Marked for Iván Sánchez
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Arash Rezavand out for 56 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sepahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Kaveh Rezaei 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
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.
The dugout16 Nov 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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Mehdi Limouchi 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.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Naft Tehran next, and one man in the Sepahan dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
The goals keep arriving from Ashkan Alijani’s exile
5 goals in 12 games at Esteghlal Khuzestan — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Sepahan updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Market16 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Mohammad Amin Hazbavi’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
65 days out for Arash Rezavand after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sepahan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Iván Sánchez, 34, rolls back the years — 8.03
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.03 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Armin Sohrabian: 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
4 matches without a win for Sepahan
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Sepahan are no longer polite ones.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Sepahan
Iván Sánchez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Vahdat Hanonov and Sepahan agree another 3 years.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vahdat Hanonov, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Reza Karimi chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Arash Rezavand out for 73 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sepahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Sepahan
Kaveh Rezaei and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Iván Sánchez 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 ratings2 Nov 2026
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 11 actions, 6.95, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.76 on the card, and the Sepahan support went home talking about one name.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Sepahan, and 6 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Mohammad Reza Akhbari is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout2 Nov 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Player ratings
Nobody could get near Iván Sánchez
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Player ratings
The one thing Kaveh Rezaei could not do
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 82 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad26 Oct 2026
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.
Match24 Oct 2026
0‑1 to Zob Ahan, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout26 Oct 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Sepahan
Saman Beiranvand 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
7 new faces, and Sepahan are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Market26 Oct 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Hadi Mohammadi has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Sepahan.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Arash Rezavand out for 99 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sepahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Kaveh Rezaei 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 Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Saba in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
When it matters, Ali Karimi plays
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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A wage question at Sepahan
Hossein Hosseini has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
Market12 Oct 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Aria Yousefi’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
In brief
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Loan watch
The goals keep arriving from Ashkan Alijani’s exile
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The dugout
Aref Haji Eydi has been promised minutes
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Looking ahead
Looking ahead: the trip to Saba
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Arash Rezavand out for 107 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sepahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match5 Oct 2026
Sepahan up to position 3
18 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Amir Mohammad Razzaghinia did not need any: 7.62, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Age has not caught Ricardo Alves yet — 8.12
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.12 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.67, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Sepahan
Kaveh Rezaei and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
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.
Match3 Oct 2026
A 3‑1 win over Malavan, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Amir Mohammad Razzaghinia 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.
In brief
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Squad
The month belongs to Majid Aliyari
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Boardroom
Wages eat 91% of everything Sepahan earn
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Sep 2026
Arash Rezavand breaks a bone — 115 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 115 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Sepahan are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Sepahan
Kaveh Rezaei 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Majid Aliyari’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Sepahan.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Nobody on the pitch touched Majid Aliyari
7.85, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Sepahan had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Sepahan
7 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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Reza Karimi: “That is the standard”
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
123 days out for Arash Rezavand after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sepahan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Omid Nourafkan 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Iván Sánchez 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
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 7.67 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Sepahan had the best player on the pitch.
Match19 Sep 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Aria Yousefi
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Reza Karimi was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Sepahan dressing room was either.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Armin Sohrabian
“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
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 Sepahan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Sepahan — 7.78
1 for Ali Karimi, marked 7.78, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Market14 Sep 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Iván Sánchez 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Gostaresh Foulad made Sepahan work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.08, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 7.86 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Sepahan had the best player on the pitch.
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 Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.05, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Iván Sánchez, 33, rolls back the years — 8.10
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.10 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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.
Transfer targets31 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
The fee is $970.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Siah Jamegan drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Saman Beiranvand has just signed for Sepahan, and for once the answer mattered.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Malavan wanted more than $170.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
Sepahan spend $970.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $970.0K for Saman Beiranvand, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Esteghlal, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market17 Aug 2026
The fee is $770.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Esteghlal drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $117.5K — a club that wants Mohammad Reza Khosravi enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Sepahan have gone to Foolad with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Kaveh Rezaei 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 Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
$100.0K on the table at Malavan. 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 terraces17 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: Abolfazl Zamani from Esteghlal for $1.4M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match8 Aug 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Esteghlal Ahvaz, and it could have been more.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Mehdi Sorkhi could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 7.39
Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 7.39, 1 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.
Market10 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Tractor waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Sepahan is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
$1.4M settles it between the clubs for Abolfazl Zamani
Esteghlal have accepted the money. What Sepahan do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.97, and nobody on the pitch better.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The offer went to Esteghlal this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Sepahan have done the hard part with Esteghlal, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Market10 Aug 2026
Sepahan say no — this time
The offer from Padideh for Amirmohammad Salehi 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.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $2.2M — a club that wants Amir Mohammad Razzaghinia enough to be asked twice.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Aug 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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Up for the corner, and Mohammad Karimi delivers — 7.30
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Mohammad Karimi scored, was marked 7.30, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Market3 Aug 2026
Sepahan say no — this time
The offer from Saipa for Mohammad Reza Bordbar 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ricardo Alves and Sepahan agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Sepahan can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“146 caps was 146 more than the boy who started ever expected.” At 36 he has stepped away from the national side and has not stepped away from Sepahan.
Boardroom3 Aug 2026
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Sepahan
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.
Market3 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Majid Taremi 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ramin Karimi 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.