Ebrahim Ashtiani (

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

: ابراهیم اشتیانی; January 1942 – 24 October 2017) was an Iranian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player. He played for the

Iran national football team ) ''(the national team)' other nicknames'' , Badge = Flag_of_Iran.svg , Badge_size = 190px , Association = Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran , FIFA Trigramme = IRN , FIFA Rank ...

and spent most of his career at

Persepolis , native_name_lang = , alternate_name = , image = Gate of All Nations, Persepolis.jpg , image_size = , alt = , caption = Ruins of the Gate of All Nations, Persepolis. , map = , map_type ...

. His son

Ardalan Ardalan ( ku, میرنشینی ئەردەڵان) was a hereditary Kurdish vassaldom in western Iran from around the 14th century until 1865 or 1868 with Sanandaj as capital. The territory corresponded roughly to present-day Kurdistan Province ...

is also a professional football player.

Club career

First years

He began his playing career with Boostan and Poolad (under-19 and under-23 team of Shahin) and was promoted to the first team in 1964, by

Abbas Ekrami Dr.Abbas Ekrami ( fa, عباس اکرامی) is a former Iranian football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form o ...

. He showed good performances and became one of the starting players after the 1966–67 season. He received a red card in a match against Tehranjavan, this led to an involvement between players and coaches. Two days after the match,

IFF In logic and related fields such as mathematics and philosophy, "if and only if" (shortened as "iff") is a biconditional logical connective between statements, where either both statements are true or both are false. The connective is bicon ...

(Iran's football association) ruled a one-year suspension for Shahin but club officials announced the dissolution of Shahin.

Persepolis

After Shahin was dissolved, Ashtiani and many other players of the team joined another

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

based club,

. He played with the team in

Asian Club Championship The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

in his first season. After he was recalled from loan in 1970, he showed good form in a friendly match against

Hamburg SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three ...

which the German club offered him a contract to join to the team, which Ashtiani rejected to play for Persepolis until his retirement. He also had bids from

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

and Al-Arabi. He assisted the first goal of Persepolis in a historic 6–0 derby win to

Hossein Kalani Hossein Kalani ( fa, حسین کلانی; born January 23, 1945 in Tehran) is a retired Iranian football striker who played for Shahin, Persepolis, Paykan Tehran, Shahbaz and the Iran national football team. He was named as one of the members ...

. After the retirement of Persepolis captains

Jafar Kashani Jafar Ashraf Kashani ( fa, جعفر اشرف کاشانی, March 21, 1944 – October 2, 2019) was an Iranian football player. He was scouted by Abbas Ekrami, Shahin F.C.'s founder when he was 16. After Shahin's dissolution, he joined Persepoli ...

and

Homayoun Behzadi Homayoun Behzadi (20 June 1942 – 22 January 2016) was an Iranian footballer and coach. He usually played as a striker. Early life He was born on 4 January 1942 in Khorramabad, Lorestan Province. Behzadi first broke into the Shahin side whe ...

, Ashtiani became captain of the club when he was only 28 making him the youngest captain of Persepolis, a record that was broken by

Alireza Haghighi Alireza Haghighi ( fa, , born 6 May 1988) is an Iranian goalkeeper who plays for the Iranian based team Nassaji. Club career Persepolis Having joined the senior squad of Persepolis at the age of 16, he made his debut in the match against Saipa ...

in 2010. He retired in the summer of 1976 at the age of 30.

Loan to Paykan

Ashtiani and many other players of Persepolis joined

Paykan The Paykan ( fa, پيکان meaning ''Arrow'') is the first Iranian-made car produced by Iran Khodro (formerly called "Iran National") between 1967 and 2005. The car was very popular in Iran from its introduction until its discontinuation. It ...

on loan after an agreement between the two club's presidents. He played for one season at Paykan and was invited for the first time to the

International career

Ashtiani won the

Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second oldest cont ...

in Thailand in 1972 as well as the football tournament of the

1974 Asian Games The 7th Asian Games ( fa, بازی‌های آسیایی ۱۹۷۴) were held from 1 to 16 September 1974 in Tehran, Imperial State of Iran. The Aryamehr Sports Complex was built for the Games. The Asian Games were hosted in the Middle East for th ...

in Tehran. He made 35 appearances for the

from 1969 to 1974 and was part of the Iranian team competing in the football tournament of the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

in Munich 1972.

After retirement

He was an assistant coach of

Büyük Vatankhah Büyük Vatankhah ( fa, بیوک وطنخواه) or Ezzatollah Vatankhah ( fa, عزت الله وطنخواه) (born February 1, 1942 in Tabriz, Iran) is a retired Iranian football player and currently a scouter. He has played in Rah Ahan, Taj, ...

in 1974–75 season, while he was also club captain. Later, he was chosen as an assistant coach of

Iran national under-23 football team Iran national under-23 football team, also known as Iran U-23 or Iran Olympic Team; represents Iran in international football competitions in Olympic Games, Asian Games and AFC U-22 Asian Cup, as well as any other under-23 international footbal ...

. He then managed Poora for two seasons in 2nd Division. After the resignation of Persepolis' longtime team manager,

Mahmoud Khordbin Mahmoud Khordbin ( fa, محمود خوردبین, born 24 September 1948 in Tehran, Iran) is an Iranian retired football player. Haddadpour, Mehdi; Zarei, Asghar. ''Persepolis F.C. Official pictorial lexicon and Yearbook of 2007–2008''. Honark ...

, he was appointed as team manager of Persepolis and held the post until Khordbin's reappointment. He was part of the club's technical committee for years. He died on 24 October 2017 after long illness.

Honours

Club

;Shahin *

Tehran Football League The Iranian football league system is a series of interconnected leagues for football clubs in Iran. Structure The current structure has been in place since 2001. The Persian Gulf Pro League (PGL) is the highest level of club football in Iran. ...

: 1965 ;Persepolis *

Iranian Football League The Iranian football league system is a series of interconnected leagues for football clubs in Iran. Structure The current structure has been in place since 2001. The Persian Gulf Pro League (PGL) is the highest level of club football in Iran. I ...

: 1971–72 1973–74, 1974–75 (Runner-up), 1975–76

National

AFC Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second oldest cont ...

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Januar ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

Individual

* Iranian Footballer of the Year: 1971 * AFC Asian Cup most valuable player: 1972

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashtiani, Ebrahim 1942 births 2017 deaths Sportspeople from Tehran Iranian footballers Iran international footballers Shahin Tehran F.C. players Persepolis F.C. players Paykan F.C. players Association football defenders Olympic footballers of Iran Footballers at the 1972 Summer Olympics 1972 AFC Asian Cup players Persepolis F.C. non-playing staff Asian Games gold medalists for Iran Asian Games medalists in football Footballers at the 1970 Asian Games Footballers at the 1974 Asian Games Medalists at the 1974 Asian Games 20th-century Iranian people