In Juybar, boys are often said to be born wearing wrestling singlets. The city has long been a global powerhouse in wrestling. Yet Mohammadjavad Hosseinnezhad chose another road. He became a footballer—moving from a young talent in Juybar to a rising star in Saveh, and later shining in Isfahan.

On the pitch, he never quite resembled the others. In the era of tiki-taka, where midfielders are encouraged to release the ball instantly with a simple one-touch pass to the nearest teammate, Hosseinnezhad dared to pause. When the moment demanded it, he dribbled, took risks, showed flair and made football more beautiful.

It took only a few matches for observers to recognize a genuinely creative midfielder. His vision, ball control and speed of decision-making quickly set him apart, turning him into a breakout talent and eventually a legionnaire. In Russia, he found opportunities to remain influential, and today he stands as a genuine option for Iran’s national teams. He has not only featured for the senior side, but has also emerged as a central figure for the U-23 national team.

Hosseinnezhad belongs to a new generation of players footballers who no longer emerge from dusty pitches, but are shaped in academies, football schools and artificial turf fields, developed under structured coaching environments. Yet crucially, they are not “packaged.”

Their innate technical instincts have not been sacrificed at the altar of rigid tactics. Hosseinnezhad’s natural creativity has survived the system. And that is why there is hope.

If this stylish young midfielder continues to make the right decisions both on and off the pitch there is little doubt he can make Iranian football more elegant and captivating in midfield for years to come.