Marked for Ehsan Shojaei
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 May 2027
Vouria Shojaei damages knee ligaments — 152 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 152 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.
Squad17 May 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 Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Padideh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hugo Flores 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match10 May 2027
Padideh are in among the leaders
Position 1 and 62 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad10 May 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 Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 May 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.
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. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad3 May 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 Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Reza 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.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Padideh training over how hard people work
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Boardroom
$101.6K on the table at Padideh
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Apr 2027
A fracture rules Hossein Shojaei out for 28 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Padideh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad26 Apr 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Padideh may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Ehsan Shojaei 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.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Padideh training over how hard people work
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Boardroom
The Padideh board choose calm
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Apr 2027
A fracture rules Hossein Shojaei out for 36 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Padideh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Ehsan Shojaei was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Hugo Flores 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
Steady
Match12 Apr 2027
Padideh are in among the leaders
Position 1 and 62 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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 Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Apr 2027
A fracture rules Hossein Shojaei out for 52 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Padideh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad5 Apr 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Ehsan Shojaei 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Mar 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 60 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad29 Mar 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 Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Mar 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.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Padideh training over how hard people work
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Boardroom
Padideh board back the manager
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match15 Mar 2027
Padideh up to position 1
62 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad15 Mar 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 Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom15 Mar 2027
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Erfan Darvishaali has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Padideh have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Mar 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 15 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market8 Mar 2027
Padideh say no — this time
The offer from New York City for Ehsan Shojaei 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Ehsan Hosseini: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Padideh have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
In brief
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Squad
Tempers go at Padideh
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Squad
Hugo Flores falls out with a teammate over standards
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Boardroom
Padideh release $101.6K for the manager
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Feb 2027
The small margins put Padideh out
Out, 0‑1 to Esteghlal, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A fracture rules Vouria Shojaei out for 23 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Padideh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market1 Mar 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 Padideh, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market1 Mar 2027
Add another name to the list: New York City have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ehsan Shojaei. The answer from Padideh has not changed — yet.
Squad1 Mar 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 59. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Amir Taremi
19 goals and a season average of 7.20 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Ehsan Shojaei 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.
Match20 Feb 2027
Padideh make home a hard place to visit
10 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sardar Cheshmi, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match15 Feb 2027
Padideh refuse to drop out of the race
Position 1, 61 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A fracture rules Vouria Shojaei out for 39 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Padideh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
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 Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match13 Feb 2027
Iliya Imani scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Saba, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad15 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Ahmad Mohammadi
“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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A fracture rules Vouria Shojaei out for 48 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Padideh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Ehsan Shojaei 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.
Match6 Feb 2027
Nobody wins at Padideh
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Ehsan Shojaei is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.34 with 10 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
The terraces8 Feb 2027
The crowd has taken to Iliya Imani
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match6 Feb 2027
It finished 2‑0, and it was Ehsan Shojaei’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Padideh.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Padideh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alejandro Contreras 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 ratings8 Feb 2027
Reza Shojaei was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.13. 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.
In brief
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Player ratings
Ehsan Shojaei was on a different afternoon to everybody else
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Player ratings
Amir Taremi did the work nobody counts — 6.74
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Boardroom
Padideh release $101.6K for the manager
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market1 Feb 2027
$8.6M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A fracture rules Vouria Shojaei out for 55 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Padideh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad1 Feb 2027
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.
The terraces1 Feb 2027
Supporters turn on the $8.6M sale of Vahid Torabi
He is going to Partizan, the club has $8.6M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Squad1 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 Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match30 Jan 2027
Sepahan left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Alejandro Contreras 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
Everyone has stopped pretending: Saipa will make the call about Shahriar Karimi this week. Padideh have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 38. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match23 Jan 2027
Foolad will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Padideh were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Vouria Shojaei out for 62 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Padideh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.70, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market25 Jan 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.
Match23 Jan 2027
Padideh make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Padideh have 4 straight wins of it.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Amir Taremi
19 goals and a season average of 7.23 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Market25 Jan 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Padideh have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Ehsan Shojaei 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 70. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match18 Jan 2027
Padideh up to position 1
55 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 70 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match16 Jan 2027
Padideh make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Padideh have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad18 Jan 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 Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces18 Jan 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Vahid 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
9 goals and a season average of 7.33. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match16 Jan 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ehsan Shojaei. 1‑0 against Gostaresh Foulad, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Alejandro Contreras 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
Upbeat
Squad11 Jan 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 77 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.68, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ahmad Mohammadi is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Market11 Jan 2027
Padideh say no — this time
The offer from Gostaresh Foulad for Majid Ebrahimi 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.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Ehsan Shojaei 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Amir Taremi is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.20 with 17 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match9 Jan 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Amir Taremi. 4‑3 against Siah Jamegan, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match9 Jan 2027
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Padideh and Siah Jamegan, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Shahriar Taremi
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Padideh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Vouria Shojaei out for 92 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Padideh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.71 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Ehsan Shojaei 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 ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Padideh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alejandro Contreras 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The terraces28 Dec 2026
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Chances created: 7. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Vouria Shojaei out for 101 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Padideh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match21 Dec 2026
Padideh up to position 2
45 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Dec 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 Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces21 Dec 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match19 Dec 2026
Esteghlal Ahvaz made Padideh work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match12 Dec 2026
Nowhere to hide for Padideh
1‑4 against Tractor, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Ehsan Hosseini: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Padideh have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 69. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Ahmad Mohammadi: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match2 Dec 2026
Cup progress for Padideh
A 2‑2 win over Persepolis, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Match2 Dec 2026
A 2-goal lead gone for Padideh
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Persepolis kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Padideh will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Market7 Dec 2026
Only the photograph left for Majid Ebrahimi
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Majid Ebrahimi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Padideh the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Ahmad 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
Three points for Padideh, 1‑0 the final word against Saipa in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Vahid Torabi 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 ratings7 Dec 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.11, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 50. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match28 Nov 2026
3‑0, and Amir Taremi took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Padideh tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Ehsan Shojaei 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Padideh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vahid Torabi 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 ratings30 Nov 2026
Reza Shojaei was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.18. 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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Ehsan Shojaei at his very best
Marked 8.00. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Padideh.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 70. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match23 Nov 2026
Padideh are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 36 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.16, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Reza 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
It finished 3‑1, and it was Masoud Khodadad’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Padideh.
The terraces23 Nov 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 52. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad16 Nov 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 Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Padideh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vahid Torabi 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
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 39. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match26 Oct 2026
Padideh are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 29 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Ahmad 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.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match24 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Reza Shojaei. 2‑0 against Malavan, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match24 Oct 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Padideh. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.20, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match10 Oct 2026
Still nobody has beaten Padideh
The unbeaten run reaches 11. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Ahmad Mohammadi is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Market12 Oct 2026
Majid Ebrahimi has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Padideh they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom12 Oct 2026
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Majid Ebrahimi has agreed terms with Saipa for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Reza 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
Foolad made Padideh work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.45 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Padideh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hugo Flores 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
Match3 Oct 2026
10 unbeaten for Padideh
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 10 matches without defeat is a foundation Padideh did not have in the autumn.
Squad5 Oct 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 Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Reza Rezaeian, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Padideh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vahid Torabi 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 ratings5 Oct 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Padideh have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match28 Sep 2026
Padideh refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 22 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.23 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match26 Sep 2026
Still nobody has beaten Padideh
The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Reza 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 Sep 2026
Three points for Padideh, 5‑3 the final word against Siah Jamegan in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Match26 Sep 2026
Ehsan Shojaei among the goals in a wild afternoon
8 goals in one match, Ehsan Shojaei on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Padideh and Siah Jamegan.
The terraces28 Sep 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad28 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.50, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 40. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match19 Sep 2026
Still nobody has beaten Padideh
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad21 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Hugo Flores 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Mateo Anaya 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 ratings21 Sep 2026
7.46, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Padideh had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match12 Sep 2026
Rah Ahan will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Padideh were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Match12 Sep 2026
Padideh cannot stop winning
7 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.83 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad14 Sep 2026
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.
Squad14 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 Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ahmad Mohammadi 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Vahid Torabi 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 ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 8.16 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
In brief
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Player ratings
Omid Karimi was immovable
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Squad
5 new faces, and Padideh are still learning each other
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Market
Experience through the door at Padideh
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match2 Sep 2026
Padideh through in the cup
A 5‑0 win over Naft Tehran, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match5 Sep 2026
Padideh make it 6 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Padideh have 6 straight wins of it.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 7.94 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
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Padideh can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 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 Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Padideh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amir Taremi 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
Padideh keep winning on the road
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
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.
Match5 Sep 2026
Esteghlal Ahvaz made Padideh work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market31 Aug 2026
$21.8M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
Padideh sell a favourite for $21.8M
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Reza Azmoun was one of the reasons people came, and $21.8M does not replace that by itself.
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
Padideh make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Padideh have 4 straight wins of it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Ahmad 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.
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: Mehdi Khoshbakht from Esteghlal Khuzestan for $320.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Match29 Aug 2026
A 2‑0 win over Tractor, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match22 Aug 2026
5‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Reza Azmoun, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 9.81
A mark of 9.81 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Padideh did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Reza Azmoun takes the match ball home
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Market24 Aug 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 Padideh can pretend not to have heard.
Match22 Aug 2026
Padideh make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Padideh have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Ehsan Shojaei 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 ratings24 Aug 2026
Marked 8.51 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Vahid Torabi at his very best
Marked 8.45. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Padideh.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Padideh training over how hard people work
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Player ratings
Ninety minutes of Ehsan Shojaei at his very best
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Squad
No hiding place for Amir Taremi
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 64. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Reza Azmoun, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.60
A mark of 8.60 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Reza Azmoun 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 Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Amir Taremi has a hand in both — 7.95
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.95, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
Padideh supporters have found a favourite in Reza Azmoun
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Reza 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.
Match8 Aug 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Reza Azmoun’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Padideh.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Sardar 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Amir Taremi 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Morteza Rezaeian has his answer from Padideh; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market3 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Padideh have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Reza Azmoun 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.
Boardroom3 Aug 2026
Graduation day at Padideh
5 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Sardar Ebrahimi has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market3 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ali Hosseini is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market3 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Omid Noorafkan has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Match1 Aug 2026
0‑1 to Esteghlal, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Padideh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vahid Torabi 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.