Full name Andranik Eskandarian Position Defender Years Team Height 1.75 m | Playing position Role Footballer Name Andranik Eskandarian Children Alecko Eskandarian | |
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Date of birth (1951-12-31) 31 December 1951 (age 63) | ||
Andranik Eskandarian (Armenian: Անդրանիկ Իսքանտարեան, Persian: آندرانیک اسکندریان, born 31 December 1951 in Tehran) is a former Iranian-American footballer. He played as a defender for the F.C. Ararat Tehran, Taj SC and New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League.
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He won the Iranian league in 1975 and reached the second place in 1974. Further he won the Hazfi Cup in 1977. He played six years for Taj SC. Taj's fans called him Barbed Wire.
Eskandarian was a member of the Iranian team winning the Asia Cup 1976 in Tehran and reaching the quarterfinals of the Olympic Tournament in Montreal in 1976. He also played for Iran in the 1978 World Cup.
Soon after that, he moved to America to play for the highest-profile team in the country, the New York Cosmos, beginning in the 1979 season. After the Cosmos folded in 1984, Eskandarian played for the New York Express during its half-season in the Major Indoor Soccer League. From 1989 through 1990, he played for the New Jersey Eagles of the American Soccer League.
Personal
Andranik Eskandarian was born on December 31, 1951 in Tehran in an Armenian family. He is the father of former Major League Soccer player Alecko Eskandarian. Eskandarian became a United States citizen in 1984 and now owns and operates two sporting goods stores in New Jersey.