Ghoochannejad, Reza

Reza Ghoochannejad (رضا قوچان نژاد) is an Iranian forward from Mashad. Born in 1987, he spent his entire soccer career outside of Iran playing in the Netherlands, Belgium, England, Kuwait, Qatar, Cyprus and Australia. He represented Iran in one Asian Championship and two World Cups and was known for scoring clutch goals for the national team.

Ghoochannejad and his family left Iran for the Netherlands when he was four. He started his youth soccer career at the Leeuwarden amateur club LAC Frisia 1883 during the 1996–97 season before moving on to Cambuur and later joining the Heerenveen academy. He would graduate to the main squad in 2005. He would spend four seasons with them but only make two appearances for a total of 12 minutes. During this stretch he would twice be loaned out to second division clubs. In the 2006-07 season he would appear 15 teams for Go Ahead Eagles (scoring 4 goals) and in 2008-09 a single goal would be his output for FC Emmen in 12 matches.In his final season with Heerenveen, in spite of not seeing any time in the tournament, he would collect a KNVB Cup winners’ medal.

With limited playing time and difficulty concentrating on both academics and his soccer career, Ghoochannejad decided that his education was his priority and thus at the end of the 2008-09 season he terminated his contract with Heerenveen. Just a few weeks he met the technical director of Go Ahead Eagles, Marc Overmars, who would persuade him to return to playing. Ghoochannejad did so with the condition of leaving training 15 minutes early in order to go to university for his courses. He would spend just that season with them, scoring 7 times in 12 games.

Ghoochannejad would then sign with Cambuur Leeuwarden for the 2010-11 season. It would take him only nine seconds into his debut to score against Veendam, equaling Johan Cruyff’s record as the fastest goalscorer ever in Dutch soccer. Ghoochannejad was moved from winger to forward and netted 14 goals in 27 games. Cambuur would finish in a respectable 5^th place.

For the 2011-12 season, Ghoochannejad moved to Sint-Truiden in the Belgian top flight. Despite his 12 goals (1 in the Cup), his team would finish last and be relegated. He would remain with them in the second division where he would contribute 9 goals before being scooped up by Standard Liege mid-season.

For the second half of the season Ghoochannejad would only miss one league game, scoring once while also adding another goal in the Jupiler Pro League Champions’ playoffs and two more in the league Europa playoffs. The following season he would struggle for playing time, appearing (and scoring) in only one league game although he would be utilized more in domestic in European cup games. His time with Standard Liege would come to an end mid-season as he would transfer to Charlton Athletic in the English Football League. Overall Ghoochannejad would play 18 times and score 5 goals for Standard Liege. 

He would line up 17 times for Charlton in the remainder of the 2013-14 season, scoring once. Ghoochannejad would spend the entire 2014-15 season on loan. Initially he would go to Al-Kuwait in Kuwait. He would go on to score in the domestic league and AFC Cup, totaling 12 goals in 14 games. In February he would begin his second loan of the season by joining Al-Wakrah in Qatar. He enabled them to escape relegation and scored twice in his nine appearances.

For the 2015-16 season Ghoochannejad returned to Charlton. An injury kept him out of the initial two months of the season but he received steady playing time for the next five. His season would end at the end of March with another injury suffered during international duty. Overall he represented Charlton 25 times that season while scoring 4 goals. At the end of the season Charlton would be relegated while Ghoochannejad would return to Heerenveen.

In his two seasons with the club, Ghoochannejhad finished mid table with Heerenveen both times. In the 2016-17 season he would represent his club 39 times while scoring 22 times and being chosen as the club’s player of the year. He scored a brace three times during the season and scored a hat-trick in a 4–3 loss against PSV Eindhoven. In the process he became the first ever Iranian to score a hat-trick in a top flight European league. He finished the season as the third highest goalscorer. His 2017-18 season was not as productive and he scored only 10 goals in his 36 appearances which still made him his team’s top scorer. He would leave at the end of the season.

The following year would be another split season for Ghoochannejad. He would first join Cypriot side APOEL. His 14 appearances and 2 goals would allow them to win the championship in 2018-19 although he would have departed before the conclusion of the season. 

In late January he joined Sydney FC, becoming the first Iranian international in the A-League. He would only convert for them once but would score the winning penalty in the A-League Grand Final to win the 2018-19 Australian championship.

He would return to the Dutch league with PEC Zwolle for the 2019-20 season with a memorable debut. Coming on as a sub in the second half, he scored four goals enroute to a 6-2 victory. As such he became the first Eredivisie player in history to score four goals after coming on as a substitute and the first Iranian to score four goals in one game in one of the top European leagues. While his team would finish mid-table, he would be their top scorer with 7 goals. Another mid-table placing the next season would be achieved as Ghoochannejad would once again make history by becoming the first player in the history of the Eredivisie to achieve a hat-trick twice as a substitute. At the end of the 2020-21 season, Ghoochannejad retired.

Having been raised in the Netherlands, Ghoochannejad initially represented the Dutch at various youth levels between 2003 and 2007. He was invited to the Iranian national team in 2012 and made his debut at home in a 1-0 2014 World Cup qualifier win against South Korea. He would score his first goal(s) in a 5-0 win against Lebanon during the 2015 Asian Championship qualification. He would then go on a 7-game scoring streak which included the lone goal away to South Korea on the last day of qualifiers that not only qualified Iran for the World Cup but also enabled Iran to top the group.

Ghoochannejad would have a solid performance throughout the 2014 World Cup. Two of his thunderous headers against Nigeria and Argentina were saved by the respective keepers. He would convert against Bosnia for Iran’s only goal of the tournament although Iran would ultimately lose 3-1 and be eliminated.

Ghoochannejad retained his spot on the roster for the 2015 Asian Championship. While he went scoreless in the first two group games, he would come on as a sub in the final group game against the UAE. With both teams tied on points and already mathematically qualified for the quarterfinals, UAE had the better goal difference. Ghoochannejad would catapult Iran into first place by heading the game winner in the 91^st minute. A quarterfinal match against Iraq was seemingly lost as Iran trailed 3-2 towards the end of overtime, but Ghoochannejad’s header would tie the game at 3 although ultimately Iran would lose in a shootout.

Injuries kept Ghoochannejad out of the initial phase of 2018 World Cup qualification, he would come on as a sub during the first game of the final round of qualification. While it seemed that Qatar had stolen a point at Azadi, his 94^th minute strike would give Iran all 3 points. He would not play another full game for the team as gradually Taremi and Azmoun established themselves as the strikers of choice. His only other international goals would come in friendlies. 

While Ghoochannejad would accompany the team to the 2018 World Cup, however, he would not see any playing time. This raised a few eyebrows given his knack for scoring crucial late goals, particularly in the last group match against Portugal where a goal and win was needed. Following the conclusion of the World Cup, Ghoochannejad retired from the national team. Overall he would score 17 times in 44 games during a 6-year international career.