Marked for Saeid Ebrahimi
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match21 Dec 2026
Saba refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 40 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
No sign of nerves from Saïmon Bouabré at 20 — 7.74
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Saïmon Bouabré did not need any: 7.74, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market21 Dec 2026
Vouria Vafaei has left for Talleres in a $670.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Omid Taremi 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Saba
Reza 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Karim Mohammadi dropped after a run of poor form
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.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
No sign of nerves from Saïmon Bouabré at 20 — 8.29
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Saïmon Bouabré did not need any: 8.29, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A season average of 7.16 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Saba know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Match12 Dec 2026
The run at home goes on for Saba
11 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Mohammad Cheshmi 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 terraces14 Dec 2026
Saba supporters have found a favourite in Saïmon Bouabré
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Saïmon Bouabré 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mohammad Torabi
88 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Saba lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Omid Taremi takes the match ball home
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Milad Nekounam, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 9.22
A mark of 9.22 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Saba
Vahid Noorafkan 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
A 4‑3 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Saba and Gostaresh Foulad, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A performance of 9.88 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Mohammad Cheshmi 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mohammad Torabi
111 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Saba lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A fracture rules Majid Noorafkan out for 30 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Age has not caught Vouria Vafaei yet — 7.95
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.95 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Saba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammad Cheshmi 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Rah Ahan leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market31 Aug 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Omid Taremi’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mohammad Torabi
120 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Saba lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A fracture rules Majid Noorafkan out for 37 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.11, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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 Saba, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match22 Aug 2026
A 3‑1 win over Esteghlal Ahvaz, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Mohammad Cheshmi 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
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.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
Saba supporters have found a favourite in Milad Nekounam
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Milad Nekounam 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 Aug 2026
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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Omid Taremi 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Everyone has stopped pretending: Al-Faisaly will make the call about Saeid Ebrahimi this week. Saba have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ashkan Jahanbakhsh, and the manager let it.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.62 on the card, and the Saba support went home talking about one name.
Match8 Aug 2026
It needed Omid Taremi to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Saipa, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Market10 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Ashkan Beiranvand has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Saba.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad3 Aug 2026
11 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Squad3 Aug 2026
11 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Karim Cheshmi could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 9.90
Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 9.90, 11 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.
Squad3 Aug 2026
10 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Match1 Aug 2026
No mercy from Saba
Naft Tehran will want this one forgotten quickly: 42‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Saba were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad3 Aug 2026
6 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Saeid Ebrahimi, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 10.00
A mark of 10.00 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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Mohammad Torabi, 34, rolls back the years — 8.40
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.40 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Up for the corner, and Vahid Noorafkan delivers — 7.80
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Vahid Noorafkan scored, was marked 7.80, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.