The Zob Ahan Chronicle
Match1 Aug 2026
No mercy from Zob Ahan
Esteghlal Khuzestan will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Zob Ahan were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Omid Latifi scores twice — 8.36
Two goals and a mark of 8.36 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Houman Elyasi, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.85
A mark of 7.85 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Door shut on Mohammad Ghorbani
Zob Ahan asked and Al Wahda said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Rahman Jafari signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rahman Jafari and Zob Ahan agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Zob Ahan
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.
Boardroom3 Aug 2026
2 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.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
One of their own: Houman Elyasi
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Market3 Aug 2026
Eyes on Sobhan Khaghani again
The phone has started ringing about Sobhan Khaghani again, and this time the name on the line is Saipa. Zob Ahan are listening politely and promising nothing.
In brief
- Market Masoud Hosseini steps up from the Zob Ahan academy
- Market Masoud Cheshmi steps up from the Zob Ahan academy
- Squad Shayan Mosleh falls out with a teammate over standards