Danaeifard, Iraj

Iraj Danaeifard (ایرج دانایی فرد) is an Iranian midfielder who spent his playing days in Iran and the US in both outdoor and indoor leagues. Born in Shiraz in 1951, he is the son of Ali Danaeifard, founder and former coach of Taj of Tehran, a club that Iraj also played for. He represented the national team from 1977 until 1980 and has the distinction of scoring Iran’s first ever goal in the World Cup.

Danaeifard was introduced to the game at around age 7 when he attended a game at Amjadieh with his father to watch a youth team named Blue Stars. The team was one player short and given how Danaeifard was already wearing blue shorts, they lent him a white shirt to suit up for them. He would go on to score 3 goals against an opponent made up of 10–12-year-olds. Danaeifard began his youth career with Taj of Tehran (currently Esteghlal) in 1963. He would stay with them until 1969 where upon graduating from high school and admission into the Air Force Military Academy he would join Oghab.

Danaeifard would first practice with Oghab’s main roster but play for the Air Force team in the second division where he would help them gain promotion in 1971. With the folding of the Air Force team Danaeifard would begin playing with Oghab and win second place in Tehran’s league in the 1972-73 season. In the inaugural season of the Takht’e Jamshid League, Oghab would finish in fourth place with Danaeifard contributing 3 goals. His second season in the league would be less memorable as Oghab would finish in eighth place. Furthermore with the suspension of Oghab’s license, Danaeifard would be searching for a new team and while both Taj and Persepolis were courting him, he would eventually sign with Pas (mainly due to restrictions from his military career and despite actually having signed a contract with Persepolis).

Danaeifard would play for Pas in the 1975-76 and 1976-77 seasons, winning the championship in the latter. After two years once again Persepolis stepped in and offered him a contract worth 80,000 tomans. As Danaeifard describes, “I already had plans for a trip so I gave the check and the contract papers to Ali Parvin and asked him to keep it for me until I got back. When I got back from my trip, to my surprise Taj club offered me a great contract worth 200,000 tomans, bearing in mind that I already had a contract with Persepolis. I met with Parvin and told him about the offer from Taj and right there in front of me he destroyed the check and the contract and gave me his blessing without hesitation.”

For the next two years Danaeifard would play for Taj including the final unfinished season, finishing fourth and third (at the time of cancellation of the league) respectively. In the 1977-1978 derby which would result in a 3-0 win for Taj, he would be selected as MVP of the week. The same season he would win the National Cup, defeating Homa 2-0 in the final. He would be one of a handful of players to play in all 6 seasons and would score 14 goals over this time frame.

Following the 1978 World Cup Danaeifard (and teammate Eskandarian) were selected to play for a World All Star team against the New York Cosmos in a match that ended in a 2-2 tie. He would not return to Iran and instead signed with the Tulsa Roughnecks of the NASL and stayed with them (in both indoor and outdoor competition) until his retirement in 1984. In 1983 he would win the NASL championship while being the only member of the team with World Cup experience.

Danaeifard had early brushes with Iran’s youth setup although twice he missed out on making the youth team for the Asian Championship due to gravitation towards older or younger players. He would debut for the Iran B team in 1974, facing a Sao Paulo youth selection.

He would not make his full national team debut until qualifying games for the 1978 World Cup where he started against Saudi Arabia in the first round and played sporadically afterwards in Iran’s successful campaign. Even in the buildup to the 1978 World Cup Danaeifard was not actively involved, playing a mere 15 minutes against Bulgaria and 2 minutes against Club Brugge. Nevertheless he was selected for Iran’s final roster.

While Danaeifard did not suit up in the first game at the 1978 World Cup against the Netherlands, however, during a meeting between Mohajerani and the former national team coach O’Farrell, the latter suggested that a fast player was needed to cover the Scot Gemmill and to not allow him to get creative. Mohajerani gave the assignment to Danaeifard as the very last player who was chosen to play. In the second half, trailing 1-0 courtesy of an own goal by Eskandarian, Iran would score their equalizer. Danaeifard went wide on the left and muscled his way past a Scottish defender. From a tight angle he then squeezed his shot between Rough and the post to tie the game. He would be subbed out late in the game but start and play the full 90 the following game against Peru in a 4-1 loss.

Having settled in the US, Danaeifard was ignored for the 1980 Olympic qualifiers but called up for the 1980 Asian Championship. He would play nearly every minute of the tournament, scoring once in group play against North Korea. Iran would finish third and in what would be his last international cap, Danaeifard would captain the team in the 3^rd place match against North Korea in Hejazi’s absence.

Following his retirement, Danaeifard opened a soccer shop in Dallas while periodically taking his family to Iran. In December of 2018 while on a visit to Iran, Danaeifard passed away at the age of 67 due to cardiac arrest in Shiraz’s Namazi Hospital. His funeral was attended by his family, friends and teammates.