Nasser Hejazi, nicknamed "the legendary goalkeeper", was an Iranian football
player and coach who most notably played for Taj/Esteghlal Tehran.
Considered as one of the best goalkeepers in the history of Iranian
football and Asia, he was capped 62 times for the Iran national football
team. In 2000, the Asian Football Confederation ranked him the second best
Asian goalkeeper of the 20th century. He was goalkeeper of Iran national team
in 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.
As a Manager, he won an Azadegan League in 1998 and a Bangladesh League in 1988,
as well as a runner-up place in AFC Champions League in 1999.
Early life Hejazi was born on 14 December 1949 in
Tehran, Iran. His father, Ali Akbar had a real estate agency in Tehran and was
an Iranian Azerbaijani from Tabriz. He was admitted to Allameh Tabatabai
University in 1977. 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.
Club career 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. Further on, he won the Hazfi Cup
in 1977. In summer 1977 he changed the club
joining Shahbaz Tehran, trying to win the Takht Jamshid Cup 1977–78 with his
famous National team mates Gholam Hossein Mazloumi, Nasrollah Abdollahi,
Ebrahim Ghasempour and Hamid Majd Teymouri. So it was a tremendous
surprise, that Shahbaz could only reach the 11th place. 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 remained as Esteghlal's main goalkeeper until 1986. There he won the
Tehran provincial 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. International career
Hejazi joined up with the Iran National Team, just in time to feature in the
squad that won the Asian Cup in 1968 and picked up two more in 1972 as the first
choice and 1976 as the second choice goalkeeper.
He also represented Iran at the 1972 Munich Olympics and reached the
quarter-finals of the football tournament at the 1976 Olympics in
Montreal. In 1974, he had a key role in Iran's victory in the final match of the
football tournament of the Asian Games in Tehran.
Hejazi's most valued tournament was the 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina, where
he participated as Iran's starting goalkeeper.
He was the captain of the national team during the 1980 Asian Cup and played his
last match for Iran in the semi-final match versus Kuwait. 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 back then, in spite of being only 29 years old at the
time of implementation. = International caps =
Managerial career 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. 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 and
Esteghlal Ahvaz. 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 Jubilo 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 early August 2006 Hejazi announced he signed a
one-year contract as head coach of Azadegan League outfit Nassaji
Mazandaran. He resigned from the post in 19 January 2007. On 5 August 2007, He
was appointed as head coach of Esteghlal for a second time but he was sacked by
club in 8 November 2007 because of bad results after 14 matches.
Honours = Player =
Club Esteghlal
Asian Club Championship 1970 Iranian Football League: 1974–75
Tehran provincial league: 1982–83, 1984–85
Mohammedan Dhaka League: 1986–87
International Iran
Asian Cup: 1972, 1976 Asian Games: 1974
= Manager = Mohammedan
Dhaka League: 1987–88, 1988–89 Esteghlal
Iranian Football League: 1997–98 Political career
= Presidential candidacy = On 3 November 2004, Hejazi announced his
nomination for 2005 presidential election. He was rejected by the
Guardian Council of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Iran, arguing his
lack of political career prior to the election. Later on, he became a
supporter of Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
In 2009 presidential election, he supported Mir-Hossein Mousavi.
= Opposition to Ahmadinejad = He was an opponent to the Economic
reform plan of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Government. In April 2011,
he made a statement regarding the plan: "I'm very sorry for our people, they
have oil, petroleum and ... but some of them are poor".
It is known that after this comment, he was unofficially banned from Iranian
Television Network. This was later revoked due to his popularity and the
perceived side effects that could have come from this decision.
Personal life Hejazi married Behnaz Shafie in 1973. He
became father of two, one daughter, Atoosa and one son, Attila, who both
grew up to play soccer just like their father. Attila has been playing in
Esteghlal B from 1997 to 2004 and Atoosa was the captain of Iran national women
futsal team. Atoosa is married to an Iranian retired soccer player Saeed
Ramezani who formerly played for Zob Ahan, Sepahan and Foolad in the Iran Pro
League. They have a son named Amir Arsalan.
Cancer struggle and death Hejazi was diagnosed with aggressive
lung cancer in late 2009. While trying to resume normal daily activities as a
coach, his illness forced him to be hospitalised. Hejazi went into a coma on
20 May 2011 as he was watching the match between Esteghlal and Pas Hamedan soccer
teams in the final week of the Iran Pro League. In 23 May 2011, after being
unable to recover from a stroke, he died at 10:55 a.m. in Kasra Hospital in
Tehran. His funeral was held on 25 May 2011 in Azadi Stadium in western Tehran
and his body was buried in the Behesht-e Zahra cemetery in southern Tehran on the
same day as his final resting place. More than 20,000 people attended his
funeral. Hejazi's popularity went beyond Iran's
borders as Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson expressed the club's
sympathy for Hejazi's illness in April 2010. In a message, President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad paid homage to Hejazi and characterised him as a renowned and
good-tempered Iranian football figure who offered valuable services to
national sport. Legacy
Hejazi is considered by many to be the best Iranian and Asian goalkeeper of all
time. Hejazi was a member of the all-conquering Iran national team of the
1960s and 1970s that won the Asian Cup a record three times in a row and
represented Iran at two Summer Olympics as well as 1978 FIFA World Cup. After
his death, it was proposed that a new stadium named after Hejazi would be
built in Tehran. Esteghlal's training camp was also renamed to Hejazi Training
Camp. References
External links Official website