Hejazi, Naser

Naser Hejazi was an Iranian football player and coach who most notably played for Esteghlal (formerly Taj). He was born on December 14, 1949 in Piranshahr but early on moved with his family to Tehran. He initially pursued basketball and even represented Iran in youth competitions while playing right midfield in soccer as a hobby. While attending a school game as a spectator, his school goalkeeper was injured and due to Hejazi’s height and hand-to-eye coordination as a result of his basketball practice, the coach insisted that Hejazi take his place and as such he played his first game in goal.

He started his career in Tehran’s second division with the now-defunct Nader F.C. in 1964 and played for the club until 1969. Subsequently he signed a contract with Taj Tehran and started his career in a professional club. In his first year with the team he won the Asian Club Championship in 1970; he also won the Iranian league in the 1970-1971 and 1974-1975 seasons and finished second in 1973-1974. Furthermore, he won the Hazfi Cup in 1978 although Hejazi was absent for much of it including the final due to national team commitments.

In the summer of 1977 he joined Shahbaz Tehran along with his national teammates Gholam Hossein Mazloomi, Nasrollah Abdollahi, Ebrahim Ghasempour and Hamid Majd Teymouri. In spite of such reinforcements Shahbaz would only finish in 11th place. In the following year Shahbaz was leading the ranking in the 1978-79 season, when in autumn of 1978 – due to the political uprisings, which ended with the Iranian Revolution in February 1979 – the season was canceled.

 

After the 1978 FIFA World Cup, Hejazi received an offer from Manchester United. He trained and played with the club for a month, even appearing in reserve matches against Stoke Cityو Bolton Wanderers, Huddersfield, Blackburn and Burnley. Manchester United manager Dave Sexton wanted Hejazi to stay for another two or three months before officially signing a contract with him, but there was no-one at the IFF at the time of the Iranian Revolution to arrange the extension, which led to Manchester United signing Gary Bailey instead. Hejazi remained as Taj’s (now Esteghlal's) main goalkeeper until 1986. He would win the Tehran Province League in 1983 and 1985 and the runners-up position in 1982. His last stop would be the Bangladeshi club Mohammadan in Dhaka, where he stayed for one year and won his last league title.

For the national team Hejazi made his debut in 1969. His first competitive games came a year later during the 1970 Asian Games although it ended with a first-round elimination. Throughout the 70s he competed with Bahram Mavaddat and especially Mansour Rashidi for the starting position role. In 1972 with a full calendar of games including the 1972 Asian Championship, the 1972 Brazil Independence Cup and the 1972 Olympics, Hejazi would be the main keeper for the Asian Cup. In the first game in order to determine seeding, Iran defeated Cambodia in a game where Hejazi took and missed a penalty kick by hitting it over the bar. Four straight victories would give Iran its second Asian Championship. With the gold Iran earned the right to take part in the Brazil Independence Cup. Hejazi would continue to guard the goal but would ultimately concede eight over the course of three losses and one tie. Rashidi would take over the starting position during the Munich Olympics.

 

In the course of the 1974 World Cup qualifiers, Hejazi and Rashidi would share goalkeeping duties. In the crucial away game against Australia, Hejazi started the away game and while he had some crucial saves, he was not blameless on the three goals that were received. Having to reverse the 3-0 scoreline, Iran fielded Rashidi in the return match which in spite of the 2-0 victory resulted in Iran’s elimination. Iran hosted the 1974 Asian Games which saw all 3 Iranian keepers get playing time. A wrist injury pre-tournament sidelined Hejazi early on, however, he would make his lone appearance in the Final in which Iran would defeat Israel to win gold.

In qualification for the1976 Olympics, Hejazi started 3 out of 4 games enroute to the finals and kept his starting spot. He would start all 3 games for Iran in the 1976 Olympics, conceding 5 goals and earning one shutout in an eventual quarterfinal finish. In between the qualification and actual Olympics, Iran hosted and won the 1976 Asian Championship, although much like the cycle 4 years prior Iran chose to rotate keepers and Rashidi played every minute.

Hejazi would play most of the 1978 World Cup qualification games and continued as Iran's starting goalkeeper at the 1978 World Cup in Argentina. While Iran would exit with 1 tie, 2 losses and 8 goals conceded, however, Hejazi would turn heads and attract attention from Manchester United who were keen on signing him. 

Iran sat out the 1978 Asian Games but Hejazi was present for the 1980 Olympic qualifiers. Iran would top its group and qualify, however, the IFF decided to pull out of the tournament in a sign of protest to the Soviet Union’s occupation of Afghanistan. Hejazi named captain for the 1980 Asian Championship in Kuwait. Iran finished top of their group but were eliminated by the host nation in the semifinals in what would be Hejazi’s last cap. Following the tournament, a member of Iran's Physical Education Department implemented a policy in which athletes older than 27 years of age would no longer be allowed to compete internationally. Due to Hejazi’s popularity and his vocal objection to governmental policies, it was suspected that this new rule was strictly a way to force Hejazi out of the national team.

Following his retirement Hejazi began his coaching career with Mohammadan of Bangladesh before taking the reigns of the Bangladeshi national team. He would return to Iran and coach a handful of Iranian clubs including 2 stints with Esteghlal.

Hejazi was married and had two children, a son Attila and daughter Atosa, both soccer players. In 2004, Hejazi announced his nomination for the 2005 presidential election. He was rejected by the Guardian Council of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Iran, arguing his lack of political career prior to the election. Hejazi was diagnosed with aggressive lung cancer in late 2009 forcing him to be hospitalized. He went into a coma on May 20, 2011 and after being unable to recover from a stroke, he died on May 23^rd at 10:55 a.m. in Kasra Hospital in Tehran. His funeral was held on 25 May 2011 in Azadi Stadium. Later that year Esteghlal's training grounds was renamed to Hejazi Training Camp while in 2019 a boulevard in Tehran was renamed Naser Hejazi Boulevard.