British & Irish Players To Have Played In The Persian League

The Persian League is one of the most competitive leagues in Asia, and that has meant that there have been a number of foreign players that have moved to the country to try their luck.

To date, there have been 82 different countries represented in the history of the competitions, with some of the finest players coming from Great Britain and Ireland. But, which of these players have left the biggest mark on the competitive league?

Korede Aiyegbusi

One of the most influential English players to have played in the Persian League has been Korede Aiyegbusi. Despite being born in England, he has never played for an English club.

The main reason for that was due to the fact that he moved to America in 2006 to play college soccer. During his youth career, he played for Essex Knights and NC State Wolfpack. His professional career saw his start playing at Sporting Kansas City.

He has drafted in the second round, and he played nine times in the MLS. Unfortunately, he was not very successful even in the country where soccer is less important in the sports rankings than horse racing (you can probably find more people interested in the Kentucky Derby winners than the MLS Cup).

His career has taken him all over the world, as he enjoyed spells in Finland with FC Haka and Switzerland with Servette.

After playing for Auerbach and AFC United, he joined Siah Jamegan. He immediately became a vital player in their defence, as he made 12 appearances in his one and only season with the club. After the season in the Persian League, he enjoyed spells in Kazakhstan and Sweden.

Anthony Stokes

There aren’t many players in the Persian League that have played in the English Premier League, but Anthony Stokes is one of them. Stokes began his career playing for English giants Arsenal. He made one appearance for the club before being sold to Sunderland.

During that two year stay with Sunderland, he enjoyed loan spells at Sheffield United and Crystal Palace. Stokes was most prolific during his stay in Scotland as he played for Hibernian and Celtic. With the latter, he played 135 times and scored 58 goals. During this time he became a prominent member of the Republic of Ireland national side as he made nine first-team appearances.

After a six-year stay with Celtic, he moved back to England to sign for Blackburn. He only scored once for the Championship club and was sold back to Hibernian where he scored seven goals in the 2017-18 season. Stokes made the move to the Persian League in 2018 as he signed for Tractor.

He immediately became a vital player for the club as he scored eleven goals in 23 games for the club. At the end of the 2019 season, he signed for Adana Demirspor, before moving back to the Persian League ahead of the 2020 season as he signed for Persepolis. At present, he has only made three appearances for the club and is yet to score.

Lee Erwin

Most foreign players that move to the Persian League are aged over 30, but Lee Ewrin was an exception to that rule. Erwin is still only aged 26 and is playing back in Scotland for Ross County.

He signed for County after enjoying a successful season in Iran with Tractor. During that season he played six games and scored an impressive four goals. Erwin made his name as he was prolific around the box and is a sharp-shooting striker. Nonetheless, in a recent interview Erwin says the experience in Iran was not a very memorable one.

He began his career with Motherwell where he scored five goals in 34 games. His performances encouraged Leeds United to make a move for him in 2015, and he played eleven times for the club in the Championship. However, after failing to find the back of the net, he was loaned out to Bury and then Oldham Athletic. After one more season in Scotland with Kilmarnock, he was signed by Tractor.

There you have 3 British and Irish players, who took an unusual turn and played in the Persian Gulf League. If you could pick one player from Premier League to join your team who would be?