Marked for Kaveh Cheshmi
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Apr 2027
Amir Mohammad Panahi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
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 dugout12 Apr 2027
“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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at Esteghlal Ahvaz says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Temur Odilov has been promised minutes
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Temur Odilov has written the date down.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Feb 2027
Shahzodbek Ubaydullayev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Esteghlal Ahvaz training over how hard people work
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.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sepahan have kept their man, and Esteghlal Ahvaz go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match13 Feb 2027
0‑1 to Esteghlal, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“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 dugout15 Feb 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Omid Mohammadi after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Omid Afshin knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Omid Afshin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“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 Esteghlal Ahvaz will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Dec 2026
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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
The medical room confirms 16 days on the sidelines for Amin Saedi, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Match19 Dec 2026
Malavan left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hakim Nasari, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Arash Akbarzadeh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Omid Mohammadi after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Kaveh Cheshmi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout21 Dec 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.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Temur Odilov 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces2 Nov 2026
Supporters organise against the Esteghlal Ahvaz 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Kiarash Asgari out for 48 days
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.
Match2 Nov 2026
Every point is an argument now for Esteghlal Ahvaz
Position 14 and 8 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Esteghlal Ahvaz training over how hard people work
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 dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Temur Odilov
“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 ratings2 Nov 2026
7.75, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Esteghlal Ahvaz had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad2 Nov 2026
7 new faces, and Esteghlal Ahvaz are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Gostaresh Foulad to sit and watch. I want to come back to Esteghlal Ahvaz and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
Temur Odilov breaks a bone — 34 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 34 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 31 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Amir Mohammad Panahi 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Esteghlal Ahvaz asked and Gostaresh Foulad said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Arash Akbarzadeh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Milad Ahmadipouri is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Kaveh Cheshmi
“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.
Market7 Sep 2026
A season-long look at somebody else’s player: Omid Afshin arrives from Esteghlal Khuzestan with something to prove and a return ticket in the drawer. Good loans make everybody richer; this one starts Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
A fracture rules Temur Odilov out for 41 days
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.
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 Esteghlal Ahvaz can pretend not to have heard.
Match29 Aug 2026
5 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The paperwork begins on Amin Saedi
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Esteghlal Ahvaz have done the hard part with Foolad, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Esteghlal Ahvaz had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Sepahan, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Ali Kamali 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 Ahvaz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Amir Mohammad Panahi 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Persepolis have kept their man, and Esteghlal Ahvaz go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match29 Aug 2026
Zob Ahan left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market31 Aug 2026
Vahid Shojaei 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Mohammad Shojaei had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
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.
Market31 Aug 2026
Kaveh Cheshmi has left for Esteghlal Ahvaz in a $94.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Market31 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Sardar Taremi again, and this time the name on the line is Saba. Rah Ahan are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Morteza Gholizadeh 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout31 Aug 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Masoud Gholizadeh to a room that had heard them before.