Mehrdad Minavand ( fa, مهرداد میناوند ; 30 November 1975 – 27 January 2021) was an Iranian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

and coach. He played mostly as a

left midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

but was also deployed as a

left winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Club career

Minavand was born in

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 ...

. He played for a few clubs, including Keshavarz F.C.,

Persepolis FC Persepolis Football Club ( fa, باشگاه فوتبال پرسپولیس, Bâšgâh-e Futbâl-e Perspolis) is an Iranian professional football club based in Tehran, that competes in the Persian Gulf Pro League. Persepolis was founded in 19 ...

Sturm Graz Sportklub Sturm Graz is an Austrian association football club, based in Graz, Styria, playing in the Austrian Football Bundesliga. The club was founded in 1909. Its colours are black and white. In its history, Sturm Graz has won the Austrian f ...

(Austria),

Sporting Charleroi Royal Charleroi Sporting Club, often simply known as Charleroi or Sporting Charleroi, is a Belgian football club based in the city of Charleroi, in the province of Hainaut. Charleroi plays in the Belgian Pro League and their current spell at th ...

(Belgium) and Al-Shabab (

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

) as well as

Sepahan Foolad Mobarakeh Sepahan Sport Club ( fa, باشگاه فرهنگی ورزشی فولاد مبارکه سپاهان اصفهان, ''Bâšgâh-è Varzeši-ye Fulâd-è Mobârake-ye Sepâhân''), commonly known as Sepahan S.C., are an Iranian spor ...

. He last played for

Rah Ahan FC Rah Ahan Sports Club ( fa, باشگاه ورزشی راه‌آهن, ''Bashgah-e Vârzeshi-ye Rahâhen''), commonly known as Rah Ahan Football Club, is an Iranian professional football club based in Tehran. They currently play in the Azadegan Leagu ...

, but left the team after the 2005–06 season. He played 21 matches in

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

and he is all-time record holder among the Iranian footballers in this feature.

International career

Minavand played for the

Iran national team Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and was a participant at the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

Death

On 21 January 2021, Minavand was hospitalised due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Six days later it was announced that he had died from the virus, at age 45.

Career statistics

International

:''Scores and results list Iran's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Minavand goal''.

Honours

Persepolis * Iranian League: 1995–96, 1996–97 Sturm Graz *

Austrian Bundesliga The Austrian Football Bundesliga (german: Österreichische Fußball-Bundesliga, italic=no , "Austrian Football Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Austrian football league system. Th ...

: 1998–99 *

Austrian Cup The Austrian Cup (german: ÖFB-Cup), known as UNIQA ÖFB Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual football competition held by the Austrian Football Association, the ÖFB. During the 2008–09 season, Austria Wien won the tournament for 27th t ...

: 1998–99 *

Austrian Supercup The Austrian Supercup (German: ÖFB-Supercup) was a Association football, football competition held annually from 1986 until 2004 between the winners of the Austrian Football Bundesliga and the Austrian Cup. 19 editions were played during the sho ...

: 1998, 1999 Individual *

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 ...

Team of the Tournament:

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

References

External links

* 1975 births 2021 deaths Men's association football wingers Men's association football fullbacks 1996 AFC Asian Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players 2000 AFC Asian Cup players Iran men's international footballers Iranian expatriate footballers Iranian footballers Persepolis F.C. players R. Charleroi S.C. players Rah Ahan Tehran F.C. players Sepahan S.C. footballers SK Sturm Graz players Keshavarz F.C. players Belgian Pro League players Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran Footballers from Tehran Persepolis F.C. non-playing staff {{Iran-singer-stub