Marked for Masoud Khodadad
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Sep 2026
Persepolis go through and Gostaresh Foulad go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Market14 Sep 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 Gostaresh Foulad can pretend not to have heard.
Squad14 Sep 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Match12 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Gostaresh Foulad's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Gostaresh Foulad has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Shahriar Moharrami, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.64
A mark of 7.64 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Masoud 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Sepahan left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Amir Hajsafi gets it from the manager
“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.
In brief
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Squad
Morteza Ghoddos falls out with a teammate over standards
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Player ratings
Ali Hosseini runs at them all day
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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 Gostaresh Foulad 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Gostaresh Foulad can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad31 Aug 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 Gostaresh Foulad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Gostaresh Foulad asked and Al Wahda said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Amir Ganiev and Gostaresh Foulad agree another 3 years.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Karim Rezaeian after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Player ratings31 Aug 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Foolad? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Aug 2026
0‑3 against Esteghlal, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer from Al Ahli for Omid Gholizadeh was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Gostaresh Foulad's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Gostaresh Foulad has to find a result from somewhere.
Match22 Aug 2026
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad24 Aug 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 Gostaresh Foulad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Shabab have kept their man, and Gostaresh Foulad go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Gostaresh Foulad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hossein Torabi 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 dugout24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ali Hosseini, and the manager let it.