Marked for Ehsan Rezaeian
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match9 Oct 2032
5‑2, and Mohammad Omri took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Sepahan tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings11 Oct 2032
A brace, and Mohammad Omri takes the afternoon — 8.24
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mohammad Omri provided it, and the 8.24 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market11 Oct 2032
Ehsan Rezaeian has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sepahan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad11 Oct 2032
Words exchanged at Sepahan
Mohammad Khodadad 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.
Match9 Oct 2032
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Sepahan and Saba in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad11 Oct 2032
Words at Sepahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Sánchez 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.
The terraces11 Oct 2032
He is 23 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.
Player ratings11 Oct 2032
Marked 8.78 — 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.
The dugout11 Oct 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Amir Reza Rafiei, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match11 Sep 2032
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑0 against Gostaresh Foulad, and it could have been more.
Player ratings13 Sep 2032
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.63, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
The dugout13 Sep 2032
Mohammad Omri: 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.” Sepahan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings13 Sep 2032
Two goals and a mark of 8.25 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market13 Sep 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sepahan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad13 Sep 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Sep 2032
A row about effort at Sepahan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mahan Beheshti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces13 Sep 2032
He is 23 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.
Squad13 Sep 2032
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings6 Sep 2032
Marked 8.51 at 19, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
The dugout6 Sep 2032
Arash Hashemi: 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.” Sepahan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings6 Sep 2032
Nima Entezari, 36, rolls back the years — 7.87
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.87 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Boardroom6 Sep 2032
Sepahan close the window on a squad of their own making
17 in and 13 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.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2032
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Olympiacos is saying, and nobody at Sepahan is enjoying the guessing.
Squad6 Sep 2032
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mohammad Omri commits to Sepahan for another 3 years.
Squad6 Sep 2032
A falling-out at Sepahan
Mohammad Khodadad and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Sep 2032
A row about effort at Sepahan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iván Sánchez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Aug 2032
A move Mohammad Omri would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Mohammad Omri is living that version at Sepahan, and it tends to show in the first month.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2032
Sepahan asked and Esteghlal Khuzestan 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 dugout30 Aug 2032
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sepahan may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2032
The deal with Rah Ahan 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.
Market30 Aug 2032
Sepahan say no — this time
The offer from Siah Jamegan for Ehsan Rezaeian 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.
Squad30 Aug 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Aug 2032
“The easiest signature of my career.” Hossein Dejagah and Sepahan agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2032
Sepahan offered $32.0K; Padideh 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.
Squad30 Aug 2032
A row about effort at Sepahan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iván Sánchez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match14 Aug 2032
6‑0, and Hadi Baghban took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Sepahan tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad16 Aug 2032
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings16 Aug 2032
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.27, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings16 Aug 2032
Age has not caught Iván Sánchez yet — 8.25
At 39 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.25 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market16 Aug 2032
The bid was some way short and Sepahan did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market16 Aug 2032
The name of Hossein Dejagah has come up in conversations Sepahan were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market16 Aug 2032
Only the photograph left for Ehsan Rezaeian
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ehsan Rezaeian will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sepahan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2032
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Sepahan have done the hard part with Manchester United, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Match14 Aug 2032
Sepahan make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Sepahan have 3 straight wins of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Jul 2032
The name of Hadi Baghban has come up in conversations Sepahan were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market19 Jul 2032
Ehsan Rezaeian has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sepahan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad19 Jul 2032
Mahan Beheshti 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 Jul 2032
Alireza Rezaeian is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Squad19 Jul 2032
Words at Sepahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Sánchez 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.
Squad19 Jul 2032
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2032
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.
The dugout19 Jul 2032
The manager makes an example of Amir Ebrahimi
“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.
The dugout19 Jul 2032
Aria Shafiedoost has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sepahan will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Jul 2032
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market5 Jul 2032
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Sepahan people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market5 Jul 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sepahan can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2032
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Chelsea keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad5 Jul 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jul 2032
Amir Ebrahimi is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Squad5 Jul 2032
A row about effort at Sepahan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iván Sánchez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2032
Sepahan asked and Manchester United 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 dugout5 Jul 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mahan Beheshti, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets28 Jun 2032
$2.2M on the table at Esteghlal. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The dugout28 Jun 2032
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sepahan may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market28 Jun 2032
Ashkan Dejagah has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sepahan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad28 Jun 2032
Words exchanged at Sepahan
Mahan Beheshti 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.
Squad28 Jun 2032
Words at Sepahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Sánchez 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 targets28 Jun 2032
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Feyenoord have kept their man, and Sepahan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market28 Jun 2032
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Sepahan have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad28 Jun 2032
28 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad28 Jun 2032
Too much change too quickly at Sepahan
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Sep 2031
98 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sepahan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match3 Sep 2031
Sepahan march on in the cup
Esteghlal Ahvaz are out and Sepahan go through, 3‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings8 Sep 2031
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.01, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad8 Sep 2031
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings8 Sep 2031
Successful dribbles: 29. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings8 Sep 2031
Marked 7.66 at 18, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad8 Sep 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Amir Reza Rafiei and Sepahan agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Sep 2031
A falling-out at Sepahan
Ricardo Alves and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces8 Sep 2031
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Ehsan Rezaeian 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.