Hamid Shirzadegan (8 March 1941 – 28 September 2007) 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. During his career, he was nicknamed ''Paa Talaaee'' (Golden Feet).

Club career

Shirzadegan started out at

Shahin FC Shahin Tehran Football Club ( meaning ''Falcon''), also spelled Shaahin or Shaheen, from 1973 to 1979 known as Shahbaz (, meaning ''Shahbaz (bird), Shahbaz''), is an Iranian Football (soccer), football club based in Tehran, Iran. Shahin A.C. is l ...

youth teams and in 1957 at the age of just 16 was selected for the senior team. He moved to

Persepolis FC Persepolis Football Club () is an Iranian professional association football, football club based in Tehran that competes in the Persian Gulf Pro League. Persepolis F.C. is the football club of the multisport club, multisport Persepolis Athl ...

after Shahin disbanded due to political issues. He was known for his powerful shots, as if it could rip the goal net.

International career

Shirzadegan debuted for

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 ...

on December 8, 1959 against

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. He scored 9 goals in 14 games for Iran, thus giving him an excellent goal scoring rate.

After retirement

In his last years of life, Shirzadegan's health deteriorated. He was diagnosed with a progressive form of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged ...

which resulted in his death 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. ...

on September 28, 2007 at the age of 66.

References

External links

Hamid Shirzadegan
a
TeamMelli.com
Iranian men's footballers Iran men's international footballers Shahin Tehran F.C. players Persepolis F.C. players Men's association football forwards Footballers from Tehran 1941 births 2007 deaths Deaths from lung cancer in Iran Asian Games silver medalists for Iran Asian Games footballers for Iran Footballers at the 1966 Asian Games Medalists at the 1966 Asian Games Asian Games silver medalists in football {{Iran-footy-forward-stub