He was born on January 22, 1931 in Pachnar neighborhood of Tehran. He is a former football player and former head coach of Bargh Shiraz Football Club.

Sharafi started playing football from the under coaching of Hassan Habibi. He started his professional football career with Shahin youth team. After a while, he joined the famous Taj Esteghlal team and after sparkling in that club, he joined the Tehran Pass. He played for the club for ten years and captained the team for the last two years. He was also invited to the national team in 1968 and was able to score 2 goals in 17 games. He was a member of the national team in the 1968 Asian Cup and the 1972 Asian Cup, where they won the Asian Championship. After Iran did not qualify for the 1974 FIFA World Cup, Sharafi retired himself. After retiring from national football two months later, he also said goodbye to club football and turned to coaching.

He started coaching the national football team of U-23 Iran, which was already coached by Heshmat Mohajerani. After Mohajerani became the head coach of the national team, Sharafi also worked as his second assistant, who was able to help Iran win the third Nations Cup and qualify for the 1978 FIFA World Cup. After Mohajerani resigned as the head coach of the national team in 1978, he also resigned and after a short time, he was selected as the assistant coach of Esteghlal team, where he once played. After the dismissal of the team's head coach, Sharafi was in charge of the team for half a season and left the club at the end of the season. He left Iran for Norway in 1984, but returned to Iran after nine years and took charge of the Iranjavan team. In 1997, he was selected for the second time as an assistant coach of the national team. After three years of activity, the president of the Iranian Football Federation selected Sharafi as the head coach of the national team.

In 2010, Mes Sarcheshmeh Club, which had just been advanced to the Premier League, replaced Sharafi with its previous head coach.

In the summer of 2012, Bargh Shiraz Club, which is in the first division of Iranian football, once again selected Sharafi as its head coach. But he joined Arak Municipality team in March 2013.