Marked for Pejman Karimi
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 107 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A brace, and Shahriar Gholizadeh takes the afternoon — 9.05
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Shahriar Gholizadeh provided it, and the 9.05 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vahid Vafaei 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Rah Ahan
Farjad Fayaz and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Karim Vafaei, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
10 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.
Market19 Oct 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rah Ahan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match10 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Karim Vafaei to a room that had heard them before.
Squad12 Oct 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 Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Rah Ahan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ehsan Nekounam was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Oct 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
The name of Shahriar Yazdani keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Rah Ahan say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.53 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Rah Ahan
Sardar Dejagah 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Three points for Rah Ahan, 3‑1 the final word against Naft Tehran in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Vahid Vafaei 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
9 goals and a season average of 7.24. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mohammad Hajsafi, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Karim Vafaei on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Sep 2026
3‑0, and Shahriar Yazdani took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Rah Ahan tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.49 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Farjad Fayaz, 20, steals the show — 8.05
Marked 8.05 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad21 Sep 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 Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Defensive actions: 21, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Karim Vafaei kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ehsan Nekounam 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Rah Ahan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vahid Vafaei was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Vahid Khodadad
“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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Chances created: 13. The column nobody reads carried the whole story of the match, and his name was at the top of it.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Match12 Sep 2026
A 2‑2 draw with Padideh leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Half-satisfied: Karim Vafaei on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Farjad Fayaz: “I am not a substitute”
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Rah Ahan will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Market14 Sep 2026
The name of Shahriar Yazdani keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Rah Ahan say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match29 Aug 2026
4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.83 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.26 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
$1.7M was the most the club would pay and Persepolis were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
The town asked, and Rah Ahan paid $120.0K
Omid Ghoddos was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $120.0K. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
$3.0M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
Match15 Aug 2026
Rah Ahan throw away a 2-goal lead
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Sepahan the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Rah Ahan will enjoy reviewing.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Mehdi Hajsafi, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.81
A mark of 7.81 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.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Supporters turn on the $3.0M sale of Saeid Shojaei
He is going to Persepolis, the club has $3.0M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
$1.3M was the most the club would pay and Esteghlal were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Rah Ahan have gone to Tractor with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Market17 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Shahriar Gholizadeh again, and this time the name on the line is Pogon. Rah Ahan are listening politely and promising nothing.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at AZ is saying, and nobody at Rah Ahan is enjoying the guessing.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Vahid 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.