Marked for Masoud Ebrahimi
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout30 Aug 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Ali Kolahkaj, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.70
A mark of 7.70 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.
Match28 Aug 2027
4 matches without a win for Saba
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Saba are no longer polite ones.
Squad30 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Saba
Alireza Haghighi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match28 Aug 2027
Esteghlal Ahvaz left with the points after a 3‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad30 Aug 2027
João Moreira 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.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
Saba asked and Al-Ittihad said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match28 Aug 2027
Saba are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Dec 2026
18 matches without a win for Saba
The run now stands at 18, and the questions being asked around Saba are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Dec 2026
The knee: Hamed Pakdel out for 112 days
112 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Saba lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 86 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match19 Dec 2026
Chastening afternoon for Saba
A 1‑6 beating by Persepolis was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad21 Dec 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Saba and Persepolis, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Saba
Ali Eslami 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
Saba leaking at the back
4 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.
The dugout21 Dec 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
Uneasy
Match21 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Saba's wait for a win
14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Saba has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 43. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Saba
Hamed Pakdel 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Amir Hossein Nikpour, and the manager let it.
Match21 Nov 2026
Saba caught on 93 minutes
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Saipa scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Saba
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ofer Gelbard was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match21 Nov 2026
Saba and Saipa take a point apiece
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Omid Torabi after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
In brief
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Looking ahead
Saba take on the side everybody is chasing
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Squad
A Saba teenager takes the young player award
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The dugout
No place in the plan for Amir Hossein Nikpour
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Sep 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.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Saba offered $3.0M; Siah Jamegan 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Saba leaking at the back
6 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Saba
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Saba are no longer polite ones.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Saba
Masoud Ebrahimi 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 dugout14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Amir Hossein Nikpour, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Ali Eslami 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 dugout14 Sep 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Omid Torabi after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match29 Aug 2026
Saba taken apart
0‑9 to Rah Ahan, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad31 Aug 2026
There were 8 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Saba have gone to Siah Jamegan with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Market31 Aug 2026
Masoud Ebrahimi arrives at Saba in a $530.0K statement of intent
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Saba have paid $530.0K for Masoud Ebrahimi, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Saba have done the hard part with Rah Ahan, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Saba
Hamed Pakdel 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
9 goals as Saba and Rah Ahan go for it
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 9 goals between Saba and Rah Ahan, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Masoud Ebrahimi from Siah Jamegan for $530.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“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.
In brief
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Player ratings
Mehrdad Rezaei was unplayable
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Boardroom
Inquest at Saba
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Masoud Ghoddos
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Siah Jamegan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market31 Aug 2026
The offer from Zob Ahan for Saeid Yazdani 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with PAOK, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
No thanks: Joel Roca rejects the move
Siah Jamegan had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Olympiacos, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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 Siah Jamegan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market31 Aug 2026
Masoud Ebrahimi has left for Saba in a $530.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market31 Aug 2026
The name of Mohammad Gholizadeh has come up in conversations Siah Jamegan were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Siah Jamegan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ahmad Ebrahimi 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 Aug 2026
The match ball belongs to Saeid Vasei, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Ali Kolahkaj at 20 — 8.42
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ali Kolahkaj did not need any: 8.42, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad24 Aug 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The offer went to Siah Jamegan this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Esteghlal Khuzestan wanted more than $370.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Saba
Alireza Haghighi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The offer went to Esteghlal Khuzestan this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Match22 Aug 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Saba and Esteghlal Ahvaz, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Aug 2026
Zob Ahan come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Siah Jamegan did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market24 Aug 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 Siah Jamegan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The deal with Olympiacos 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Siah Jamegan's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Siah Jamegan has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Ahmad Ebrahimi 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Masoud Taremi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Siah Jamegan asked and Shakhtar said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market24 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Masoud Ebrahimi again, and this time the name on the line is Saba. Siah Jamegan are listening politely and promising nothing.