Mehrdad Oladi (, May 25, 1985 – April 19, 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 ...

who most recently played for

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 ...

, Esteghlal,

Naft Tehran Naft Tehran Football Club (, ''Bashgah-e Futbal-e Nuft Teheran'') was an Iranian association football, football club based in Tehran, Iran. They competed in the Persian Gulf Pro League. They were owned by the National Iranian Oil Company previousl ...

Malavan Malavan Bandar Anzali Football Club (, ''Bāšgāh-e Futbāl-e Malavān-e Bandar-e Anzali'') is an Iranian football club based in Bandar-e Anzali, Iran. It currently won Iran's second league, the Azadegan League and came back to Persian Gulf P ...

in the

Iran Pro League The Persian Gulf Pro League (, ''Lig-e Bartar-e Xalij-e Fârs''), formerly known as the Iran Premier League (, ''Lig-e bartar-e Irân''), is a professional association football league in Iran and the highest level of the Iranian football league s ...

. He usually played in the striker position.

Club career

Start with Persepolis

Mehrdad Oladi started his career at IPL giants

before moving to

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

outfit Al-Shabab for one season. In August 2006, he returned to Persepolis on a loan deal but moved back to Al-Shabab in March 2007 where he still had one year left of his two-year deal to serve. He scored the winning goal in 61st match of Tehran derby on 3 November 2006 against Esteghlal, rivals of Persepolis. There had been interest shown by many Turkish and other European teams towards Oladi and his Iranian compatriot

Mehrzad Madanchi Mehrzad Madanchi Ardekani (; born 12 October 1983) is an Iranian former football midfielder who last played for Fajr Sepasi. Club career The attacker started his playing career in Homa Shiraz club which plays in the lower Iranian divisions. Af ...

Loan return to Persepolis

In September 2007, Oladi cancelled his contract with Al-Shabab and urgently went to the United States to deal with a family matter. He returned to the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

in February 2008 and signed a six-month contract with Al-Shabab. In August 2012, Oladi was on trial with

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

side,

Xerez CD Xerez Club Deportivo S. A. D. is a Spanish association football, football club based in the city of Jerez de la Frontera. It was founded in 1947 and plays in . History Due to the link between Jerez de la Frontera and the United Kingdom created b ...

but move was cancelled. He joined

in the summer of 2009. Alongside

Pejman Nouri Pejman Nouri (; born 13 July 1980) is an Iranian Association football, football official, coach and a former player who played in the midfield position. He is the president of Malavan F.C., Malavan. Club career Born in Rezvanshahr County, Rezvan ...

, they had two great seasons with Malavan, reaching the final of the

Hazfi Cup Hazfi Cup (, ) formerly known as Pahlavi Cup () is an Iranian knockout football competition held annually by the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran. The Iranian Football League, Iranian football league was not held during the 1980s, h ...

. He was the top scorer for

with 15 goals in the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

season. In four games played in the

, he scored five times.

Second return to Persepolis

He played two seasons for

and moved to

in the summer of 2011 and was used as a winger and striker. He returned to Malavan after one season at Persepolis in 2012. On 6 July 2013, he signed with

with a contract running until 2015.

Esteghlal

He joined Esteghlal on 11 November 2013, with a one-and-a-half-year contract.

Malavan

Oladi was released by Esteghlal in June 2014 and signed a contract with

Club career statistics

*Assist Goals

International career

Oladi was a member of

Iran national under-20 football team Iran national under-20 football team (also known as Iran Under-20, Iran U-20 or Iran Youth Team) represents Iran in international Association football competitions in AFC U-20 Asian Cup and FIFA U-20 World Cup, as well as any other under-20 inte ...

, and participated in the

2004 AFC Youth Championship The 2004 AFC Youth Championship was the 33rd instance of the AFC Youth Championship. It was held from 25 September to 9 October 2004 in Malaysia. The tournament was won by for the eleventh time by South Korea in the final against China PR. V ...

held in

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

. He scored 4 goals in the match against

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

, helping them win 6-2, but wasn't enough for Iran to advance to the second round. He was a part of the

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 ...

that participated at the

2006 Asian Games The 2006 Asian Games (), officially known as the XV Asiad or 15th Asian Games (, and commonly known as Doha 2006 (), were an Asian multi-sport event held in Doha, Qatar, from December 1 to 15, 2006, with 424 events in 39 sports featured in the ga ...

. He also participated with

Iran B national football team Iran B is a soccer, football team run occasionally as support for the Iran national football team. At times, they have played other nations' full teams, and have also played matches against 'A' and 'B' teams from other football associations. T ...

in the 2005 Islamic Games in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

, where he won third place with his team, and became the top scorer in the tournament with 6 goals (4 of them in the 9-0 win against Tajikistan).

International goals

:''Scores and results list Iran's goal tally first.''

Death

On 19 April 2016, Oladi died in

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. ...

's Tajrish Hospital at the age of 30 after suffering from cardiac complications.

Honours

Club

;Al Shabab *

UAE President's Cup The UAE President's Cup, or simply the President Cup, is a association football, football tournament that takes place in United Arab Emirates, between Football team, clubs in the UAE Pro League and the UAE First Division League. The winner qualifi ...

: 2008-09 (Runner-up) ;Malavan *

: 2010-11 (Runner-up)

National

;Iran U23 * Asian Games Bronze Medal:

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...