Ahmad Sanjari ( fa, احمد سنجری; born 22 February 1960 in

Karaj Karaj ( fa, کرج, ) is the capital of Alborz Province, Iran, and effectively a satellite city of Tehran. Although the county hosts a population around 1.97 million, as recorded in the 2016 census, most of the county is rugged mountain. The urb ...

) is a retired

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 ...

ian 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 ...

who represented

in 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 ...

. He first played for

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n club Mohammedan S.C. during 1978 at the age of 18. He was the head coach of Mes Sarcheshmeh from 2009 to 2011 and promoted to the team to the

Iran Pro League The Persian Gulf Pro League ( fa, لیگ برتر خلیج فارس, ''Lig-e Bartar-e Xalij-e Fârs''), formerly known as the Iran Pro League ( fa, links=no, لیگ برتر ایران, ''Lig-e bartar-e Irân''), is the highest division of profe ...

in 2011 but was fired after four weeks because of poor results in premier league.

Personal life

Sanjari was born in 1960 in

and came to

to study. He was a student of

Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh Muslim University (abbreviated as AMU) is a Public University, public Central University (India), central university in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan as the Muhammadan Anglo-Orie ...

during the late 1970s.

Club career

Sanjari began his professional career with

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

-giant Mohammedan Sporting in 1978. He played only a single season for the club in the

Calcutta Football League The Calcutta Football League (CFL) is a ladder-based football competition in the Indian state of West Bengal, organised by Indian Football Association (WB), under state football leagues in India. Due to sponsorship reasons, the league is off ...

and achieved local popularity. After his stint with Mohammedan, Sanjari moved to

and played for

Tehran Province League Tehran Provincial League, formerly known as Tehran Clubs Championship, is the premier football league of Tehran Province and is 5th in the Iranian football pyramid after the 3rd Division. It is part of AFC's Vision Asia program. Stablished in 1 ...

side

Homa F.C. Homa Football Club (, ''Hema'') is an Iranian football club based in Tehran, Iran. They currently play in the Tehran Provincial Leagues. The club has a long and rich history and has always been associated and owned by Iran's national airline c ...

from 1979 to 1988.

International career

Sanjari was a regular member of 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 ...

from 1978 to 1984. He has also represented

in the

1984 AFC Asian Cup The 1984 AFC Asian Cup was the 8th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were hosted by Singapore between 1 December and 16 December 198 ...

Managerial career

Sanjari began his coaching career in India with

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

side

Dempo SC Dempo Sports Club, or simply known as Dempo, is an Indian professional football club based in Panjim, Goa, that competes in the Goa Professional League. The club is owned and sponsored by the Dempo Mining Corporation Limited. Popularly known a ...

. He took charge of the Goan-side in 2000 when Dempo relegated to the 2nd division. He kept faith in youngsters and was the man who transformed Samir Naik from a striker to one of India's most enterprising full-back. He became the assistant manager and later head-coach of

ian side Mes Sarcheshmeh from 2007 to 2011. From 2012 to 2013, he was on charge of

F.C. Iranjavan Bushehr Football Club Iranjavan Bushehr ( fa, باشگاه فوتبال ايران جوان بوشهر), commonly known as FC Iranjavan, is an Iranian Football (soccer), football club based in Bushehr, Iran. They currently compete in the Azadegan League. ...

and in 2013 of

Rahian Kermanshah F.C. Rahiyan Kermanshah Football Club ( fa, باشگاه فوتبال راهیان کرمانشاه) (former named by ''Shirin Faraz'') is an Iranian football club based in Kermanshah, Iran and compete in the Azadegan League. The club is in the priv ...

Managerial statistics

References