page_title: List of Iran national football team managers
section_title: Heshmat Mohajerani
hierarchical_section_title: List of Iran national football team managers / History / Heshmat Mohajerani
caption_attribution_description: English: Heshmat Mohajerani العربية: حشمت مهاجراني فارسی: حشمت مهاجرانی
context_page_description: The role of an Iran national football team manager was first established in January 1941 with the appointment of Hossein Sadaghiani.
  Forty-seven men have occupied the post since its inception; six of those were in short-term caretaker manager roles: Jalal Cheraghpour, Nasser Ebrahimi, Homayoun Shahrokhi, Mansour Ebrahimzadeh, Erich Rutemöller and Ali Reza Mansourian. In comparison, Sadeghiani held the position for the longest to date with a tenure of 10 years, although the team only played 3 official matches during that time. As of May 2019, Carlos Queiroz, has led the team in 100 matches, more than any other manager in Team Melli's history. The most successful manager is Heshmat Mohajerani, winning the 1976 AFC Asian Cup, Quarter Finalist of 1976 Summer Olympics and Qualification for the 1978 FIFA World Cup. Hungarian coach József Mészáros became the first foreign manager of the team in 1959.
  Croatia has the largest number of managers to have coached Iran, with over six managers.
context_section_description: Mohajerani began his coaching career in 1971; he started his coaching career as the Iran U-23 National Team Coach. During his years as coach, he gave numerous opportunities to youths from cities other than the capital and many of those youths, including Nazari, Barzegari, Ghasempour and Pezeshkar found their way into the Team Melli.
  Under his coaching and management, Iran won the Asian Youth Championship for 4 consecutive years, while before his time the Youth Team had never won the Asian Championship. This achievement is a record that no other coach has been able to match. After this brilliant record with the youth team, Mohajerani was appointed as assistant coach to Irishman Frank O'Farrell.
  Mohajerani's first major achievement was winning the 1976 Asian Cup when his team beat Kuwait 1–0 in the final at Azadi Stadium.
  Shortly, the team was qualified for the Montreal Olympic games and for the first time in Iran's history, the team qualified for the next round. The pinnacle of Mohajerani's achievement, however, was the first ever advancement of the Iran national football team to the World Cup finals in Argentina in 1978. 
  Under his astute coaching, Iran managed to draw against Scotland, while performing gallantly against eventual runner-up the Netherlands.
  In one of the most intriguing encounters and as a sign of the deep trust in youth, Mohajerani challenged the Kuwaiti Team, under the management of Carlos Alberto and Mario Zagalo, on their home turf in the last match of the World Cup preliminary game. Although Iran had already qualified, it was a matter of honor to keep the unbeaten record of the team. Mohajerani fielded a youth team against the full strength Kuwait and still managed to beat them 2–1 in a historic match.
caption: Heshmat Mohajerani managed Iran from 1975 to 1978
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