31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zob Ahan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Two goals and a mark of 9.07 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Zob Ahan will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Zob Ahan, and it is not being withdrawn.
38 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zob Ahan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Two goals and a mark of 9.63 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Jonathan Dellarossa was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
A point taken on 97 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
3‑3, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Mohammad Taremi chose the glass-half-full version of 3‑3; the supporters left with the other one.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zob Ahan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Aria Barzegar’s exile
The words a physio says slowly. 46 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zob Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
56 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zob Ahan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Alireza Jahanbakhsh is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑0, Mohammad Taremi could afford to be generous.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Tractor go through and Zob Ahan go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The terraces7 Dec 2026
A cup hiding at Tractor leaves Zob Ahan explaining themselves
0-4, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Zob Ahan know it.
Jonathan Dellarossa and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Zob Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shayan Mosleh is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
“I watch every Zob Ahan game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Foolad runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.92 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Jonathan Dellarossa was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Saipa scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
A 3‑3 draw with Saipa leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Mohammad Taremi was not hiding it after 3‑3, and nobody in the Zob Ahan dressing room was either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zob Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ali Eslami. 3‑2 against Naft Tehran, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A performance of 8.60 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Ali Eslami was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.20. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“I watch every Zob Ahan game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Saipa runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Mohammad Taremi on a 3‑2 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Shayan Mosleh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Esteghlal Khuzestan scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Mohammad Taremi was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Zob Ahan dressing room was either.
Jonathan Dellarossa and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Shayan Mosleh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Zob Ahan game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Foolad runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Mohammad Taremi after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Esteghlal Khuzestan next, and one man in the Zob Ahan dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Jonathan Dellarossa was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Zob Ahan told Jonathan Dellarossa something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Mohammad Taremi left the room before anybody could ask which.
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Saeid Karimi
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Saeid Karimi has come out of that comparison in the side, and Zob Ahan have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mohammad Javad Mohammadi provided it, and the 9.35 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zob Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals in one match, Jonathan Dellarossa on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Zob Ahan and Saba.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Shayan Mosleh falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match24 Oct 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Zob Ahan. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rahman Jafari, and the manager let it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Zob Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shahin Taherkhani is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Mohammad Taremi on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Amir Hossein Jeddi’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Zob Ahan needing him to play as if none of it matters.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jonathan Dellarossa signs something — a contract at Zob Ahan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Zob Ahan know it.
Jonathan Dellarossa and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Karim Hajsafi has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jonathan Dellarossa. 1‑0 against Sepahan, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I did not go to Foolad to sit and watch. I want to come back to Zob Ahan and fight for my place.” 2 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Mohammad Taremi, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Malavan next, and one man in the Zob Ahan dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Jonathan Dellarossa was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Shayan Mosleh falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 6.93 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mahmoud Ghaedrahmati and Zob Ahan agree another 1 years.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Jonathan Dellarossa has come out of that comparison in the side, and Zob Ahan have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Foolad defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zob Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Erfan Ghahremani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Jonathan Dellarossa has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
5 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jonathan Dellarossa provided it, and the 9.19 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Zob Ahan will try again when the window opens; Foolad may not be selling by then.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.32, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Mohammad Taremi kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Ehsan Pahlevan’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Zob Ahan needing him to play as if none of it matters.
1 for Amir Hossein Jeddi, marked 6.84, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Al Shabab keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Jonathan Dellarossa and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Zob Ahan will try again when the window opens; Tractor may not be selling by then.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Milad Pouraliganji is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Shayan Mosleh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Davoud Noushi Soufiani: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
The clubs have shaken hands with Foolad; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.84 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Zob Ahan close the window on a squad of their own making
12 in and 4 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Zob Ahan have gone to Esteghlal with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Zob Ahan had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Al-Ahli, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Zob Ahan asked and Siah Jamegan said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Zob Ahan offered $2.1M; Sepahan said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Saeid Karimi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Zob Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shayan Mosleh is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Level with 91 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Zob Ahan had all but put away. Tractor will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Zob Ahan have made the call to Spartak Moscow. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Saipa waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zob Ahan is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Zob Ahan asked and Tractor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
$2.0M on the table at Sepahan. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.84 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Zob Ahan offered $520.0K; Tractor said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Ehsan Pahlevan was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Rahman Jafari. 2‑1 against Saipa, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A brace, and Máximo Alonso takes the afternoon — 9.04
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Máximo Alonso provided it, and the 9.04 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Central Espanol can pretend not to have heard.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Exequiel Mereles did not need any: 8.85, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” University of Pretoria had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
He is going to Zob Ahan, the club has $810.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Mateo Urrutia has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Central Espanol is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Zob Ahan have gone to Tractor with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The offer from Smouha for Hadi Baghban was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $810.0K has been paid because Jonathan Dellarossa is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
The offer went to Tractor this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mohammad Javad Mohammadi and Zob Ahan agree another 3 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zob Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Ali Ahmadi again, and this time the name on the line is Rah Ahan. Zob Ahan are listening politely and promising nothing.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Exequiel Mereles provided it, and the 8.89 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The phone has started ringing about Jonathan Dellarossa again, and this time the name on the line is Zob Ahan. Central Espanol are listening politely and promising nothing.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jonathan Dellarossa and Central Espanol agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Exequiel Mereles has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Zob Ahan asked and Bournemouth said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The offer from Naft Tehran for Houman Elyasi was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Zob Ahan have gone to Central Espanol with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Ehsan Pahlevan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The name of Hadi Baghban has come up in conversations Zob Ahan were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Boardroom3 Aug 2026
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Zob Ahan
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Saeid Karimi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.