Marked for Houman Elyasi
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings5 Nov 2029
Successful dribbles: 34. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market5 Nov 2029
Only the photograph left for Ali Karimi
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ali Karimi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zob Ahan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad5 Nov 2029
22 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Words exchanged at Zob Ahan
Mohammad Javad Mohammadi 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.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Dânio Djassi 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.
The terraces5 Nov 2029
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match3 Nov 2029
A 1‑0 win over Esteghlal, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Market5 Nov 2029
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Player ratings5 Nov 2029
A mark of 7.94, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match5 Sep 2029
Zob Ahan bow out of the cup
Gostaresh Foulad go through and Zob Ahan go home, 2‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Squad10 Sep 2029
50 days out for Mehrdad Abdi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zob Ahan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market10 Sep 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zob Ahan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
Ali Ahmadi goes up and wins it — 7.89
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.89 for the rest of it.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words exchanged at Zob Ahan
Dânio Djassi 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.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Milad Zakipour 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.
The terraces10 Sep 2029
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Houman Elyasi 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.
The dugout10 Sep 2029
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout14 May 2029
Parsa Jafari: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Zob Ahan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market14 May 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zob Ahan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad14 May 2029
Hasan Shoushtari 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.
Squad14 May 2029
A row about effort at Zob Ahan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Milad Zakipour was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout14 May 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Milad Zakipour, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 May 2029
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 Hasan Shoushtari is on it.
The dugout14 May 2029
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Market14 May 2029
The Parsa Jafari story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Parsa Jafari signs something — a contract at Zob Ahan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad14 May 2029
A wage question at Zob Ahan
Houman Elyasi has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Aug 2028
86 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.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mohammad Javad Mohammadi provided it, and the 9.06 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
Boardroom14 Aug 2028
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Ehsan Mohammadi has agreed terms with Siah Jamegan for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Market14 Aug 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ehsan Mohammadi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zob Ahan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Hasan Shoushtari 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Alireza Ramezani has improved at 27, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Ittihad have kept their man, and Zob Ahan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Jul 2028
100 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.
The terraces31 Jul 2028
Supporters organise against the Zob Ahan board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Market31 Jul 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Al-Qadisiyah keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad31 Jul 2028
A falling-out at Zob Ahan
Hasan Shoushtari and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Sobhan Khaghani has improved at 28, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Shabab have kept their man, and Zob Ahan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
AZ have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Jul 2028
108 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.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Zob Ahan
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market24 Jul 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
Fee done, terms next for Ali Alipour
Zob Ahan and Persepolis have settled on $2.1M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Zob Ahan have done the hard part with Al-Qadisiyah, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Otabek Ahadov is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad24 Jul 2028
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.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
Zob Ahan offered $63.0K; Persepolis 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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Zob Ahan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ehsan Pahlevan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Jun 2028
Amir Hossein Jeddi damages knee ligaments — 27 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 27 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.
Boardroom5 Jun 2028
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Zob Ahan can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The terraces5 Jun 2028
Supporters organise against the Zob Ahan board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad5 Jun 2028
A falling-out at Zob Ahan
Hasan Shoushtari and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Zob Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riccardo Pagano 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.
Transfer targets5 Jun 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Khaleej have kept their man, and Zob Ahan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market5 Jun 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Transfer targets5 Jun 2028
A loan enquiry to Barcelona: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
The manager makes an example of Otabek Ahadov
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad29 May 2028
Amir Hossein Jeddi damages knee ligaments — 37 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 37 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.
Boardroom29 May 2028
Pressure builds in the Zob Ahan boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad29 May 2028
Words exchanged at Zob Ahan
Riccardo Pagano 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.
Squad29 May 2028
Ehsan Pahlevan 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.
Loan watch29 May 2028
“I did not go to Esteghlal Khuzestan to sit and watch. I want to come back to Zob Ahan and fight for my place.” 6 appearances in 19 matches say the rest.
Squad29 May 2028
Masoud Taremi has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Zob Ahan will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout29 May 2028
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 Seyed Mohammad Hosseini is on it.
Market29 May 2028
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.
The dugout29 May 2028
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 Apr 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad10 Apr 2028
Amadou Niang 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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Esteghlal Khuzestan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aram Abbasi 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 dugout10 Apr 2028
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Esteghlal Khuzestan told Hojjat Ahmadi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad10 Apr 2028
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
Houman Elyasi asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market10 Apr 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Esteghlal Khuzestan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
The scrutiny sharpens at Zob Ahan
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Zob Ahan is running low.
Squad3 Apr 2028
A falling-out at Zob Ahan
Nemanja Trifunović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Jehad Thikri 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.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
“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.
Loan watch3 Apr 2028
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Zob Ahan, and 6 appearances in 11 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Masoud Taremi has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Zob Ahan will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Zob Ahan will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Riccardo Pagano trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
Nobody at Zob Ahan will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market20 Mar 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Esteghlal Khuzestan can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom20 Mar 2028
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Amadou Niang 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 Esteghlal Khuzestan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aram Abbasi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
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.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
“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.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Esteghlal Khuzestan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market20 Mar 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mehdi Khoshbakht signs something — a contract at Esteghlal Khuzestan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market14 Feb 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match12 Feb 2028
Houman Elyasi wins it after the whistle should have gone
90 minutes played. Houman Elyasi found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Sepahan went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad14 Feb 2028
Amadou Niang 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aram Abbasi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces14 Feb 2028
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match12 Feb 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Houman Elyasi. 1‑0 against Sepahan, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Nobody on the pitch touched Houman Elyasi
7.45, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Esteghlal Khuzestan had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.