Safar Iranpak (23 December 1946 – 30 January 2009) was an Iranian

football striker Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to p ...

who played for

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 ...

and 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 ...

Early life

He was born in

Masjed Soleyman Masjed Soleyman ( fa, مسجدسلیمان, also Romanized as Masjedsoleimān, Masjed-e Soleymān, Masjed Soleiman, and Masjid-i-Sulaiman) is a city and capital of Masjed Soleyman County, Khuzestan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its populati ...

on 23 December 1946. He started his playing career for his hometown team Shahin Ahvaz at the age of 12.

Club career

He was promoted to the first team squad of Shahin Ahvaz and joined

in summer 1968. He played twelve seasons for Persepolis and is the best goalscorer at Tehran derby. He is also the third all-time goalscorer of Persepolis.

International career

He was invited to the

in 1971 and was a part of the title winning team at the

1972 AFC Asian Cup The 1972 AFC Asian Cup was the 5th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), that was hosted in Thailand . The finals were held in Thailand between 7 May ...

. One of his best international games was against

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

, where he scored twice and led Iran to qualify for the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

. He retired from national football in 1975.

After retirement and death

After he retired from football in 1980, he moved to

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, Sweden where he died on 30 January 2009 from lung cancer. His body was sent to

Ahwaz Ahvaz ( fa, اهواز, Ahvâz ) is a city in the southwest of Iran and the capital of Khuzestan province. Ahvaz's population is about 1,300,000 and its built-up area with the nearby town of Sheybani is home to 1,136,989 inhabitants. It is home ...

to be buried in the Behesht-Abad cemetery.

Honours

Club

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 ...

: **Winners (3): 1971–72 1973–74, 1975–76 **Runners-up (3): '' 1974–75, 1976–77, 1977–78 * Espandi Cup: **Winner: 1979

International

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 ...

: **Winners (1):

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 ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iranpak, Safar 1947 births 2009 deaths Iranian footballers Iran international footballers Persepolis F.C. players shahin Ahvaz players Deaths from lung cancer Deaths from cancer in Sweden Olympic footballers of Iran 1972 AFC Asian Cup players Footballers at the 1972 Summer Olympics AFC Asian Cup-winning players People from Masjed Soleyman Association football forwards Sportspeople from Khuzestan province