Heshmat Mohajerani

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Personal information
Heshmat Mohajerani
Full name	Heshmat Mohajerani
Date of birth	January, 1936
Place of birth	Mashhad, Iran
Playing position	Manager (Former Midfielder)
Club information
Current club	Retired
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
?-1963	Taj	? (?)
Teams managed
1971-1974 1974-1976 1976-1978 1979-1981 1991 1992-1994	Iran Youth Iran (Assistant) Iran Al Shaab UAE Oman
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Heshmat Mohajerani (born January, 1936 in Mashhad, Iran) is an Iranian football coach and former player. He is perhaps the most successful Iranian coach of the Iranian national team. Mohajerani and his brothers formed Aboomoslem FC Club in Mashhad.

He is currently a member of the VfB Admira Wacker Mödling executive committee.

1 Playing career
2 Managerial career
3 Achievements
4 External links

[edit] Playing career

In his senior years, Mohajerani joined Taj and played for this famous club until his early retirement at the age of 27 years.

[edit] Managerial career

Mohajerani flew to Japan to participate in a three-month coaching course, under the auspices of Sir Stanley Rose, president of FIFA, and the management of the famous German coach Dietmar Cramer.

It took a while before Mohajerani was given a coaching job. When he finally did get appointed as a team coach, two years after completing the coaching course, he first heard the news through newspapers.

In 1971, he started his coaching career as the Iranian Youths National Team Coach. During his years as coach, he gave numerous opportunities to youths from cities other than the capital and many of those youths, including Nazari, Barzegari, Ghassempour, and Pezeshkar, found their way into the senior squad at Team Melli.

Under his coaching and management, Iran won the Asian Youth Championship for 4 consecutive years, while before his time the Youth Team had never won the Asian Championship. This achievement is a record that no other coach has been able to match. After this brilliant record with the youth team, Mohajerani was appointed as assistant coach to Irishman Frank O'Farrell.

Mohajerani's first major achievement was winning the Asian Cup in 1976 when his team beat Kuwait 1-0 in the final at Azadi stadium.

Shortly, it was qualification for the Montreal Olympic games and for the first time in Iran's history, the team qualified for the next round. The pinnacle of Mohajerani's achievement, however, was the first ever success of Iran national football team to the World Cup finals in Argentina in 1978.

Under his astute coaching, Iran managed to draw against Scotland, while performing gallantly against eventual runners-up Holland.

In one of the most intriguing encounters and sign of the deep trust in youth, Mohajerani challenged the Kuwaiti Team under the management of Carlos Alberto and Mario Zagalo, on their home turf in the last match of the World Cup preliminary game. Although Iran has already qualified, it was a matter of honor to keep the unbeaten record of the team. Mohajerani fielded a youth team against the full strength Kuwait and still managed to beat them 2-1 in a historic match.

After the 1979 revolution in Iran, Mohajerani moved to the United Arab Emirates and pursued his coaching with of Al Sha’ab in Sharjah.

Mohajerani's greatest attributes were his tough character and motivational skills. He was a great believer in youth and never shied away from giving opportunities to young players to excel. He discovered many players who became stars under his guidance or later on in their careers.

[edit] Achievements

1976 AFC Asian Cup
Qualification for the 1978 FIFA World Cup

[edit] External links

Heshmat Mohajerani's Official Website

Preceded by Frank O'Farrell	Iran national team manager 1976-1978	Succeeded by Hassan Habibi

	Iran squad - 1978 FIFA World Cup
1 Hejazi \| 2 Danaeifard \| 3 Fariba \| 4 Bishkar \| 5 Allahverdi \| 6 Nayebagha \| 7 Parvin \| 8 Ghasempour \| 9 Sadeghi \| 10 Rowshan \| 11 Ghesghayan \| 12 Movadat \| 13 Tajmuri \| 14 Nazari \| 15 Eskandarian \| 16 Nurai \| 17 Jahani \| 18 Faraki \| 19 Shojaei \| 20 Abdollahi \| 21 Kazerani \| 22 Korbekandi \| Coach: Mohajerani