Homayoun Behzadi (‎; 20 June 1942 – 22 January 2016) was an Iranian

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 lea ...

and coach. He usually played as a striker.

Early life

He was born on 4 January 1942 in

Khorramabad Khorramabad (; ) is a city in the Central District of Khorramabad County, Lorestan province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. Situated in a scenic valley surrounded by mountains, the city lies approx ...

Lorestan province Lorestan province () is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. Its capital is the city of Khorramabad. Lorestan is in the western part of the country in the Zagros Mountains and covers an area of 28,392 km2. In 2014 it was placed in Region ...

. Behzadi first broke into the Shahin side when he was only 16 years old. He played for Shahin until 1966, when due to financial problems Shahin FC dissolved. He is graduated in

Persian language Persian ( ), also known by its endonym and exonym, endonym Farsi (, Fārsī ), is a Western Iranian languages, Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian languages, Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, Indo-Iranian subdivision ...

Playing career

Club career

In 1967, he changed to

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 ...

. In spring 1968, he changed to Peykan. There he won the Tehran Championship in 1968 before changing to

in 1969. There he won the

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

ian league in

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, ...

as well as in

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

International career

In 1966 he won the silver medal of the Asian Games in Thailand. He won the Asian Nations Cup with Iran in

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 ...

– when he scored 4 goals in 4 matches, also the equalizer in the final match, which led to 2–1 victory against Israel (and to become one of the tournament's top scorer). He also won the Asian Nations Cup with Iran in

Coaching career

Before his starting his coaching career, he trained

in the absence of manager Alan Rogers, when he was part of the team. After he retired in 1975, he became caretaker head coach of the club after resignation of Rogers. He starts a project in Persepolis that held in next years to decrease the age of the first team squad. His first match as the Persepolis match was a friendly against Malavan which won 3–1. His first official match was a loss to Rah Ahan. After that, Persepolis won and drew twice, then faced to the rivals, Taj (now Esteghlal) in Tehran derby. He lost the match 3–1, but after the match he claimed that Taj players drugs before the match. It was later rejected. He was banned for two months and was replaced with Buyuk Vatankhah. After he was sacked as Persepolis head coach, he was manager of Shahbaz B team for more than ten years.

After retirement

Membership in Persepolis Hall of Fame

He was named as one of the members of Persepolis F.C. Hall of Fame and the club thanked him for his great performance during his senior career at Persepolis. The club gave him a statue of his face and named him as one of the twelve great players of Persepolis in the 1970s.

Illness and death

He suffered a heart attack and was transferred to

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. ...

hospital in April 2013. After two days, he was transferred to Day hospital and his personal doctor announced that his general health is good. He was released on 12 May 2013. On 22 January 2016, Behzadi died in his home at the age of 74.

Honours

Club

;Shahin * Tehran Football League **Winner (7): 1958–59, 1959–60, 1964–65, 1965–66 **Runner-Up (6): 1961–62, 1962–63 * Tehran Hazfi Cup **Winner (1): 1962–63 ;Paykan * Tehran Football League **Winner (1): 1969–70 ;Persepolis * Iranian Football League **Winners (2): 1971–72 1973–74 **Runners-Up (1): 1974–75

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 c ...

**Winner (2):

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years for athletes of Asia. The Games were regulated by Asian Games Federation from the 1951 Asian Games, first Games in New Delhi, India in 1951, until ...

**Runner-Up (1):

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

Individual

Top goalscorer:

* Persepolis Hall of Fame: 2013 * Asian Football Hall of Fame: 2014

References

External links

Homayoun Behzadi
a
TeamMelli.comInterview with Homayoun Behzadi
{{DEFAULTSORT:Behzadi, Homayoun 1942 births 2016 deaths Iranian men's footballers Iranian football managers Shahin Tehran F.C. players Persepolis F.C. players Sportspeople from Khorramabad Footballers from Lorestan province Iran men's international footballers 1968 AFC Asian Cup players AFC Asian Cup–winning players Persepolis F.C. managers Asian Games silver medalists for Iran Asian Games footballers for Iran 1972 AFC Asian Cup players Asian Games medalists in football Footballers at the 1966 Asian Games Men's association football forwards Medalists at the 1966 Asian Games Persepolis F.C. non-playing staff