Prominent football pundit, film critic Hamidreza Sadr dies at 65

Her daughter announced his passing through an Instagram post on Friday.

A former writer and editor in football newspaper Jahan-e Football (World of Football) and film monthlies Film and Haft (Seven), Sadr was best known for his TV appearances during major football tournaments in recent years.

A Ph.D. in urban planning from the University of Leeds in the UK, Sadr authored numerous books about football and cinema.

His book ‘Once Upon a Time Football’ (2000) is a brief historic look at the sport in societies across the world, while in ‘The Eternal Jerseys’ (2018), Sadr looked into the careers of some of the greatest players in the history of football.

He also wrote several books about cinema, namely ‘Against the Wind: Politics of Iranian Cinema’ (2002), and ‘Iranian Cinema: A Political History’ (2006).

Sadr also translated American author Laurie Halse Anderson’s 1999 novel, ‘Speak’ to Farsi, as well as ‘The Damned Utd’ (2006), a novel by English writer David Peace, which depicted the unsuccessful 44-spell of legendary English manager Brian Clough in charge of Leeds United in 1974.

Sadr won a Jalal Al-e Ahmad Literature Prize for his non-fiction, ‘You Will Die in Cairo’ (2014).