Shirzadegan, Hamid

Hamid Shirzadegan (حمید شیرزادگان) (8 March 1941 – 28 September 2007) was an Iranian football player who played as a forward. Born in 1941 in Tehran, he played for his high school team during his youth. He was known for his powerful shots and his uncanny ability to score goals in the penalty area from deadball situations and as such was aptly nicknamed Pa Talaei (Golden Feet).

 

Shirzadegan started his career at Shahin FC’s youth team. In 1957 at the age of just 16 he was selected for the senior team. He began making headlines with a hatrick that he scored against Kian in 1959. With Shahin, Shirzadegan would win the Tehran league in that year in addition to 1962. Eventually he would captain the side. In 1964 the New Zealand national team began a tour of Asia, Europe and the US and during their stop in Iran played both Shahin and a Tehran selection. The games would yield a 5-1 and 4-1 defeat respectively with Shirzadegan playing in both games, netting a hatrick in the former and a brace in the latter. 

In the midst of his Shahin career, he would spend time in the US, earning his masters degree and reaching the semifinals of the US Open Cup in 1965 with the Los Angeles Kickers. 

After returning to Iran and given that Shahin had disbanded due to political issues, he would join Persepolis in 1968 and finish out the remainder of his career with them before hanging up his boots.

Shirzadegan debuted for Iran in 1959 during the 1960 Asian Championship qualifiers. He would go on to score 9 goals in 14 games. He scored 7 of those goals in qualifiers for the 1964 Olympics although he missed out on the actual finals. He would also collect a silver medal in the 1966 Asian Games although his tournament would be cut short due to injury but not before he netted 2 goals in the campaign. He had a relatively short national team career with his last game being played in 1966 at the age of 25.

Following his retirement he would play a role in the formation of soccer club Naft, owned by owned by the National Iranian Oil Company. He would have a brief career as a coach, leading Naft of Tehran for a couple of seasons in the 70s.

In his last years of life, Shirzadegan's health deteriorated. He was diagnosed with a progressive form of lung cancer which resulted in his death in Tehran, Iran on September 28, 2007 at the age of 66.