Vahid Hashemian

Vahid Hashemian
Personal information
Position(s)	Forward
Team information
Current team	Hannover 96;
Number	16
	‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 24 March 2007

Vahid Hashemian (Template:PerB, born July 21, 1976 in Tehran, Iran) is an Iranian football player who currently plays for Hannover 96 in the German Bundesliga and the Iran national football team. He usually plays in the centre forward position. He is nicknamed "helicopter", or hubschrauber in German, due to his outstanding ability to hang in the air.

Club career

Vahid started his professional football with Pas Tehran. He arrived in Germany for the 1999/2000 season to play for Hamburger SV. Although playing alongside his fellow Iranian international Mehdi Mahdavikia, he had just 12 appearances, so he left the club for VfL Bochum to show his real ability. He had three good seasons with Bochum, scoring 34 goals in 87 appearances. During the last season he scored 16 goals, helping Bochum to finish fifth in Bundesliga and qualify for the 2004/05 UEFA Cup. This prompted Bayern Munich to grant him in a €2M contract, hence giving him the chance to follow in the footsteps of Ali Daei. After one season in Munich, he joined Hannover 96 where he has been playing since season 2005/06.

International career

Vahid Hashemian has been a key player for Iran national team in recent years and has scored vital goals for Team Melli, such as netting an important goal in a World Cup qualification game against Qatar in October 2004, as well as scoring two magnificent goals in a qualifying win over Japan in Tehran in March 2005. He played all three of Iran's games in the 2006 World Cup.

External links