Tehran, Apr 27 (IANS): Former Bayern Munich and Arsenal forward Lukas Podolski has said that Ali Karimi is the best ever football player in Iran's history, the Tehran Times daily reported on Monday.

"My first year at Bayern, it was a pleasure to play with this legend Ali Karimi. He is the best ever from Iran," said Podolski, who played for Bayern Munich from 2006 to 2009, reports Xinhua news agency.

Karimi joined Bayern Munich in 2005 as a midfielder and scored three goals in 33 matches for the German giants.

He became the third Iranian after Ali Daei and Vahid Hashemian to try his luck with Bayern.

Karimi is arguably one of Asia's greatest players, and is often listed as one of the greatest Iranian players of all time.

Football in most parts of the world is stopped now due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.

Keeping in mind the demands post COVID-19 pandemic when football returns, FIFA has proposed allowing teams to effect up to five substitutions per match to help players cope with added burden.

With football on hold in most places across the globe for a long time due to the COVID-19 pandemic throwing a spanner in the works of virtually everything, footballers will be coming off the back of a long lay-off and matches are likely to come thick and fast, almost every few days as leagues seek to make up for lost time.

According to a Sky Sports report, teams will be afforded only three slots -- plus the half-time break -- during the match to make their changes, in a bid to avoid unnecessary stoppages.