THE HISTORY OF IRANIAN FOOTBALL

 Semmelweis University 

Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Sciences 

THE HISTORY OF IRANIAN FOOTBALL 

(1900-2013) 

Supervisor: Author:Amir Majid Vahid 

Dr: Katalin Szikora 

Full-time Courses 

Budapest 

2013 

Table of contents 

1 INTRODUCTION………………………………………………2 

1.1 Choice of subject…………………………………………2 

1.2. Definition of Football…………………………………….3 

2 Historical overview………………………………………3_4 

2.1 History of football…………………………………………4 

2.2 History of football in Iran…………………………………5 

3 THE BEGINNINGS…………………………………………6 

3.1 History of Persepolis F.C football club……………………6_7_8 

3.2 History of Esteghlal F.C football club…………………….9-10 

3.3 The Iranian International team……………………………10_23 

3.4 Introduce famous football players………………………..24_28 

4 AIM OF STUDY ……………………………………………28 

5 METHOD……………………………………………………29 

6 RESULTS……………………………………………………29 

7 CONCLUSION……………………………………………..30_31 

8 REFERENCES………………………………………………31_32 

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1 INTRODUCTION 

1.1 Choice of subject 

Over past few decades Iranian football has gone through many changes and in recent years has become more professional. I started playing football at a very young age with my brother and my uncles. The fun and thrill that I got from the games have stayed with me till now. Football was a easy game to play that helped me bond with other kids that I didn’t know and also didn’t required much equipemnt just a ball and the play area to have a good run around. I wanted to know more about the history of football in Iran and people that made the football popular in Iran. 

No matter how you look at it, football will last through the ages due to it’s versatility, not requiring many equipment and thrill and fun it brings to people who play it. 

1.2 Definition of Football 

A game played by two teams of 11 players each on a rectangular, 100-yard-long field with goal lines and goal posts at either end, the object being to gain possession of the ball and advance it in running or passing plays across the opponent’s goal line or kick it through the air between the opponent’s goal posts, In general play, the goalkeepers are the only players allowed to touch the ball with their hands or arms (unless the ball is carried out of play, where the field players are required to restart by a throw-in of the game ball), while the field players typically use their feet to kick the ball, occasionally using other parts of their legs, their torso, or their head. The team that scores the most goals by the end of the match wins. If the score is tied at the end of the game, either 

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adrwas is declared or the game goes into extra times and/or a penaltly shoouted ,depending on the format of the competition. The laws of the games were originally codified in England by the football association in 1863 and have evolved since then. Association football is governed internationally by the inter national association of football (FIFA french: Fédération Internationale de Football Association), which organises the FIFIA world cup every four years. 

2_HISTORICAL OVERVIEW 

2.1 History of football 

Football (soccer) is a popular sport in many countries around the world. The early history suggests the sport resembling football played in china in 2nd and 3rd centuries BC. During Hon dynasty in China people start to dribble leather ball by kicking it into a small net. The Ancient Greeks and Romans are also known to have used the feet to play ball games. 

Later on in Japan the game known as Kemari was played in Asuka period at imperial court in Kyoto from about 600 AD. 

Modern football was started in England. About 1815 a major development took place that made football popular in colleges and universities. 

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The football association was formed in October 1863 when elven representative from London clubs and schools met at the freemason’s Tavern to set up common fundamental rules to control the matches among themselves. 

FIFA was established in 1904 and first world cup was organized in Uruguay. 

For over a century, despite protests from the Italians, England has been credited as having given birth to modern football. A claim which had looked quite solid until as recently as 2011, when a shocking find by historians traced football’s roots to a quite extraordinary place. An uncovered book, titled Vocabula, seemed to turn soccer’s history on its head. Written by an Aberdonian (citizen of Aberdeen in Scotland) it detailed a game in which two teams played with a ball on a field roughly the size of the present regulation pitches. Not only that, but terms such as keeper (goalkeeper), kick off, and switch halfs were also mentioned. How does this refute England’s claim, you might be thinking? Well, this account was written in the fourteenth century, more than 400 years before the English FA was formed. 

Not enough? Well, a football found behind a wall in Stirling Castle has been dated and named as the oldest in the world. It dates back to the fifteenth century. 

Finally, the oldest club was formed in 1824 in Edinburgh by John Hope. The only reason FIFA does not officially crown it with that honor is that the club stopped existing after 17 years. 

Ground breaking facts, in my opinion . Was it ever going to be a surprise, considering the founder of the English FA was a Scotsman probably passing down generations of football knowledge to his neighbors across the border? Scotland was also the country who invented possession play, using short passes to work up the field into dangerous positions instead of the long ball hit and Hope’s tactics in practice before then.Football has a long and glorious history. Its methods have been refined and improved through the centuries to give us the king of all sports. Scotland, 

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Right fully, can claim the title as its home. That is, currently. Who knows, maybe someone with a nose for history and a bit of determination will uncover evidence to refute Calendonias’ claim in the future. Until then, Scotland can proudly reclaim the mantle as the home of world football. 

2.2 History of football in Iran 

British introduced the football to Iranian. In 1907 British minister in Iran organized the first football league in Iran. The game played in very basic level during 1907 till 1911. In 1911 the football association in Tehran was formed to improve the condition of the games and encourage players to join football teams. 

First international football game was played in Tehran between BADKOBE (Russia) and Iran in 1919 which Iran lost the game by 2-0.. The 1923 were the beginning of the football success in schools as a sport. 

The national sport committee was formed in the 1924 to manage the process of the sports outside of the school environment. There were 367 football teams competing in 29 countries. Hussain Sad Ghiyani (football instructor) after return to Iran from Europe formed the national football team to compete in the international level. 

Amjadeh stadium was completed in the 1936 and Iranian football federation was accepted in FIFA(The Fédération Internationale de Football Association) the next year. 

The Iranian football have had many ups and down since 1907 to present time. During this time period the country went through from football. 

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3 THE BEGINNINGS OF IRAN FOOTBALL CLUBS 

3.1 History of PERSEPOLIS F.C. (football club) 

Persepolis football club is based in Tehran, Iran. Persepolis F.C. is an Iran Pro league professional football club. 

Persepolis Athletic and Cultural club Founded in 1963 by Ali Abdo. He moved from USA to Iran and for a long time was thinking of forming a football team. At the beginning the club was in the second division with not much success in the games. After the break up of the SHAHIN football club, which had many good players, Persepolis was able to invite few of their payers to join their team. In 1968 the new Persepolis team with new players and coach Dehdari started a new season in football league. 

Base on regulation new team had to start from third or second division but because of many teams were dissolved the matches were held to rank the new teams. 44 matches were held that 4 teams of Persepoils, TAJ, OGHAB and PAS finished top of the group. 

The following year Persepolis entered the Asian Champion Club Cup in Bangkok Thailand, which they were eliminated in the group stageIn 1971, Persepolis won the championship in the Iranian league for the first time. In 14 weeks of matches in the season Persepolis managed to have 13 wins and 1 draw. In 1972 Abdo announced Persepolis as the first professional football club in Iran. Takht Jamshid cup was established in 1973 that Persepolis won the cup, and also in 1975. Persepolis is the most successful club in Takht Jamshid cup league with winning the cup twice and finishing as runner-up three times. 

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Abdo left Iran for USA after Iranian revolution in 1979. Persepolis fell apart, as many players didn’t return to the team. The club placed under The Physical Education Department of Iran. The Oppressed and Veterans Departments Foundation sequestered the Club’s property. 

The Physical Education Department wish to change the name of the club was received by resistance from the team officials, players and fans. To show their opposition they didn’t appear in the match against Homa in the Tehran league. They lost the match 3-0 by default and Homa became the champion. 

The Veterans foundation tried to change the name of the club in 1986 to Azadi. The players declared that they wouldn’t play if the name change went through.in 1987 The Physical Educational Department took over the club again and suggested to rename the club to Pirouzi that players agreed. 

Mohammad Rourynian the chairman of the club announced in 10 April 2012 that the club would officially only be known as Persepolis. During 90s the club was revitalized and the team had achieved four league championships, two Hafezi cups and dozens of great players. 

Persepolis won the national championship in 1995-1996 season. At one point in the season they were ten points behind Bahman F.C., but they managed to finish by six points ahead of the runner-up team. They were. 

The winner of the championship the next season as well. In the Asian championship cup they came third by defeating Iraq’s Al-Zawraa. The next season the team withdrew from the league due to their commitments to the Asian Champions’ Cup and the large number of the national team player they had. They didn’t perform well in The Asian Champion’s Cup and they lost their third place match to Al-Hilal. 

The Persepolis teams during the 1996-97 and 1997-98 are considered by many to be the greatest Iranian club to ever play. During this time many of their players were stars in the national team. Players such as; Ahmadreza 7 

Abedzadeh, Khodadad Azizi, Kaarim Bagheri, Ali Daei, Mehdi Mahdavikia, Mehrdad Minavand, Ali Karimi were among the superstars of the national team. 

Several of club’s best players were transferred to European clubs after the World Cup 1998. Despite all the transfers they won the 1998-99 championships as well as the Hazfi Cup that season. They were the winner of the 1999-2000 league championship and third position in the Asian Champion Cup. 

During Ali Parvin as manager the Persepolis won the most championships. 

In 2001 new IPL established and Persepolis entered the league as a powerful team. They were able to win the championship by only one point in their last game. 

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Persepolis and Esteghlal semi finall 2009(lege Azadegan) 

They were unable to keep the championship in the 2002-03 season and third place was all they could achieve. In the newly created AFC Champions League, they failed to advance out of the group stage. 

3.2 The history of ESTEGHLAL F.C.(football club) 

Esteghlal Tehran Football Club is a professional Football Club base in Tehran. It was founded 1945 as Docharkhe savarin. 

The team played its first official match in 1946 and was the winner of the Hazfi cup in 1947. 

The club was officially renamed 1949 to Taj. The club had many supporters and fans for some years and won numerous leagues of AFC Champions league, Hazfie cups and IPL. Under the management of Zdravko Rajkov, Esteghlal was the first Iranian club to win the Asian Cup in 1970. 

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After the revolution in Iran in 1979 the club was put under the management of the Physical Education Orgenization of Islamic of Iran. They decided to change the name of the club to Esteghlal. In 1990 Esteghlal was able to repeat its success by becoming the winner of the Asian Club Cup. 

By the hard work of Ali Danai the Club became more outstanding and many good players were came out of the team such as; Beuk Jedikar, Parvis Kozeo-Kanani, Bayati brothers and Aref gholizade. 

Taj played its first international game in Afghanistan that won the game 3-2. Taj also played games against SK Rapid Wien Austria, FC Torpedo Moscow, AC Sparta Prauge Czech Republic, Fortuna Dusseldorf Germany and many other international teams that gave the Club good reputation. 

Naser Hejazi 

3.3 The iraninan national football team 

Football has been played in Iran since 1920’s, but the national team was not formed till1941. Since then, Iran has played 285 games against national or Olympic teams. Football development of teame-melli (Iranian National Team) can be summarized in to five distinct periods . In Iran foorball is important soprt among the young people and is very populer as well . Student they play football in physical education time and specially in the summer time there are a lot of football camps around to teach them some skills about football . 

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List of games played between 1941-1959