Marked for Ahmad Ebrahimi
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Nov 2026
12 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match31 Oct 2026
At 2 goals adrift this was a formality, and the formality lasted right up until it did not. Rah Ahan found something the first half had given no notice of, and Persepolis could not hold what they had.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.57, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match31 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Majid Torabi. 3‑2 against Persepolis, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Omid Torabi
11 goals and a season average of 7.35 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match31 Oct 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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Omid Torabi at his very best
Marked 8.31. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Rah Ahan.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ali Yazdani 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Rah Ahan
Masoud Nekounam and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
Amir Jahanbakhsh damages knee ligaments — 17 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 17 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Ahmad Ebrahimi: 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Majid Pouraliganji 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hossein Yazdani 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
Defences have started doubling up on Majid Pouraliganji
9 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
A point taken on 85 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Match17 Oct 2026
It needed Majid Shojaei to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Esteghlal Ahvaz, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mohammad Dejagah, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 2‑2 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Amir Jahanbakhsh
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rah Ahan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match19 Sep 2026
Rah Ahan win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. Esteghlal Khuzestan will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A brace, and Omid Torabi takes the afternoon — 9.45
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Omid Torabi provided it, and the 9.45 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Majid Pouraliganji 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ali Yazdani 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
Marked 8.04 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ahmad Ebrahimi commits to Rah Ahan for another 3 years.