Mohammad Reza Adelkhani ( fa, محمدرضا عادلخانی, born February 13, 1947 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 ...

Iran 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 ...

) is a retired Iranian

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 former

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 ...

player. Adelkhani achieved the UEFA Pro Licence, the first Iranian to do so.

Early life

He was born on 13 February 1947 in Tehran, Iran. He began playing in football in 1960 playing at Shahin.

Club career

Adelkhani played for

SG Wattenscheid 09 SG Wattenscheid 09 is a German association football club located in Wattenscheid, Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club claimed an official founding date of 18 September 1909 as Ballspiel-Verein Wattenscheid out of the merger of two earlier ...

Wuppertaler SV Wuppertaler SV is a German association football club located in Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia. The city was founded in 1929 out of the union of a number of smaller towns including Elberfeld, Barmen, Vohwinkel, Cronenberg and Ronsdorf – e ...

Rot-Weiß Oberhausen Rot-Weiß Oberhausen is a German association football club in Oberhausen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club was formed as ''Oberhausener SV'' in December 1904 out of the merger of ''Emschertaler SV'' (1902) and the football enthusiasts of ''Oberh ...

and

VfL Klafeld-Geisweid VfL Klafeld-Geisweid 08 is a German football club playing in the Klafeld-Geiswald district of Siegen, North Rhine-Westphalia. History The club has its roots in the village teams of ''SG Sigambria Geisweid'', founded in 1908, and ''SpVgg Klafe ...

before moving back to Iran. He was the first Iranian player to move to Europe to play football. When he was in Turkey with Taj SC for a friendly match, German talent scouts saw his performance and signed him for Bayern Munchen. Adelkhani's first senior club in Iran was

Taj SC Esteghlal Football Club ( fa, باشگاه فوتبال استقلال, ''Bâšgâh-è Futbâl-è Esteqlâl''), commonly known as Esteghlal ( fa, استقلال, meaning 'The Independence'), is an Iranian football club based in capital Tehran th ...

with whom he reached champion title in the Iranian league in

Takht Jamshid Cup The Takht Jamshid Cup ( fa, جام تخت جمشید, Jâm-e Taxt-e Jamšid) was a national football league based in Iran which lasted from 1973 to 1978. History Before 1970 Before 1970s, the tournament was called the Iranian Championship cup, ...

. He then joined

Shahbaz F.C. Shahin Tehran Football Club ( fa, باشگاه فوتبال شاهین تهران, Shāhīn meaning ''Falcon''), also spelled Shaahin or Shaheen, from 1973 to 1979 known as Shahbaz ( fa, شهباز, Shahbāz, meaning ''Shahbaz (bird), Shahbaz''), ...

, where he reached third place in the Iranian league in 1976/77.

International career

Between 1973 and 1978, he played 17 times for the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exam ...

and scored 2 goals. Iranian football fans will never forget the Asian football Olympic final 1974 in Aryamehr Stadium between Iran and Israel, in which Adelkhani forced Shum's own goal, which led Iran to win this tournament. He was part of the Iran squad that qualified for the

1978 FIFA World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It was held in Argentina between 1 and 25 June. The Cup was won by t ...

. However, an injury he sustained while saving his young daughter from falling down the stairs kept him out of the competition. He was a left-footed player.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adelkhani, Mohammad Reza 1947 births Living people Iranian footballers Iran international footballers Association football forwards FC Bayern Munich II players Rot-Weiß Oberhausen players Wuppertaler SV players Bonner SC players SG Wattenscheid 09 players Esteghlal F.C. players Shahin FC players Oberliga (football) players Regionalliga players Iranian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Iranian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Sportspeople from Tehran Asian Games gold medalists for Iran Medalists at the 1974 Asian Games Asian Games medalists in football Footballers at the 1974 Asian Games