Shahriar Noorafkan

26 Edition

25 Jan 2027

From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad25 Jan 2027

A fracture rules Vahid Pouraliganji out for 94 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.

Market25 Jan 2027

Vouria Khodadad asks to leave Rah Ahan

“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

Defences have started doubling up on Vouria Shojaei

17 goals and a season average of 7.28 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Squad25 Jan 2027

Vouria Shojaei 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 Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad25 Jan 2027

Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mehdi 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.

Match23 Jan 2027

Rah Ahan come up short against Tractor

Tractor left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Loan watch25 Jan 2027

Ashkan Dejagah counts the days

“I watch every Rah Ahan game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Naft Tehran runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

Player ratings25 Jan 2027

Nobody could get near Alireza Ramezani

Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market25 Jan 2027

Mahan Bandani arrives on loan

Rah Ahan have taken Mahan Bandani on loan from Sepahan — cover where cover was needed.

In brief

Market Shahriar Noorafkan placed on the list
Player ratings The referee tires of Masoud Shojaei

24 Edition

11 Jan 2027

From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match9 Jan 2027

Rah Ahan tear Naft Tehran apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Naft Tehran, and it could have been more.

Squad11 Jan 2027

3 goals for Vouria Shojaei

The match ball belongs to Vouria Shojaei, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

Squad11 Jan 2027

Defences have started doubling up on Vouria Shojaei

16 goals and a season average of 7.26 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Squad11 Jan 2027

Vouria Shojaei 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 Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad11 Jan 2027

A move Sammy Henia-Kamau would have made for nothing

There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Sammy Henia-Kamau is living that version at Rah Ahan, and it tends to show in the first month.

Loan watch11 Jan 2027

Milad Hajsafi has seen enough of Naft Tehran

“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Rah Ahan, and 1 appearances in 21 say he has earned the hearing.

Player ratings11 Jan 2027

Mehdi Vafaei runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Market11 Jan 2027

Rah Ahan sign Sammy Henia-Kamau, one for the future

Sammy Henia-Kamau is 20, and Rah Ahan have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.

Player ratings11 Jan 2027

Saman Shojaei makes them all

Assists: 3. He did not need to score and would probably have been irritated to be asked. A performance built entirely out of other people's finishes.

In brief

Market No place for Shahriar Noorafkan in the plan
Market Shahriar Nekounam linked with a move away
Loan watch Naft Tehran cannot leave Ehsan Hosseini out

13 Edition

26 Oct 2026

From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad26 Oct 2026