Iraj Danayi-Fard; From Blue Shorts to Death in Shiraz

Iraj Danayi-Fard, the scorer of the first goal in the history of Iranian football at the World Cup, passed away at the age of 68 due to liver disease at Namazi Hospital in Shiraz. Iraj was the son of Ali Danayi-Fard, who is referred to as the 'Father of Taj' due to his over two decades of coaching the Taj football team. Ali Danayi-Fard was with the team from the days of the cycling team until the founding of Taj. Iraj started playing football at the age of six with the 'Blue Stars' youth team, a team with blue shorts. He later joined the Taj youth team and progressed through to the Taj youth team. In 1967, Mahmoud Bayati briefly became the coach of Taj, and Ali Danayi-Fard joined the Shafaq team, taking his 16-year-old son with him. Two years later, Raikov became the coach of the national youth team and selected Danayi-Fard, but a plan to send underage players caused him to be dropped on the day of the flight. Iran's cheating in sending players to those competitions is one of the most controversial decisions in the history of Iranian football. In 1968, Ali Danayi-Fard returned to his team, and this time Mahmoud Bayati became the national team coach. Eighteen-year-old Iraj, who was playing for the Taj youth team, went to the adult team’s training. Raikov later came to Taj to establish a new era for the team. Iraj, who was not getting playing time, joined the Air Force after passing the military academy entrance exam. During this time, he played for the Air Force and Oqab. In 1972, Oqab, which was a contender for the Tehran championship until the last day, became the runner-up, while Taj became champion under Raikov. Iraj Danayi-Fard is one of the few players who played in all six seasons of the Takht Jamshid Cup. In the first cup, he finished fourth with Oqab. Those years were the best period in Oqab's football history, a team that even managed to gather fans. In 1973, Iraj assisted Hossein Baba Khanlou with a pass from the left against Persepolis, after dribbling Ibrahim Ashtiani, who had been the best player in Asia the previous year. In the same year, he provided four assists against Nourd Ahvaz at Amjadieh. The following year, in the second season of the Takht Jamshid Cup, he scored a beautiful goal with his individual creativity against Bank Melli and became a member of the national hope team to play against Sao Paulo at the Bahar Homayoun Stadium in Isfahan. Meanwhile, Persepolis sought to recruit Danayi-Fard and Jahangir Fattahi from Oqab. The Reds signed Fattahi, but Oqab officials said Iraj had six months left on his contract and could not leave. The Takht Jamshid website published a complete account of the incident based on contemporary publications. Iraj said he was willing to remain inactive for that period to separate from Oqab. A two-year contract was registered with the Tehran Football Association, and Persepolis also paid him an advance, but Danayi-Fard's military status required him to play only for a military team, which is why his release was issued for the PAS club. Ali Abdeh, the founder of Persepolis, could not follow up successfully. After the third season of the Takht Jamshid Cup, the law requiring military personnel to play for military teams was abolished. Iraj reached an agreement with Persepolis again and signed a contract for 80,000 tomans in advance, but in the final hours of the transfer window, PAS announced that it would only issue Iraj's release for Taj. In 1976 and the fourth Takht Jamshid Cup, it was the peak of Iraj's career. Hassan Habibi moved him from the left wing to the center of the field and led his team to victory. Iraj did not attend the trophy presentation and returned to his father’s team the following season. Vladimir Jakic, the winner of the last cup before the revolution, was in charge of Taj. Iraj proved his worth without controversy. In the year of the Islamic Revolution, the Takht Jamshid Cup was left unfinished on the eve of the Tehran derby, making Iraj one of the last generations of Taj before the club's name change. On August 4, 1973, Kayhan Sports published an article titled 'Why was Iraj Danayi-Fard excluded?' praising Danayi-Fard and stating that Asghar Sharifi and Reza Adelkhani had better experience than Iraj in the left wing position. Thus, he waited until his first national game on January 7, 1977, when at the age of twenty-six, Iran defeated Saudi Arabia 3-0 in Riyadh. During national games, he only suffered two defeats: against Peru in the World Cup and against Kuwait, the host of the Asian Cup. Iraj Danayi-Fard scored the first goal in the history of Iranian football at the World Cup, which was also his first national goal. In June 1979, he scored against Scotland in a 1-1 draw. In that game, Danayi-Fard managed to score from a tight angle after leaving Archie Gemmill, the Nottingham playmaker, behind. When Brazilian Pelé decided to retire from club football, Iraj, along with Eskandarian, was invited to the farewell game and to be part of the World All-Star team. They did not return to Iran after the match. In November 1979, the Taj club magazine wrote: 'Taj showed good faith and sent its two national players to New York to play a game for the Cosmos and return, but Iraj did not bother to return to Iran and obtain a release.' Given the complete shutdown of football in Iran amid the events of the revolution and the subsequent arrests and harassment of football stars by committees and radical revolutionaries, their decision seemed entirely logical. The Taj club itself faced an attack and occupation by revolutionaries, and its license was revoked, continuing its activities under the name Esteghlal. However, Iraj continued to play for the Iranian national team after the revolution. He scored against the UAE in a friendly match before the Asian Cup. In the Asian Cup itself, he also scored against North Korea. Hoshmat Mohajerani's team achieved third place in that event. Iraj continued to play football in the USA for a while and then retired from competitive football at the age of 33, taking over the management of a sports store in Dallas. He was a player with 14 goals in the Takht Jamshid Cup and three national goals, appearing in twelve official matches for the Iranian national team, including World Cup qualifiers, the World Cup, and the Asian Cup. After the Islamic Revolution, he returned to Iran at times, but despite promises made to him by various federations, including Dariush Mostafavi, he was never provided with the conditions to work in coaching.