Marked for Vouria Dejagah
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match5 Sep 2026
Zob Ahan ended it 2‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.82 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market7 Sep 2026
“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 The request is on a desk at Rah Ahan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market7 Sep 2026
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Saipa moved on, Vouria Dejagah reports back to Rah Ahan, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad7 Sep 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Varela 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Ahmad Hosseini named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Ahmad Hosseini is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
When it matters, Ali Torabi plays
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Three points for Rah Ahan, 2‑1 the final word against Saba in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Saman Azmoun 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Ahmad Rezaeian
“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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vahid Hajsafi 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Mehdi Mohammadi had Rah Ahan level again within 4 minutes, and Saba never got to play with a lead at all.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 7.87. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Market31 Aug 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Rah Ahan will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad31 Aug 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Rah Ahan have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 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 Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sardar Ebrahimi, and the manager let it.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vahid Hajsafi 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.
Match8 Aug 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Foolad leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Ali 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 Ali Torabi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.