Ex- Team Melli player and Iran’s first referee to officiate in two world cups, Jafar Namdar has passed away  in the United States.

Namdar was a successful football player who played for Shahin and Team Melli in the early sixties. He was in the first ever Iranian squad to make a major championship in the 1964 Olympics Games in Tokyo.

After retiring from playing football , he became a referee. He went on to become one of the most renowned referees in Iranian football. Namdar officiated as a referee at the 1974 and 1978 FIFA World Cups.

Namdar refereed the match between Australia & Chile at the 1974 FIFA World Cup, becoming the second Asian referee

to officiate as a referee at a FIFA World Cup. In that match Namdar created controversy by showing three yellow cards to Australian player Ray Richards before showing a red card after being informed of his error by reserve official the Welshman , Clive Thomas. He officiated as an assistant referee for the third place playoff between Brazil and Poland.

He was Chief of the Iranian Referees Committee from 1970 until 1978.Namdar died on 1 January 2014 at the age of 79. At the time , he was living in the USA

Jafar Namdar (2 July 1934 – 1 January 2014)

God bless his soul