Marked for Ehsan Noorafkan
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match28 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 88th, and Sepahan spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Squad30 Nov 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.
The terraces30 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Shahriar 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Saman Shojaei’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Rah Ahan.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ehsan Noorafkan, and the manager let it.
Loan watch30 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Naft Tehran to sit and watch. I want to come back to Rah Ahan and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Marked 7.52 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Rah Ahan had the best player on the pitch.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Shahriar Nekounam has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Rah Ahan will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Mehdi Vafaei 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad16 Nov 2026
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.
Squad16 Nov 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Shahriar Nekounam 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.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match14 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Rah Ahan may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match24 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leandro Romano, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 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 ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Rah Ahan's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Rah Ahan has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Shahriar Nekounam 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
No clean sheets in sight for Rah Ahan
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Match22 Aug 2026
0‑2 to Malavan, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
15 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad24 Aug 2026
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.