[custom_adv] Former and Persepolis football team midfielder Mehrdad Minavand passed away aged 45 Wednesday night after a battle with COVID-19. He started his career at Tehran based football club Pas in 1994 but joined Persepolis a year later. [custom_adv] The left-winger also played for Austrian club Sturm Graz and Charleroi from Belgium before returning to Persepolis once again in 2002. Minavand was a member of the national football team in the 1998 FIFA World Cup. He also won a bronze medal with the Persians in the 1996 AFC Asian Cup. [custom_adv] Ali Ansarian was a professional footballer and actor and presenter. He was famous both for laughing all the time and his respect for his parents. After his death, his mother Nane Ali became the mother of Iran due to such a sorrow that happened in the mother's day. [custom_adv] "Minavand's condition was promising until 6pm, his oxygen level was over 90% and his kidney function and blood pressure were stable, but then suddenly his condition worsened," Laleh Hospital ICU Director Dr. Amir Hossein Lotfi told Iran's semi-official news agency ISNA. [custom_adv] As Iranians mourned Minavand's death, their thoughts turned to Ansarian and held out hope that the younger footballer -- who reports was hospitalized on January 21 for Covid-19 symptoms -- would recover. [custom_adv] The 43-year-old footballer-turned-actor most recently hosted a popular online football television program and starred in several movies and TV series since hanging up his boots nearly a decade ago, according to semi-official news agency ISNA. He was the rare footballer who played for rival clubs Esteghlal FC and Persepolis FC but was still loved by fans across the board.