Nasser Hejazi

Nasser Hejazi (Persian: ناصر حجازی, nāser hejāzi; 14 December 1949 – 23 May 2011), nicknamed "the legendary Iranian goalkeeper", was an Iranian football player and coach who most notably played for Esteghlal (Taj).

Considered as the best goalkeeper in the history of Iranian football and Asia, he was capped 62 times for the Iran national football team.

Hejazi was born on 14 December 1949 in Piranshahr, Iran.

His father, Ali Akbar had a real estate agency in Tehran and was an Iranian Azerbaijani from Tabriz.

He was goalkeeper of Iran national team in the 1960s and 1970s and won the AFC Asian Cup on two occasions in 1972 and 1976, and Asian Games title once, and competed in the 1972 Munich Olympics and 1976 Montreal Olympics and 1978 FIFA World Cup.

He was later enrolled in Nader F.C. in 1964 and played for club until 1965.

After that, he signed a contract with Taj Tehran and started his career in a professional club.

Hejazi made his debut for the Iran national team in 1969.

Hejazi was the goalkeeper of the Taj Tehran and Iran during the 1970s.

Hejazi first broke into the Taj side when he was only 18 years old and while a member of the now defunct Nader FC.

He won the Asian Club Championship in 1970; he also won the Iranian league in 1971 as well as 1975 and was positioned second in 1974.

He became the first-choice goalkeeper in time for the 1972 Asian Cup, which Iran won for a second time in a row.

Later that year, he was part of the Iran squad for the Olympic Games in Munich, where Iran failed to qualify for the second round.

In 1974, he shared goalkeeping duties with Bahram Mavaddat and Mansour Rashidi at the Asian Games in Tehran, but played a key role in the 1–0 victory over Israel in the final.

In 1976, he was again part of the squad that won the Asian Cup, but as second-choice behind Rashidi, before returning to the starting role for the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, playing in all three matches as Iran reached the quarter-finals.

He was admitted to Allameh Tabatabai University in 1977.

Further on, he won the Hazfi Cup in 1977.

In summer 1977 he changed the club joining Shahbaz Tehran, trying to win the 1977–78 Takht Jamshid Cup with his famous National teammates Gholam Hossein Mazloumi, Nasrollah Abdollahi, Ebrahim Ghasempour and Hamid Majd Teymouri.

In the following year Shahbaz was leading the ranking in the season 1978/79, when in autumn 1978 – due to the political uprisings, which ended with the Iranian Revolution in February 1979 – the season was canceled.

After the 1978 FIFA World Cup, Hejazi received an offer from Manchester United.

He trained and played with the club for a month, even appearing in a reserve match against Stoke City.

Manchester United manager Dave Sexton wanted Hejazi to stay for another two or three months before officially signing a contract with him, but there was no-one at the IRFF at the time of the Iranian Revolution to arrange the extension, which led to Manchester United signing Gary Bailey instead.

Hejazi continued as Iran's starting goalkeeper at the 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina, but Iran conceded eight goals in their three games, managing just one draw.

He was then named captain for the 1980 Asian Cup in Kuwait; Iran finished top of their group and faced the host nation in the semi-finals but lost 2–1 as Kuwait went on to win the title.

After the tournament, a member of Iran's Physical Education Department implemented a policy in which athletes older than 27 years of age would no longer be allowed to compete internationally.

Hejazi was effectively forced to retire from international football, despite being only 29 years old at the time of implementation.

There he won the Tehran Province League in 1983 and 1985 and the runners-up position in 1982.

His last station was the Bangladeshi club Mohammedan in Dhaka, where he stayed for one year and could win his last league title.

Hejazi remained as Esteghlal's main goalkeeper until 1986.

Hejazi coached Bangladeshi football club Mohammedan from 1987 to 1991.

During his time, Bangladeshi football was enlightened with the modern day technique of football and embraced top football coaching.

At continental level, Hejazi guided Mohammedan to the Semi-Final Group round of the 1988–89 Asian Club Championship, by defeating Iranian club Persepolis 2–1.

The Bangladeshi football Federation rewarded him by making him national team coach in 1989.

During the 1990s, Hejazi was the manager of a number of football clubs including the Mohammedan SC, the Esteghlal (former Taj) and Esteghlal Ahvaz.

As a manager, he won an Azadegan League in 1998 and a Bangladesh League in 1988, as well as a runner-up place in 1998–99 AFC Champions League.

During his tenure with the Esteghlal, Hejazi won the Iranian League in 1998, then took the club to the final match of the Asian Champions League in 1999.

They were beaten by the Júbilo Iwata in Tehran.

During his years as a coach, Hejazi was the first to discover several talented Iranian football players, including Rahman Rezaei in Zobahan and Alireza Akbarpour in Machine Sazi Tabriz.

In 2000, the Asian Football Confederation ranked him the second best Asian goalkeeper of the 20th century.

So it was a tremendous surprise, that Shahbaz could only reach the 11th place.