90 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.
Mohammad Reza Akhbari 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.
“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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
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.
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.
97 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mohammad Javad Mohammadi and Zob Ahan agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Mohammad Javad Mohammadi 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Zob Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gonzalo Gelini 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.
“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 4 appearances in 12 say he has earned the hearing.
8 goals in 14 games at Esteghlal Ahvaz — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Zob Ahan updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Younes Shakeri 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammad Reza Ghobeishavi 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.
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.
Kamal Kamyabinia 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 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.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
“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.
The terraces11 Oct 2027
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 7 of the 31 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Zob Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gonzalo Gelini 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.
Hadi Baghban had done his part in building a 3-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Saipa were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Younes Shakeri and Esteghlal Ahvaz agree another 2 years.
Younes Shakeri 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 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 hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Gonzalo Gelini did not need any: 8.52, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Mohammad Reza Akhbari 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 2‑1 win over Gostaresh Foulad, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
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 Ahvaz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kamal Kamyabinia 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.
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.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zob Ahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Mahan Beheshti, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.86
A mark of 7.86 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
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.
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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Zob Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gonzalo Gelini 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.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.12 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Esteghlal Ahvaz is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Younes Shakeri 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amir Mohammad Panahi 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.
6 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 26 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Gonzalo Gelini, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.67
A mark of 8.67 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.
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.
At 20 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.
4 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Marked 5.70. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
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.
“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 Ahvaz can pretend not to have heard.
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 Ahvaz 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Richard Akonnor 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.
“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 Esteghlal Ahvaz know it.
23 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Mohammad Javad Mohammadi 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.
Shots: 8. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Pouya Mokhtari has his answer from Zob Ahan; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Shots: 4. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.32 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Hamed Pakdel 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammad Reza Ghobeishavi 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.
9 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Esteghlal Ahvaz is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Jonathan Salvador 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.
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.
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.
4 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.
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.
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Esteghlal Ahvaz has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
A brace, and Hadi Baghban takes the afternoon — 8.39
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Hadi Baghban provided it, and the 8.39 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 Esteghlal Ahvaz can pretend not to have heard.
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 Ahvaz 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.
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.
Hamed Pakdel 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amir Mohammad Panahi 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 shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Esteghlal Ahvaz will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Tractor for Amir Mohammad Panahi 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.
Hamed Pakdel 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Esteghlal Ahvaz training over how hard people work
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zob Ahan can pretend not to have heard.
Mohammad Reza Akhbari 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Shayan Mosleh, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Zob Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hasan Shoushtari 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Rahman Jafari's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zob Ahan can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Zob Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gonzalo Gelini 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Al-Qadisiyah will make the call about Hadi Baghban this week. Zob Ahan have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Zob Ahan, another week without a signature from Mohammad Javad Mohammadi.
7 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zob Ahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
The chase for Alireza Amirkhani ended with $1.0M changing hands and Foolad out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Mohammad Javad Mohammadi 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Zob Ahan training over how hard people work
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zob Ahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Gonzalo Gelini is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
Foolad paid $560.0K and Zob Ahan took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
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.
In brief
SquadGonzalo Gelini falls out with a teammate over standards
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zob Ahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The words a physio says slowly. 17 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.
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.
Mohammad Javad Mohammadi 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zob Ahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Shahin Taherkhani will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zob Ahan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mohammad Javad Mohammadi 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
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.
3 goals in 17 games at Najran — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Zob Ahan updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Gonzalo Gelini is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
In brief
SquadWords at Zob Ahan training over how hard people work
SquadA last season at home is what Bruno Paulo is after
“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.
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
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.
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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Zob Ahan are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
1‑5 to Al-Nassr, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Facundo Kruspzky 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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Najran and Al-Nassr in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
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.
8.10. 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.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Najran is running low.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
A brace, and Hadi Baghban takes the afternoon — 8.68
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Hadi Baghban provided it, and the 8.68 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Najran have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.23 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“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 Najran, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Najran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Najran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soufiane Bouftini 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.
“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.
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.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zob Ahan has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad1 Feb 2027
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.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Najran can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Najran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Najran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soufiane Bouftini 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Najran pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“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 Najran, and it is not being withdrawn.
Facundo Kruspzky 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.
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
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.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Najran have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Facundo Kruspzky 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 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.
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.
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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Najran have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
7 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.05 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Najran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Najran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hans Salinas 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.
13 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
A 1‑4 beating by Al-Qadisiyah was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 10 of the 32 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
6 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Hadi Baghban, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.62
A mark of 7.62 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Najran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Najran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soufiane Bouftini 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.
A 0‑3 beating by Al-Hilal was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
The terraces28 Sep 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 10 of the 32 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Najran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Najran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soufiane Bouftini 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.
6 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
In brief
Player ratingsHans Salinas could not find anything
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Najran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Luis Ureta 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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Shots: 4. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Soufiane Bouftini provided it, and the 9.20 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Facundo Kruspzky 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 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.
13 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
A season-long audition: Zob Ahan still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are Najran's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Andrés Dieppa arrives at Najran with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
The 87th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Mohammad Javad Mohammadi decided nobody was going anywhere. Esteghlal Ahvaz had no time left to answer.
“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.
1 for Pedram Ghazipour, marked 7.75, 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.
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.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Amir Hossein Farhadi from Esteghlal Khuzestan for $1.0M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Zob Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hasan Shoushtari 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.
“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.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 6 of the 29 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
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 interest is real enough to have reached print. Zob Ahan have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.