Marked for Ashkan Torabi
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market7 Jun 2027
The offer from Esteghlal for Mohammad Hosseini 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Gostaresh Foulad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vahid Nekounam 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 targets7 Jun 2027
Gostaresh Foulad asked and Al Shabab said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market7 Jun 2027
The name of Ashkan Torabi has come up in conversations Gostaresh Foulad were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A muscle injury and 16 days out for Ashkan Torabi
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Gostaresh Foulad will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ashkan Torabi and Gostaresh Foulad agree another 4 years.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
A loan move for Prince Guèye is in the works
Gostaresh Foulad have made the call to Al Shabab. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
A loan move for Tai Žnuderl is in the works
Gostaresh Foulad have made the call to Dinamo Zagreb. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Dec 2026
1‑5 against Sepahan, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market21 Dec 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.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad21 Dec 2026
19 days out for Ashkan Torabi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gostaresh Foulad will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match19 Dec 2026
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Gostaresh Foulad are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Dec 2026
19 goals and a season average of 7.41. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match19 Dec 2026
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match19 Dec 2026
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Gostaresh Foulad and Sepahan in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.43, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
A brace, and Mohammad Hosseini takes the afternoon — 9.38
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mohammad Hosseini provided it, and the 9.38 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad14 Dec 2026
27 days out for Ashkan Torabi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gostaresh Foulad will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Morteza Yazdani
18 goals and a season average of 7.52 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad14 Dec 2026
6 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.
Match12 Dec 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
Mohammad Hosseini scored, and precious little else went right: 5‑6 to Foolad, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Shahriar Mohammadi 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Dec 2026
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Esteghlal kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Gostaresh Foulad will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
A brace, and Morteza Yazdani takes the afternoon — 8.85
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Morteza Yazdani provided it, and the 8.85 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad7 Dec 2026
34 days out for Ashkan Torabi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gostaresh Foulad will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A season average of 7.45 with 16 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match5 Dec 2026
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Gostaresh Foulad are no longer polite ones.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Shahriar Mohammadi 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
Beaten 2‑4, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Hossein Nekounam and Gostaresh Foulad agree another 2 years.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hossein Nekounam, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Nov 2026
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Gostaresh Foulad lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
A brace, and Morteza Yazdani takes the afternoon — 9.15
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Morteza Yazdani provided it, and the 9.15 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Ashkan Torabi breaks a bone — 41 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 41 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad30 Nov 2026
14 goals and a season average of 7.39. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match28 Nov 2026
Minute 90, against Siah Jamegan, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match28 Nov 2026
It needed Morteza Yazdani to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Siah Jamegan, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Gostaresh Foulad lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match21 Nov 2026
0‑4 against Persepolis, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Ashkan Torabi out for 48 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gostaresh Foulad will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A season average of 7.36 with 16 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
The dugout23 Nov 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.
Boardroom23 Nov 2026
Nobody left the Gostaresh Foulad dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Sardar Mohammadi after 0‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Mohammad Hosseini has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Gostaresh Foulad 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
Saeid Ghoddos damages knee ligaments — 35 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 35 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
55 days out for Ashkan Torabi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gostaresh Foulad will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Shahriar Mohammadi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
16 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Sardar Mohammadi was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Gostaresh Foulad dressing room was either.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ramin Jahanbakhsh, and the manager let it.
Match14 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Rah Ahan? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Nov 2026
The match ball belongs to Morteza Yazdani, whose 5 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Saeid Ghoddos
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gostaresh Foulad lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match7 Nov 2026
6‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Ashkan Torabi breaks a bone — 63 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 63 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Shahriar Mohammadi 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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Morteza Yazdani was on a different afternoon to everybody else
10.00. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Match7 Nov 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Gostaresh Foulad and Esteghlal Ahvaz, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The terraces9 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ramin Hosseini 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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.43 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
70 days out for Ashkan Torabi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gostaresh Foulad will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market2 Nov 2026
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Shahriar Mohammadi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.09 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match31 Oct 2026
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Morteza Yazdani had Gostaresh Foulad level again within 3 minutes, and Tractor never got to play with a lead at all.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Match31 Oct 2026
A 2‑2 draw with Tractor leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout2 Nov 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Oct 2026
79 days out for Ashkan Torabi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gostaresh Foulad will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
A brace, and Mohammad Hosseini takes the afternoon — 9.30
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mohammad Hosseini provided it, and the 9.30 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
A brace, and Morteza Yazdani takes the afternoon — 9.21
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Morteza Yazdani provided it, and the 9.21 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Gostaresh Foulad may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad26 Oct 2026
16 goals and a season average of 7.31. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Shahriar Mohammadi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Karim Hosseini was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.14. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 4‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Ashkan Torabi out for 86 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gostaresh Foulad will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Ashkan Torabi, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.61
A mark of 7.61 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Shahriar Mohammadi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Vahid 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.
The terraces19 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Ashkan Torabi 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Ashkan Torabi’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Gostaresh Foulad.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Sardar Mohammadi, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Squad19 Oct 2026
At 17 years old, Kaveh Nekounam became the latest name off the academy production line to be handed a senior shirt.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Oct 2026
Ashkan Torabi breaks a bone — 94 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 94 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Mohammad Hosseini 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Shahriar Mohammadi 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
1‑2 to Esteghlal Khuzestan, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ramin Jahanbakhsh, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
The one goal every signing is asked about until it comes. It has come, and a press-conference question has been retired.
The terraces12 Oct 2026
Supporters make their feelings known about Shahriar Mohammadi
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Gostaresh Foulad would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
102 days out for Ashkan Torabi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gostaresh Foulad will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Shahriar Mohammadi 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
14 goals and a season average of 7.22. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Hossein Nekounam and Gostaresh Foulad agree another 1 years.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.08, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.02 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match3 Oct 2026
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 96. Padideh had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
The dugout5 Oct 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
A 3‑3 draw with Padideh leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
111 days out for Ashkan Torabi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gostaresh Foulad will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Squad28 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 Gostaresh Foulad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match26 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mohammad Hosseini. 4‑3 against Zob Ahan, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Mohammad Hosseini at his very best
Marked 9.45. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Gostaresh Foulad.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vahid Nekounam was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.04 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.