Iran's Malavan striker dies of cardiac arrest

PTV - Iranian soccer player Mehrdad Oladi has passed away after suffering a heart attack at the age of 31.


Oladi, who most recently played for Malavan in the Iran Pro League, was pronounced dead after he was taken to hospital for heart failure on Tuesday.

He began his career at Persepolis Qaemshahr before joining Persepolis of Tehran at the age of 18. He then moved to Al-Shabab of the United Arab Emirates for one season and returned to Persepolis in August 2006 on a loan deal but moved back to Al-Shabab in March 2007 where he still had one year left of his two-year deal to serve.

Many Turkish and other European teams showed interest towards Oladi. In February 2008, he signed a six-month contract with Al-Shabab.

He joined Malavan in the summer of 2009 and had two great seasons with the team, reaching the final of the knockout cup competition, known as Hazfi Cup. He was the top scorer for Malavan with 15 goals in the 2010–11 season.

Oladi laid two seasons for Malavan and moved to Persepolis in the summer of 2011 and played as a winger and striker. In 2012, he returned to Malavan after one season at Persepolis. In July 2013, he signed with Naft-e Tehran with a contract running until 2015.

In November 2013, he joined Esteghlal with a one and half year contract but was released by the Blues of Tehran in June 2014 and signed a contract with Malavan.

Oladi scored one goal in his 13 appearances for Iran’s Team Melli.

Oladi’s death was the second tragedy to strike Iran’s soccer after forward Hadi Norouzi lost his life on October 1, 2015 for cardiac arrest. The 30-year-old player, who used to captain the Tehran powerhouse Persepolis, had a cardiac arrest while asleep at his home in Tehran. He was rushed to hospital, but died shortly afterwards.
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