Marked for Alireza Karimi
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match12 Apr 2027
Rah Ahan are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 56 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Ahmad Dejagah 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market5 Apr 2027
“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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Arash Akbarzadeh: 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.” Rah Ahan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad29 Mar 2027
A fracture rules Alireza Karimi out for 33 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rah Ahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad29 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Rah Ahan may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad29 Mar 2027
A muscle injury sidelines Luis Cabrera for 16 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Rah Ahan will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Mar 2027
A fracture rules Alireza Karimi out for 40 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rah Ahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad22 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Rah Ahan may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Omid Khodadad 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match15 Mar 2027
Rah Ahan refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 56 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Ahmad Dejagah 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Mar 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 57 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market8 Mar 2027
Bruno Silva hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rah Ahan can pretend not to have heard.
Squad8 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market1 Mar 2027
“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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A fracture rules Alireza Karimi out for 67 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rah Ahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Ehsan Noorafkan: 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.” Rah Ahan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Ahmad Dejagah 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“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; Rah Ahan are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Loan watch1 Mar 2027
“I watch every Rah Ahan game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Saipa runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Feb 2027
A fracture rules Alireza Karimi out for 74 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rah Ahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match20 Feb 2027
Still nobody has beaten Rah Ahan
The unbeaten run reaches 12. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
No sign of nerves from Vouria Torabi at 20 — 7.82
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Vouria Torabi did not need any: 7.82, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Rah Ahan may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad22 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Luis Cabrera 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
Triumph
Squad15 Feb 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 82 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match15 Feb 2027
Rah Ahan refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 55 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 ratings15 Feb 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.27 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match13 Feb 2027
Whatever happens, Rah Ahan do not lose
11 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Market15 Feb 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rah Ahan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Ahmad Dejagah 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.
Match13 Feb 2027
A 3‑1 win over Persepolis, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luis Cabrera 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Luis Cabrera
“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
Upbeat
Squad8 Feb 2027
A fracture rules Alireza Karimi out for 90 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rah Ahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market8 Feb 2027
“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 Rah Ahan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match6 Feb 2027
Still nobody has beaten Rah Ahan
The unbeaten run reaches 10. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad8 Feb 2027
16 shut-outs and counting. Goalkeepers are only noticed when they fail, and Ali Beiranvand has given nobody the chance.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Jhon Labastidas 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 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Ahmad Dejagah
“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 terraces8 Feb 2027
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.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Defensive actions: 15. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
The terraces8 Feb 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Feb 2027
A fracture rules Alireza Karimi out for 97 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rah Ahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market1 Feb 2027
Luis Cabrera hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rah Ahan can pretend not to have heard.
Match30 Jan 2027
Rah Ahan cannot stop winning
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Market1 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad1 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Getting past Ali Beiranvand has become the hardest job in the division
15 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luis Cabrera 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.
Match30 Jan 2027
Esteghlal Ahvaz made Rah Ahan work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Marked 7.93. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match23 Jan 2027
4‑0, and Zargham Saadavi took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Rah Ahan tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Alireza Karimi out for 104 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rah Ahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Zargham Saadavi, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.77
A mark of 8.77 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.
Market25 Jan 2027
“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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
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.
Match23 Jan 2027
Rah Ahan cannot stop winning
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad25 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Jan 2027
14 clean sheets and counting. Strikers leave this ground muttering his name, which is exactly how a goalkeeper measures a good season.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Marked 5.66. 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match16 Jan 2027
Saipa will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Rah Ahan were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Alireza Karimi breaks a bone — 112 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 112 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match18 Jan 2027
Rah Ahan up to position 2
45 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market18 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market18 Jan 2027
“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.
Market18 Jan 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rah Ahan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match16 Jan 2027
Still nobody has beaten Rah Ahan
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Ahmad Dejagah 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Getting past Ali Beiranvand has become the hardest job in the division
13 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.