Garnik Mehrabian (September 1937 – 5 June 2022) was an

Iranian Armenian Iranian Armenians (; ), also known as Persian Armenians (; ), are Iranians of Armenian ethnicity who may speak Armenian as their first language. Estimates of their number in Iran range from 70,000 to 500,000. Areas with a high concentration o ...

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 and coach.

Managerial career

After retiring from professional football, Mehrabian received a coaching position from

club Ararat Tehran F.C. His success at the club earned Mehrabian the opportunity to coach both the Iran U20 and Iran senior national teams. Upon being released from his duties in 1978, Mehrabian began a short stint with Machine Sazi in

Tabriz Tabriz (; ) is a city in the Central District (Tabriz County), Central District of Tabriz County, in the East Azerbaijan province, East Azerbaijan province of northwestern Iran. It serves as capital of the province, the county, and the distric ...

. This opportunity revitalized his coaching career, bringing him to the attention of the

United Arab Emirates Football Association The United Arab Emirates Football Association (UAE FA; ) is the governing body of association football, beach soccer and futsal in the United Arab Emirates. Association staff President The following is a list of selected presidents of the U ...

, becoming the coach of the nation's team in 1980. Mehrabian later resided in

Glendale, California Glendale is a city located primarily in the Verdugo Mountains region, with a small portion in the San Fernando Valley, of Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is located about north of downtown Los Angeles. As of 2024, Glendale ha ...

, where he was the director of his own soccer academy and was the coach of amateur side Pyunik Los Angeles.

References

External sources

Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mehrabian, Garnik 1937 births 2022 deaths Iranian people of Armenian descent Iranian emigrants to the United States Footballers from Tehran Ethnic Armenian sportspeople Iranian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Iran men's international footballers Esteghlal F.C. players Iranian expatriate football managers Iranian expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate football managers in the United Arab Emirates