[custom_adv] Sardar Azmoun (born 1 January 1995) is a professional footballer who plays for Russian club Rubin Kazan as a forward. [custom_adv] Since making his debut for the national team in 2014, Azmoun has played in the 2015 AFC Asian Cup and the 2018 FIFA World Cup. He is also Iran's all time fifth highest goalscorer. [custom_adv] Azmoun retired from International football at the age of 23 just after Iran's 2018 World Cup exit due to heavy criticism he faced from fans. The criticism caused his mother’s illness to worsen and as a result, Azmoun chose to retire to be by his mother’s side. A possible return to the national team is unknown. [custom_adv] On 5 October 2013, Azmoun was called up to the national football team against Thailand by Carlos Queiroz.He was selected in 28-man provisional squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup by Queiroz but was one of five players being dropped from the final squad. [custom_adv] Azmoun was born into a Sunni family of Turkmen origin. He speaks Turkmen and Persian fluently, and is fond of riding on horseback. He communicates with Kurban Berdyev, his Turkmenistani coach at FC Rubin Kazan and FC Rostov, in Turkmen. [custom_adv] He decided to wear number 69 at Kazan as a tribute to his hometown's vehicle registration plate. Azmoun has stated he is a supporter of Spanish club Real Madrid in the future he has expressed interest in playing for Tractor Sazi in the Persian Gulf Pro League. [custom_adv]Initially it was announced that Azmoun would return to Rubin Kazan. However, Rostov triggered the buy out clause in Azmoun's contract. Rubin denied this clause and claimed Azmoun was their player. Rubin lodged a complaint with FIFA. [custom_adv] FC Rostov filed a counter-complaint with the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and on 22 July 2016 CAS temporarily ruled in favour of Azmoun and he was included in Rostov's UEFA Champions League squad. According to Rostov's lawyer Yuri Zaytsev, the final CAS decision on his status might not be reached until late 2016 or even the summer of 2017. [custom_adv] Azmoun made his Champions League debut on 26 July 2016 in the first leg of a third-round qualifying round match against Anderlecht at Olimp – 2, coming on for Aleksandr Bukharov at the 56th minute. [custom_adv] He started in the return leg on 3 August 2016 and scored his first Champions League goal in the 47th minute, helping Rostov advance 4–2 on aggregate. He scored his second Champions League goal on 24 August 2016 in the return leg of the playoff round match against Ajax, scoring the opening goal in a 4–1 victory which resulted in Rostov advancing to the group stage of the Champions League for the first time.