also played for Iran in the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification where after the departure of Ali Daei he was not invited for around a year and was invited again by Afshin Ghotbi for a couple of performances but was dropped again. He was invited again after around 18 months by Carlos Queiroz for a friendly in May 2012 against Albania where before the match On 28 May 2012, Zandi announced his retirement from International football.

Dynamo Dresden

After signing as assistant coach of 2. Bundesliga club Dynamo Dresden in 2020, he was named head coach in March 2022 after Alexander Schmidt was sacked, but was replaced just two days later without managing a match.

Zandi was born in the city of Emden, in northern Germany, to an Iranian father and a German mother. He speaks German and Persian. He started playing football at an early age when his talent shone through his playing for a number of youth clubs in and near his hometown.