Marked for Ehsan Nekounam
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Sep 2026
There were 10 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.
Match2 Sep 2026
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Ehsan Yazdani obliged against Naft Tehran. 3‑2 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Padideh.
Match2 Sep 2026
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Padideh scored in the 103th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
A brace, and Ehsan Yazdani takes the afternoon — 8.12
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ehsan Yazdani provided it, and the 8.12 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Ashkan Cheshmi at 21 — 8.00
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ashkan Cheshmi did not need any: 8.00, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 8 in, 1 out at Padideh
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 8 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
No thanks: Joe Whitworth rejects the move
Padideh had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Wigan Athletic, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Market7 Sep 2026
The deal that would have taken Omid Jahanbakhsh to Naft Tehran has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Padideh with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match29 Aug 2026
Nowhere to hide for Padideh
0‑3 against Tractor, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market31 Aug 2026
Padideh say no — this time
The offer from Persepolis for Ehsan Nekounam 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.
Market31 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 Padideh, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Padideh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vahid Vafaei is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Diriyah have kept their man, and Padideh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Ehsan Nekounam
“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.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
A loan move for Joe Whitworth is in the works
Padideh have made the call to Wigan Athletic. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match1 Aug 2026
Padideh win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 93th minute. Esteghlal will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Market3 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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Marked 7.96 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.
Squad3 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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Al-Taawoun have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Sardar Noorafkan. The answer from Padideh has not changed — yet.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Padideh
Vahid Vafaei and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom3 Aug 2026
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Padideh
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Ashkan Cheshmi 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.