Ali Sheikhan

Central Midfielder - Saba
29 Jan 2027
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Marked for Ali Sheikhan

22 Edition

The Saba Sentinel

28 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad28 Dec 2026

Sajjad Shahbazzadeh breaks a bone — 49 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 49 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad28 Dec 2026

A one-man rearguard from Nima Mirzazad

There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Match26 Dec 2026

No end in sight to Saba's wait for a win

5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Saba has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad28 Dec 2026

Words exchanged at Saba

Sajjad Shahbazzadeh 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.

Match26 Dec 2026

No clean sheets in sight for Saba

5 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.

Player ratings28 Dec 2026

Nobody could get near Ali Eslami

Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad28 Dec 2026

A row about effort at Saba

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Saeid Vasei was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings28 Dec 2026

Amir Shahim in the eights

A performance of 8.43 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Player ratings28 Dec 2026

A masterclass from Saeid Vasei

Marked 8.25 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

In brief

Back issues
21 Edition

The Saba Sentinel

21 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad21 Dec 2026

A fracture rules Sajjad Shahbazzadeh out for 56 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Saba will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad21 Dec 2026

Nima Mirzazad stands alone

11 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Match19 Dec 2026

A hiding for Saba

Beaten 0‑5 by Persepolis, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.

Match21 Dec 2026

Saba sink to position 15

10 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Match19 Dec 2026

The wait goes on for Saba

4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Squad21 Dec 2026

Words at Saba training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saeid Vasei 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.

Squad21 Dec 2026

Words exchanged at Saba

Ali Eslami 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.

Match19 Dec 2026

Saba leaking at the back

4 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.

The dugout21 Dec 2026

Alireza Haghighi gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

  • Boardroom Nobody left the Saba dressing room in a hurry
  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • The dugout Ali Sheikhan left out for tactical reasons at Saba
19 Edition

The Saba Sentinel

7 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad7 Dec 2026

A fracture rules Sajjad Shahbazzadeh out for 71 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Saba will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

The terraces7 Dec 2026

Anger at Saba spills outside the ground

It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.

Squad7 Dec 2026

Tempers go at Saba

Sajjad Shahbazzadeh 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.

Squad7 Dec 2026

Words at Saba training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saeid Vasei 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.

Match5 Dec 2026

Hossein Mehraban’s goal not enough for Saba

Hossein Mehraban scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Esteghlal Ahvaz, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

Match5 Dec 2026

Saba hit back inside 2 minutes

Esteghlal Ahvaz held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Saba answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.

The dugout7 Dec 2026

Masoud Hajsafi faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Masoud Hajsafi after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

The dugout7 Dec 2026

The manager makes an example of Ofek Peretz

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout7 Dec 2026

Arwin Javad gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Arwin Javad is on it.

In brief

17 Edition

The Saba Sentinel

23 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad23 Nov 2026

A fracture rules Sajjad Shahbazzadeh out for 85 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Saba will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Match21 Nov 2026

At last: Saba win one

13 matches without a win, and then this, against Saipa. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.

Match23 Nov 2026

Saba are in real trouble now

Position 14, 10 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Player ratings23 Nov 2026

Nobody could get near Saeid Vasei

Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad23 Nov 2026

A falling-out at Saba

Sajjad Shahbazzadeh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match21 Nov 2026

Saba see off Saipa

Three points for Saba, 1‑0 the final word against Saipa in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Player ratings23 Nov 2026

Ninety minutes of Ali Eslami at his very best

Marked 8.19. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Saba.

Squad23 Nov 2026

Words at Saba training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Darzi 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.

The dugout23 Nov 2026

A satisfied Masoud Hajsafi

“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Masoud Hajsafi could afford to be generous.

In brief

8 Edition

The Saba Sentinel

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match19 Sep 2026

Saba leaking at the back

7 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.

Match19 Sep 2026

5 matches without a win for Saba

The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Saba are no longer polite ones.

Squad21 Sep 2026

Sajjad Shahbazzadeh in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Saba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match19 Sep 2026

A bad afternoon for Saba against Gostaresh Foulad

1‑3 to Gostaresh Foulad, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Player ratings21 Sep 2026

One of those days for Saeid Vasei

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.05, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Player ratings21 Sep 2026

Ali Eslami runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

The dugout21 Sep 2026

The manager makes an example of Amir Shahim

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout21 Sep 2026

The view from the dugout

“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Masoud Hajsafi to a room that had heard them before.

Squad21 Sep 2026

Words at Saba training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Darzi 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.

In brief