Dr. Amir Hossein Sadaghiani (1 January 1903 – 1 December 1982) 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 and manager. He was a striker during his playing career and afterwards was

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 ...

's head coach from 1941 till 1950.

Playing career

Club career

Dr. Sadaghiani is the first ever Iranian soccer player to play abroad in a European league. He played for youth teams of Fenerbahçe and Rapid Wien then returned to Iran and established Ferdowsi Club in

Mashhad Mashhad ( ; ), historically also known as Mashad, Meshhed, or Meshed in English, is the List of Iranian cities by population, second-most-populous city in Iran, located in the relatively remote north-east of the country about from Tehran. ...

, but his stay was short as he returned 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. ...

a year later. At 26, he moved Europe to study in Belgium. He arrived at the Université du travail de Charleroi in 1929. He joined CS Marchienne-Monceau, a provincial second division team. He proved to be a very gifted player so he made his mark in Belgium's second Division (1930-1932) and third division (1932-1933) playing for

R. Charleroi S.C. Royal Charleroi Sporting Club, often simply known as Charleroi or Sporting Charleroi, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Charleroi, in the province of Hainaut. Charleroi plays in the Belgian Pro League. Their current ...

for two successful seasons. In the 1930s, his premature baldness earned him the nickname of "Panne de verre", a walloon folklore expression used for bald people. After Charleroi, he moved to Turkey for a year with Fenerbahçe then back to Belgium after 1,5 year where he played in Division III back by Charleroi SC and lower level. In 1936 he left Belgium and finished his football career with Toofan in Tehran.

National career

Although Sadaghiani never played for the Iranian national team as it was not created until 1941, he has 4 caps to his name when in 1926 he played for a Tehran XI team that traveled to

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. Tehran XI lost three games and drew one.

Managerial career

* Head Coach of

1941–1950 * Head Coach of the University of Tehran's Soccer Team 1945–1964

References

Irankick Forum Article

Aftab MagazineAftab Magazine
* ttps://www.rsssf.org/players/as-players-in-eur.html br>اولین آقای گل ایرانی در اروپا کیست؟
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sadaghiani, Hossein 1903 births 1982 deaths Fenerbahçe S.K. footballers SK Rapid Wien players Olympic Charleroi players Royal Charleroi S.C. players R.R.C. Peruwelz players Iran national football team managers Iranian expatriate men's footballers Iranian football managers Iranian men's footballers Footballers from Tabriz Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Iranian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Men's association football forwards