Roshan, Hasan

Hasan Roshan (حسن روشن) is an Iranian football coach, manager, and former national team forward.

Roshan's first success came at the school's football championship. While in the sixth grade at Pasargad Shemiran School, he was a member of his school team that won a championship. He was recruited by Homayoun Behzadi for Shargh, a team playing in the third division of the Tehran league. His contribution to this team was not too successful and the team failed to gain promotion to the second division and subsequently it was disbanded. Roshan was 13 when he joined Taj’s (currently Esteghlal) youth team in 1969.

He first broke into the Taj side when he was 17 years old and played his first season in Takht’e Jamshid Cup. In 1973 his goal against Oghab in the penultimate match of Tehran’s Club Championship resulted in his team’s championship. He would score the lone goal in the 1974 Tehran derby in a 1-0 win and thus become the youngest scorer of this rivalry. His team finished in second place in 1974 and won the Iranian league in 1975. He subsequently won the Hazfi Cup in 1977. Following the 1978 World Cup Roshan was heavily recruited and ultimately settled for UAE and in particular Al-Ahli club of the UAE where he won a championship in 1980. He briefly returned to Iran and Taj, now renamed Esteghlal, before departing for Al-Ahli again. He returned to Esteghlal in 1984 and stayed with them until 1988 at which point he retired.

Roshan was called up to Iran’s youth national team in 1972 and after participating in some friendlies, he represented Iran in the 1973 Asian Youth Championship in Tehran which ended with a gold medal for him. The following year in the next edition of Asia’s Youth Championship in Bangkok, his goals made him the competition’s top scorer and once again brought Iran a first place finish (a title shared with India after the final finishing 2-2). He would later graduate to and score for Iran’s under-23 team. He also represented Iran in the 1975 Military Games in which his goal enabled Iran to eliminate Italy and settle for an ultimate 5^th place finish.

Roshan joined the national team in 1974 and made the squad for the Asian Games played on home soil. His goal against Iraq in the semifinals resulted in a 1-0 win and paved the way for Iran’s first gold medal in soccer in the Asian Games. During the 1976 Asian Championship, also hosted by Iran, Roshan struck twice enroute to another championship for Iran. Later that year Roshan participated in the Olympic Games and scored a consolation goal for Iran in group play against Poland in a 3-2 loss that nevertheless saw Iran advancing to (and being eliminated by the Soviet Union in) the quarterfinals.

The 1978 World Cup qualifiers further displayed Roshan’s nose for goals as his four goals in the campaign contributed to Iran’s first ever qualification to the World Cup. Especially of note was his away goal against Australia in a 1-0 win that not only avenged the loss to them four years prior that had contributed to Iran’s elimination, but also set the stage early on for Iran to emerge as one of the favorites for Asian and Oceania’s lone berth. 

Prior to the World Cup Roshan suffered an injury that prevented him from playing a full game in any of Iran’s three games. Nevertheless, he managed to score against Peru before being subbed off in the second half of a 4-1 loss after tearing his hamstring. 

Roshan had one last hurrah with the national team in the 1980 Asian Championship, scoring against Bangladesh in group play. However, Roshan had to depart the tournament early, literally at halftime in the semifinals in order to attend his brother’s funeral who had been killed as a result of Iraq’s attack against Iran and the start of the eight-year long Iran-Iraq war. Roshan is the only Iranian player who has scored in the Asian Games, Asian Championship, Olympic Games and World Cup.

In his later years he opened a sports shop and founded the Hasan Roshan Football School. He also dabbled into coaching in Oman, the UAE and Tehran, becoming the head of Esteghlal's Football Academy, the head of Esteghlal’s technical committee and the Technical Manager for Iran’s under-20 national team.