Marked for Ali Hosseini
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Two goals and a mark of 9.19 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Ali Hosseini 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Rah Ahan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Milad Kor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Haroune Camara
12 goals and a season average of 7.21 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Mohammad Amin Kazemian was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.10. 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 dugout22 Nov 2027
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.” Ehsan Azmoun, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“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.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Nov 2027
8 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
A falling-out at Rah Ahan
Milad Rezaeian and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings15 Nov 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.35, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match13 Nov 2027
Late, late show earns Rah Ahan a point
Minute 93, 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.
Match15 Nov 2027
Rah Ahan at the halfway mark
Half the programme played, position 12, 15 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Match13 Nov 2027
It needed Reza Galedar 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 dugout15 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Ehsan Azmoun chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Asan Vaniyev 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 dugout15 Nov 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 7.98, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“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.
Market25 Oct 2027
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Rah Ahan heard it as anything else.
Squad25 Oct 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 Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Milad Kor 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.
Match23 Oct 2027
Esteghlal Ahvaz made Rah Ahan work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Ali Hosseini 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.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Chances created: 13. Somebody has to open a door before anybody can walk through it, and he spent the afternoon opening doors.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
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.” Ehsan Azmoun, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Oct 2027
A falling-out at Rah Ahan
Milad Rezaeian and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match16 Oct 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad18 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Rah Ahan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammad Amin Kazemian was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Rah Ahan are still strangers to each other
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
Milad Cheshmi knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Milad Cheshmi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad18 Oct 2027
One booking too many, and Saeid Vafaei sits out. Rah Ahan lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match2 Oct 2027
5‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad4 Oct 2027
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Pejman Noorafkan, 33, rolls back the years — 8.50
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.50 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Ali 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.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Ninety minutes of Haroune Camara at his very best
Marked 10.00. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Rah Ahan.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Pejman Noorafkan commits to Rah Ahan for another 2 years.
The terraces4 Oct 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Vouria 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Erfan Darvishaali 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
Uneasy
Match25 Sep 2027
At last: Rah Ahan win one
7 matches without a win, and then this, against Esteghlal Khuzestan. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad27 Sep 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 Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match25 Sep 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Haroune Camara. 1‑0 against Esteghlal Khuzestan, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad27 Sep 2027
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 ratings27 Sep 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.02, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Rah Ahan told Haroune Camara something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
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.” Ehsan Azmoun, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
Saud Haroun 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match18 Sep 2027
No end in sight to Rah Ahan's wait for a win
7 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match18 Sep 2027
Rah Ahan leaking at the back
5 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Match18 Sep 2027
Haroune Camara among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Haroune Camara on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Rah Ahan and Padideh.
Match18 Sep 2027
Beaten 2‑4, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Milad Kor 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.
Squad20 Sep 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 Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Vouria Dejagah did the work nobody counts — 6.32
10 combined actions and 6.32. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 2‑4 defeat, delivered by Ehsan Azmoun to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad6 Sep 2027
The knee: Amir Cheshmi out for 25 days
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rah Ahan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match1 Sep 2027
Rah Ahan bow out of the cup
Zob Ahan go through and Rah Ahan go home, 1‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Squad6 Sep 2027
8 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.
Match4 Sep 2027
5 matches without a win for Rah Ahan
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Rah Ahan are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 18 signed and 14 gone
That is the business done at Rah Ahan until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Market6 Sep 2027
“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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Milad Rezaeian 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
15 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.42 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at Rah Ahan
Ali Hosseini 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.
Match14 Aug 2027
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Rah Ahan and Foolad in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match14 Aug 2027
A bad afternoon for Rah Ahan against Foolad
2‑4 to Foolad, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad16 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Rah Ahan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammad Amin Kazemian was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
Saeid Vafaei 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.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 2‑4 Ehsan Azmoun left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad16 Aug 2027
The one goal every signing is asked about until it comes. It has come, and a press-conference question has been retired.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.73 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Rah Ahan may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Milad Rezaeian 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Milad Kor 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
No place for Milad Kor in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Rah Ahan are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Vahid Khodadad's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Rah Ahan will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
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.” Ehsan Azmoun, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Jul 2027
The bid was some way short and Rah Ahan did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Ali 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.
Market12 Jul 2027
Morteza Torabi has left for Padideh in a $340.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Nassr have kept their man, and Rah Ahan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Asan Vaniyev, and the manager let it.
Market12 Jul 2027
The Ali Hosseini talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rah Ahan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Where he used to play does most of his talking for him at Rah Ahan. The room defers to it, the kids study it, and the only thing that can puncture it is a bad month.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Asan Vaniyev has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Rah Ahan will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Squad12 Jul 2027
The move was somebody else's story. What it left behind was a dressing-room stall nobody has taken and a player who keeps looking at it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
The deal with Tractor is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Saud Haroun is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad28 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Rah Ahan
Ali Hosseini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Jun 2027
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Rah Ahan offered $170.0K; Esteghlal Khuzestan said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market28 Jun 2027
Business is business: Amir Shojaei goes
Esteghlal Ahvaz paid $5.0K and Rah Ahan took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Milad Cheshmi
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market28 Jun 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Rah Ahan have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Jun 2027
The unthinkable, invoiced: Ramin Rezaeian sold
Werder Bremen arrived with $12.7M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
The terraces14 Jun 2027
Ramin Rezaeian has gone, the accounts have $12.7M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Market14 Jun 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Rah Ahan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Jun 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ahmad Hosseini and Rah Ahan agree another 3 years.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
$170.0K on the table at Esteghlal Khuzestan. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Market14 Jun 2027
Sardar Noorafkan has left for Naft Tehran in a $130.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Rah Ahan asked and Zob Ahan said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Rah Ahan
Mohammad Noorafkan 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.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ahmad Hosseini, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Jun 2027
“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.
Market7 Jun 2027
The name of Ramin Rezaeian has come up in conversations Rah Ahan were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Zob Ahan keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Rah Ahan
Ramin Rezaeian and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Rah Ahan have made the call to Persepolis. 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 enquiry to Zob Ahan: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad7 Jun 2027
The captaincy has been taken off Ali Hosseini. Rah Ahan will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
Ahmad Hosseini knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ahmad Hosseini trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad7 Jun 2027
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 May 2027
24 days out for Morteza Torabi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Rah Ahan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad24 May 2027
Ramin Rezaeian 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.
The dugout24 May 2027
Saud Haroun 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.
Market24 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Milad Rezaeian’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad24 May 2027
Ali Hosseini has seen what the next man earns
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Rah Ahan that is a harder question to answer.
Loan watch24 May 2027
28 starts and a season average of 6.65. The loan is doing exactly what it was arranged to do.
The dugout24 May 2027
Sajjad Ashouri knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sajjad Ashouri trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad24 May 2027
Questions about Vouria Torabi on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
Loan watch24 May 2027
6 days left on the agreement, 14 appearances behind him, and two clubs who have both been putting off the same conversation.
In brief
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Match
Nothing left to play for but pride at Rah Ahan
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Boardroom
The Rah Ahan board choose calm
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 May 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad10 May 2027
Amir Shojaei damages knee ligaments — 29 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 29 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.
Market10 May 2027
“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.
Squad10 May 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ali Hosseini and Rah Ahan agree another 4 years.
Squad10 May 2027
Ali Hosseini 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.
The dugout10 May 2027
Ramin Noorafkan 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 May 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad3 May 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Amir Shojaei
36 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.
Market3 May 2027
Only the photograph left for Ahmad Hosseini
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ahmad Hosseini will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rah Ahan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad3 May 2027
A falling-out at Rah Ahan
Ali Hosseini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 May 2027
Richard Akonnor 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.
Market3 May 2027
The name of Ramin Rezaeian keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Rah Ahan say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Apr 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 53 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad26 Apr 2027
The knee: Amir Shojaei out for 43 days
43 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rah Ahan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Mohammad Noorafkan 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.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Amir Shojaei
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market26 Apr 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Milad Rezaeian’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Ali Hosseini has seen what the next man earns
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Rah Ahan that is a harder question to answer.
Loan watch26 Apr 2027
28 starts now, an average of 6.65, and the team sheet at Naft Tehran has stopped being a question. Exactly what everybody signed up for.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Mohammad Noorafkan’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
Loan watch26 Apr 2027
34 days of the agreement remain and 14 appearances sit behind him. Somebody has to decide what happens next.
In brief
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Match
Mid-table, and Rah Ahan know it
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Boardroom
The Rah Ahan board put their names to it
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Apr 2027
67 days out for Morteza Torabi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Rah Ahan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market12 Apr 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Rah Ahan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad12 Apr 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 Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Richard Akonnor 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 dugout12 Apr 2027
Ramin Noorafkan 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.
Market12 Apr 2027
The Ali Hosseini story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ali Hosseini signs something — a contract at Rah Ahan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Rah Ahan may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Rah Ahan
Ali Hosseini 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Richard Akonnor 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Rah Ahan are still strangers to each other
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
A promise honoured at Rah Ahan
Something was said to Abolfazl Zadehattar and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Ali Hosseini goes off with his country
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Rah Ahan would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 Mar 2027
“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.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Rah Ahan may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad15 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Rah Ahan
Ali Hosseini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Sardar Noorafkan commits to Rah Ahan for another 3 years.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad15 Mar 2027
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Rah Ahan would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Feb 2027
4 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Match22 Feb 2027
The season ends: position 8 for Rah Ahan
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 45 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Ramin Rezaeian 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.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Ramin Rezaeian 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.
Match20 Feb 2027
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Rah Ahan and Siah Jamegan, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Match20 Feb 2027
It finished 4‑2, and it was Ramin Rezaeian’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Rah Ahan.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Milad Cheshmi, and the manager let it.
Squad22 Feb 2027
21 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Rah Ahan are still strangers to each other
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 Feb 2027
“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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A one-man rearguard from Ali Hosseini
There were 6 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.
Market15 Feb 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rah Ahan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad15 Feb 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 Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Richard Akonnor 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Asan Vaniyev and Rah Ahan agree another 3 years.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Saud Haroun 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.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ehsan Azmoun after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match6 Feb 2027
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Rah Ahan scored in the 93th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Squad8 Feb 2027
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Abolfazl Zadehattar did not need any: 8.32, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market8 Feb 2027
Only the photograph left for Ahmad Hosseini
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ahmad Hosseini will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rah Ahan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match6 Feb 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ramin Rezaeian. 4‑3 against Esteghlal, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
A performance of 9.56 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Rah Ahan ran out of time with Sepahan. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Rah Ahan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Richard Akonnor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces8 Feb 2027
He is 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Sepahan have accepted the money. What Rah Ahan do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Window shuts: 4 in, 2 out at Rah Ahan
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Rah Ahan have done the hard part with Malavan, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Ali 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.
Match30 Jan 2027
1‑3 to Esteghlal Ahvaz, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Saud Haroun and Rah Ahan agree another 3 years.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. Rah Ahan deserved better, and so did he.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market25 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Siah Jamegan waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Rah Ahan is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market25 Jan 2027
Saipa come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Rah Ahan did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market25 Jan 2027
Padideh pay $970.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Rah Ahan
Ali Hosseini 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.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sepahan have kept their man, and Rah Ahan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces25 Jan 2027
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match23 Jan 2027
A 1‑0 win over Tractor, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Richard Akonnor 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 ratings25 Jan 2027
A performance of 8.06 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Hossein Nekounam out for 36 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Ramin Rezaeian 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Rah Ahan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vahid Ghoddos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Dec 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.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 2‑3 defeat, delivered by Ehsan Azmoun to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Morteza Torabi knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Morteza Torabi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Dec 2026
58 days out for Hossein Nekounam after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Rah Ahan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
No sign of nerves from Vahid Khodadad at 21 — 8.04
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Vahid Khodadad did not need any: 8.04, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.12, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Ali 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Rah Ahan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vahid Ghoddos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces7 Dec 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Vahid Khodadad 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Vahid Khodadad. 2‑0 against Malavan, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Amir Shojaei and Rah Ahan agree another 1 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
103 days out for Hossein Nekounam after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Rah Ahan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad26 Oct 2026
8 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Vahid Ghoddos 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Rah Ahan
Richard Akonnor and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match24 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Ehsan Azmoun to a room that had heard them before.
Market26 Oct 2026
The name of Ramin Rezaeian keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Rah Ahan say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Asan Vaniyev, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Hossein Nekounam out for 111 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Ali Hosseini 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Vahid Ghoddos 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Esteghlal Ahvaz made Rah Ahan work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.43, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
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.” Ehsan Azmoun, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Squad19 Oct 2026
No place for Asan Vaniyev in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Rah Ahan are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ramin Noorafkan is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Marked 7.64 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market17 Aug 2026
Alireza Jahanbakhsh has left for Padideh in a $1.7M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Milad Rezaeian 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Gostaresh Foulad have kept their man, and Rah Ahan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Vahid Khodadad 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
A 2‑0 win over Sepahan, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Milad Rezaeian, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match1 Aug 2026
Ramin Rezaeian had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Gostaresh Foulad were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.46, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market3 Aug 2026
Rah Ahan say no — this time
The offer from Esteghlal Ahvaz for Ahmad 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Rah Ahan
Milad Rezaeian 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.
Boardroom3 Aug 2026
Graduation day at Rah Ahan
4 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Market3 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Ashkan Ghoddos again, and this time the name on the line is Naft Tehran. Rah Ahan are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vahid Ghoddos 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 ratings3 Aug 2026
Hossein Nekounam was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.07. 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 terraces3 Aug 2026
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.