Ebrahim Ashtiani (

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

: ابراهیم اشتیانی; January 1942 – 24 October 2017) was an Iranian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player. He played for the

Iran national football team The Iran national football team (), recognised as IR Iran by FIFA since 2018, represents Iran in men's international senior Association football, football and is governed by the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran (FFIRI). At the cont ...

and spent most of his career at

Persepolis Persepolis (; ; ) was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire (). It is situated in the plains of Marvdasht, encircled by the southern Zagros mountains, Fars province of Iran. It is one of the key Iranian cultural heritage sites and ...

. His son

Ardalan Ardalan also known as Ardalanids, house of Ardalan, Ardalind dynasty, () was a Hereditary monarchy, hereditary Kurds, Kurdish Emirate in western Iran from around the 14th century until 1865 or 1868 with Sanandaj as capital. The Ardalan state wa ...

is also a professional football player.

Club career

First years

He began his playing career with Boostan and Poolad (under-19 and under-23 team of Shahin) and was promoted to the first team in 1964, by Abbas Ekrami. He showed good performances and became one of the starting players after the 1966–67 season. He received a red card in a match against Tehranjavan, this led to an involvement between players and coaches. Two days after the match,

IFF In logic and related fields such as mathematics and philosophy, "if and only if" (often shortened as "iff") is paraphrased by the biconditional, a logical connective between statements. The biconditional is true in two cases, where either both ...

(Iran's football association) ruled a one-year suspension for Shahin but club officials announced the dissolution of Shahin.

Persepolis

After Shahin was dissolved, Ashtiani and many other players of the team joined another

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

based club,

. He played with the team in

Asian Club Championship The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious cl ...

in his first season. After he was recalled from loan in 1970, he showed good form in a friendly match against

Hamburg SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), or HSV (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football department. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a ...

which the German club offered him a contract to join to the team, which Ashtiani rejected to play for Persepolis until his retirement. He also had bids from

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

and Al-Arabi. He assisted the first goal of Persepolis in a historic 6–0 derby win to

Hossein Kalani Hossein Kalani (; born January 23, 1945, in Tehran) is a retired Iranian Football (soccer), football Striker (association football), striker who played for Shahin F.C., Shahin, Persepolis F.C., Persepolis, Paykan Tehran F.C., Paykan Tehran, Shahb ...

. After the retirement of Persepolis captains

Jafar Kashani Jafar Ashraf Kashani (, March 21, 1944 – October 2, 2019) was an Iranian football player. He was scouted by Abbas Ekrami, Shahin F.C.'s founder when he was 16. After Shahin's dissolution, he joined Persepolis F.C. and played until 1974 when h ...

and

Homayoun Behzadi Homayoun Behzadi (‎; 20 June 1942 – 22 January 2016) was an Iranian footballer and coach. He usually played as a striker. Early life He was born on 4 January 1942 in Khorramabad, Lorestan province. Behzadi first broke into the Shahin si ...

, Ashtiani became captain of the club when he was only 28 making him the youngest captain of Persepolis, a record that was broken by

Alireza Haghighi Alireza Haghighi (; born 6 May 1988) is an Iranian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Kheybar. Club career Persepolis Having joined the senior squad of Persepolis at the age of 16, he made his debut in the match against Saip ...

in 2010. He retired in the summer of 1976 at the age of 30.

Loan to Paykan

Ashtiani and many other players of Persepolis joined

Paykan The Paykan ( meaning ''Arrow'') is the first Iranian-made car produced by Iran Khodro, between 1967 and 2005. The car, formerly called "Iran National", is a licensed version of the British Rootes Arrow (Hillman Hunter) and was very popular i ...

on loan after an agreement between the two club's presidents. He played for one season at Paykan and was invited for the first time to the

International career

Ashtiani won the

Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior list of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the contin ...

in Thailand in 1972 as well as the football tournament of the

1974 Asian Games The 7th Asian Games (), also known as Tehran 1974 (), were held from 1 to 16 September 1974 in Tehran, Iran. The Aryamehr Sports Complex was built for the Games. This marked the first time the Asian Games were hosted in the Middle East. Tehran, t ...

in Tehran. He made 35 appearances for the

from 1969 to 1974 and was part of the Iranian team competing in the football tournament of the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competit ...

in Munich 1972.

After retirement

He was an assistant coach of

Büyük Vatankhah Büyük Vatankhah () or Ezzatollah Vatankhah () (born February 1, 1942, in Tabriz, Iran) is a retired Iranian football player and currently a scouter. He has played in Rah Ahan, Taj, Shahin and Persepolis. After he retired in 1972, he became ma ...

in 1974–75 season, while he was also club captain. Later, he was chosen as an assistant coach of

Iran national under-23 football team Iran national under-23 football team, also known as Iran U-23 or Iran Olympic Team; represents Iran in international football competitions in Olympic Games, Asian Games and AFC U-22 Asian Cup, as well as any other under-23 international footba ...

. He then managed Poora for two seasons in 2nd Division. After the resignation of Persepolis' longtime team manager, Mahmoud Khordbin, he was appointed as team manager of Persepolis and held the post until Khordbin's reappointment. He was part of the club's technical committee for years. He died on 24 October 2017 after long illness.

Honours

Club

;Shahin *

Tehran 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 Pro League is the highest level of club football in Iran. It is also called ...

: 1965 ;Persepolis *

Iranian Football League The Iranian football league system is a series of interconnected leagues for soccer, football clubs in Iran. Structure The current structure has been in place since 2001. The Iran's Premier Football League, Pro League is the highest level of cl ...

: 1971–72 1973–74, 1974–75 (Runner-up), 1975–76

National

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 c ...

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

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, ...

Individual

* Iranian Footballer of the Year: 1971 * AFC Asian Cup most valuable player: 1972

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashtiani, Ebrahim 1942 births 2017 deaths Footballers from Tehran Iranian men's footballers Iran men's international footballers Shahin Tehran F.C. players Persepolis F.C. players Paykan F.C. players Men's association football defenders Olympic footballers for Iran Footballers at the 1972 Summer Olympics 1972 AFC Asian Cup players Persepolis F.C. non-playing staff Asian Games gold medalists for Iran Asian Games medalists in football Footballers at the 1970 Asian Games Footballers at the 1974 Asian Games Medalists at the 1974 Asian Games 20th-century Iranian sportsmen