The Esteghlal Herald
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Abolfazl Zamani, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.69
A mark of 7.69 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Antonio Adán signs a new deal
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Antonio Adán commits to Esteghlal for another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Esteghlal
Antonio Adán 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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Jasir Asani was unplayable
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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Zob Ahan watching Aref Gholami
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Esteghlal have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Boardroom3 Aug 2026
2 academy players handed senior numbers at Esteghlal
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.
Match1 Aug 2026
A bad afternoon for Esteghlal against Padideh
1‑2 to Padideh, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Antonio Adán
“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.
Market3 Aug 2026
One of our own: Alireza Rezaeian joins the Esteghlal first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Alireza Rezaeian is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
In brief
- Market One of our own: Ahmad Rezaeian joins the Esteghlal first team
- Boardroom Nobody left the Esteghlal dressing room in a hurry
- Market Nobody at Esteghlal has picked up the phone to Jasir Asani