BigAppleSoccer - One of the quickest and most reliable defenders in North American Soccer League history, Andranik Eskandarian also became one of the most popular players in Cosmos history, remaining to this day a well- known and well-liked figure in metropolitan area soccer circles.

After playing for Tadj in Iran's first division and earning 35 caps for the Iran National Team, three of them in the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, Eskandarian was a member of the World All Star team that played against the Cosmos at the end of the 1978 season. He signed on as a guest player for the Cosmos game against Boca Juniors ten days later, and became so enchanted with the United States that he decided to make the move permanent.

He traveled with the team on its post season South American tour, and quickly established himself on the back line. He spent six years in a Cosmos uniform, playing on championship teams in 1980 and 1982.

Known as very difficult to beat, and often charged with marking the opposing team's best forward, Eski was a three-time First Team NASL All Star, in 1982, 1983 and 1984, and was an honorable mention selection in 1980.

A strong overlapping fullback, he had 21 assists in 143 regular season games, and also four assists in the playoffs, three of them coming in 1980, when the team won its fourth NASL title. Two of those assists came on the final two goals of Giorgio Chinaglia's record-breaking seven goal performance against the Tulsa Roughnecks in the playoffs.

Eskandarian finished his Cosmos career fourth on the all-time games played list with 143, as well as fourth in minutes played, with 12,236. He played in another 22 playoff games.

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, and also for the Brooklyn Italians. He has remained a resident of New Jersey since his playing days.

Eskandarian’s son Alecko went on to a career as a professional player in Major League Soccer, and now is on the New York Cosmos technical staff.