Marked for Mohammad Torabi
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 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 Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Kaveh Beiranvand 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 Oct 2026
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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Kaveh Beiranvand asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
The goals keep arriving from Ehsan Azmoun’s exile
4 goals in 4 games at Al Fujairah — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Rah Ahan updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Market12 Oct 2026
The shop window has Karim Karimi in it
Rah Ahan have let the market know Karim Karimi can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Squad12 Oct 2026
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
Market12 Oct 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Mohammad Torabi’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Looking ahead: Saipa at home
A side in position 5 visits next. The result will not make anybody’s season and it could quietly break the shape of one, which is why the manager has been watching the video since Sunday.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Sep 2026
Zob Ahan ended it 1‑0. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Up for the corner, and Reza Pouraliganji delivers — 7.58
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Reza Pouraliganji scored, was marked 7.58, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Market14 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 ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
At last: Rah Ahan win one
6 matches without a win, and then this, against Zob Ahan. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
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 Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces14 Sep 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Kaveh Beiranvand 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
Marked 7.90. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 2026
$760.0K — a new record at Rah Ahan
No footballer has ever cost this club more, and the number will be read out every time he misplaces a pass for the next two years.
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 Rah Ahan can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Rah Ahan close the window on a squad of their own making
8 in and 5 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Market7 Sep 2026
The deal that would have taken Mohammad Torabi to Padideh has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Rah Ahan with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Rah Ahan
Ashkan Khodadad and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Rah Ahan asked and Esteghlal said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
The town asked, and Rah Ahan paid $760.0K
Abolfazl Zoleykhaei was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $760.0K. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Market7 Sep 2026
He signed expecting a bigger stage than the one he found. It has not taken long, and it has not taken the dressing room long to notice either.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Majid Cheshmi has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.