From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.96, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad22 Feb 2027
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.
Match20 Feb 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jaloliddin Masharipov. 3‑1 against Saba, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match20 Feb 2027
Esteghlal make home a hard place to visit
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Ninety minutes of Jasir Asani at his very best
Marked 8.43. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Esteghlal.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Ali Taremi, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Saman Touranian has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Esteghlal 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.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Adib Zarei gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
The division's best last weekend was a Esteghlal man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Jasir Asani was the best thing in any of them.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market15 Feb 2027
Only the photograph left for Saleh Hardani
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Saleh Hardani will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Esteghlal the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Antonio Adán and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tractor have kept their man, and Esteghlal go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match13 Feb 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
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.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom15 Feb 2027
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 dugout15 Feb 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
When it matters, Jasir Asani 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Habib Far Abbasi: 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.” Esteghlal have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Hossein Goudarzi 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.
Match6 Feb 2027
A 1‑0 win over Malavan, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
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. 10 actions, 7.24, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“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.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.96 on the card, and the Esteghlal support went home talking about one name.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Omid Beiranvand and Esteghlal agree another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match30 Jan 2027
Beaten 0‑4 by Tractor, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market1 Feb 2027
“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 Esteghlal, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market1 Feb 2027
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Tractor moved on, Mohammad Hossein Eslami reports back to Esteghlal, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Match30 Jan 2027
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 11 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Market1 Feb 2027
Zob Ahan come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Esteghlal did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Esteghlal close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 1 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 targets1 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tractor have kept their man, and Esteghlal go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Esteghlal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“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.
In brief
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Boardroom
Nobody left the Esteghlal dressing room in a hurry
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
Jaloliddin Masharipov has become a man the manager trusts
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match23 Jan 2027
5‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.29, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market25 Jan 2027
“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.
Match23 Jan 2027
Whatever happens, Esteghlal do not lose
11 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Market25 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.40 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Esteghlal asked and Persepolis said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Mehran Ahmadi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Ninety minutes of Jasir Asani at his very best
Marked 8.35. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Esteghlal.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market18 Jan 2027
Saleh Hardani has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Esteghlal they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match16 Jan 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 10 matches without defeat is a foundation Esteghlal did not have in the autumn.
Boardroom18 Jan 2027
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Saleh Hardani has agreed terms with Sepahan for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Esteghlal
Mehran Ahmadi 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.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“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.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Marked 7.67. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Jasir Asani has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Esteghlal 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.
Match16 Jan 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match9 Jan 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 9 matches without defeat is a foundation Esteghlal did not have in the autumn.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Esteghlal Khuzestan is saying, and nobody at Esteghlal is enjoying the guessing.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alireza Koushki and Esteghlal agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Rouzbeh Cheshmi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
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 dugout11 Jan 2027
“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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 37 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Esteghlal is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Market11 Jan 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Mohammad Hossein Eslami has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Esteghlal.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Al Nasr have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match2 Jan 2027
Naft Tehran will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Esteghlal were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Market4 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Esteghlal can pretend not to have heard.
Market4 Jan 2027
Esteghlal say no — this time
The offer from Sepahan for Saleh Hardani 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.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Abolfazl Jalali pops up at the right end — 7.98
7.98, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Match2 Jan 2027
Whatever happens, Esteghlal do not lose
8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Antonio Adán 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.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
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.
Market4 Jan 2027
The phone has started ringing about Pouria Meshalgerdi again, and this time the name on the line is Malavan. Esteghlal are listening politely and promising nothing.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Mehran Ahmadi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.24. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match26 Dec 2026
Gostaresh Foulad will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Esteghlal were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.45, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.73 for the rest of it.
Match26 Dec 2026
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Esteghlal did not have in the autumn.
Squad28 Dec 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Ali Taremi, on a 4‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Adib Zarei gets it from the manager
“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.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Dec 2026
Aref Aghasi hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Esteghlal can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Antonio Adán and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match19 Dec 2026
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Esteghlal did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings21 Dec 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
The dugout21 Dec 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 dugout21 Dec 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.” Ali Taremi chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Saman Touranian has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Esteghlal 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
Upbeat
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.33, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match12 Dec 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jaloliddin Masharipov. 3‑1 against Siah Jamegan, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Mehran Ahmadi 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.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“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 dugout14 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Ali Taremi, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Abolfazl Jalali has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Esteghlal 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
One booking too many, and Mohammad Hossein Eslami sits out. Esteghlal lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Shots: 7. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Market14 Dec 2026
The name of Abolfazl Jalali keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Esteghlal say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match2 Dec 2026
Esteghlal march on in the cup
Rah Ahan are out and Esteghlal go through, 3‑2 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match2 Dec 2026
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Esteghlal scored in the 112th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Squad7 Dec 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.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.81 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Marked 8.02 at 17, 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 dugout7 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Esteghlal may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad7 Dec 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 Esteghlal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces7 Dec 2026
He is 17 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mohammed Reza Azadi commits to Esteghlal for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Nov 2026
Mehran Ahmadi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match28 Nov 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Mehran Ahmadi’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Esteghlal.
Match30 Nov 2026
The half-term report on Esteghlal
Position 5, 29 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Marked 7.75 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Esteghlal had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Ali Taremi, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout30 Nov 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.
Match30 Nov 2026
Continental football is in reach for Esteghlal
29 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Hossein Goudarzi has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 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.
Squad23 Nov 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 Esteghlal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout23 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
Half-satisfied: Ali Taremi on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Looking ahead23 Nov 2026
A test against the best for Esteghlal
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Persepolis.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Mehrdad Rezaei
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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
One booking too many, and Rustamjon Ashurmatov sits out. Esteghlal lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
Match21 Nov 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Zob Ahan defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
Antonio Adán 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 Esteghlal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
“I watch every Esteghlal game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Saba runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout16 Nov 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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mehrdad Rezaei is on it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Hossein Goudarzi 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.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Mohammad Hossein Eslami’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Esteghlal needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market16 Nov 2026
The name of Abolfazl Jalali keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Esteghlal say nothing, which says plenty.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Looking ahead: the trip to Zob Ahan
Position 6 for the hosts, a long journey for the away end, and a fixture that will look ordinary on paper right up until it is not.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Abolfazl Jalali plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Nov 2026
Antonio Adán 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Rah Ahan left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom9 Nov 2026
Nobody left the Esteghlal dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ali Taremi after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“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 dugout9 Nov 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
Hossein Goudarzi 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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
8 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Shots: 6, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match2 Nov 2026
Esteghlal are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 25 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Abolfazl Jalali pops up at the right end — 7.89
7.89, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Squad2 Nov 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
A 2‑0 win over Saba, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Looking ahead2 Nov 2026
The big one: Rah Ahan come into view
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Esteghlal will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.27, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
$6.9M on the table at Esteghlal
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I watch every Esteghlal game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Naft Tehran runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Esteghlal
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Esteghlal
Hossein Goudarzi 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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Rouzbeh Cheshmi
“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.
Match24 Oct 2026
0‑1 to Esteghlal Ahvaz, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom26 Oct 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Ali Taremi left the room before anybody could ask which.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. 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 dugout26 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.
Looking ahead26 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match17 Oct 2026
2‑3 to Malavan, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Hossein Goudarzi 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 Oct 2026
At 36, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
The dugout19 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.
Boardroom19 Oct 2026
Nobody left the Esteghlal dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Loan watch19 Oct 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 Esteghlal, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The terraces19 Oct 2026
Every touch weighed, every quote parsed, every mistake replayed. Some players grow into that; some are quietly finished by it; nobody knows which until afterwards.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Mehrdad Rezaei has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Esteghlal 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
Upbeat
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 Esteghlal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I did not go to Esteghlal Khuzestan to sit and watch. I want to come back to Esteghlal and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Malavan next, and one man in the Esteghlal dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Omid Beiranvand has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Esteghlal 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
The name of Alireza Koushki keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Esteghlal say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I want to play”: Adib Zarei speaks
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match5 Oct 2026
Esteghlal refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 22 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Match3 Oct 2026
The run is over for Esteghlal
9 matches without defeat, and then Tractor. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Rouzbeh Cheshmi 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.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Ali Taremi left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad5 Oct 2026
International break empties Esteghlal
4 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at Esteghlal
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.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Aref Aghasi
“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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Rouzbeh Cheshmi
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Rouzbeh Cheshmi has come out of that comparison in the side, and Esteghlal have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match26 Sep 2026
Still nobody has beaten Esteghlal
The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Match26 Sep 2026
The run is over for Esteghlal
8 matches without defeat, and then Sepahan. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Antonio Adán and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ali Taremi after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Match26 Sep 2026
Point won or two lost for Esteghlal?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Sepahan? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mohammad Askari is on it.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hossein Goudarzi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Looking ahead28 Sep 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Tractor in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Market28 Sep 2026
Jasir Asani linked with a move away
The name of Jasir Asani keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Esteghlal say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match19 Sep 2026
Esteghlal cannot stop winning
8 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Rouzbeh Cheshmi, 33, rolls back the years — 7.96
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.96 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Antonio Adán 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 Esteghlal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Sep 2026
Three points for Esteghlal, 1‑0 the final word against Saipa in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Loan watch21 Sep 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 Esteghlal, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ali Taremi on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout21 Sep 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 dugout21 Sep 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Esteghlal, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Looking ahead21 Sep 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Hossein Goudarzi’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Esteghlal needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match12 Sep 2026
Esteghlal cannot stop winning
7 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
What a way to start for Omid Beiranvand — 7.22
0 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 7.22 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
Market14 Sep 2026
The Foolad deal is off
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Saleh Hardani reports back to Esteghlal with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Mohammad Askari, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.63
A mark of 7.63 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Age has not caught Mehrdad Rezaei yet — 8.07
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.07 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Antonio Adán 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.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match12 Sep 2026
Esteghlal are at home on the road
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
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 Esteghlal can pretend not to have heard.
Market7 Sep 2026
So close: Jasir Asani’s move dies late
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Tractor moved on, Jasir Asani reports back to Esteghlal, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 16 signed and 8 gone
That is the business done at Esteghlal until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Padideh have kept their man, and Esteghlal go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
The town asked, and Esteghlal paid $1.1M
Mohammad Askari was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $1.1M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Hossein Goudarzi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market7 Sep 2026
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
The Esteghlal board find $6.9M for the manager
Money, not words, and it is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending $6.9M well is entirely his problem now.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Esteghlal
5 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
Triumph
Market31 Aug 2026
$4.1M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
Market31 Aug 2026
Esteghlal say no — this time
The offer from Tractor for Hossein Goudarzi 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Nobody wants to play Esteghlal right now
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
Supporters turn on the $4.1M sale of Saeid Saharkhizan
He is going to Tractor, the club has $4.1M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
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
Everything agreed with Tractor, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Market31 Aug 2026
Persepolis pay $1.1M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Shabab have kept their man, and Esteghlal go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Esteghlal
Hossein Goudarzi 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match22 Aug 2026
Gostaresh Foulad will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Esteghlal were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Market24 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A brace, and Saeid Saharkhizan takes the afternoon — 8.71
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Saeid Saharkhizan provided it, and the 8.71 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match22 Aug 2026
Esteghlal cannot stop winning
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Market24 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Esteghlal have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Transfer targets24 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Hossein Goudarzi 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
Everyone has stopped pretending: Tractor will make the call about Saeid Saharkhizan this week. Esteghlal have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market17 Aug 2026
The unthinkable, invoiced: Saman Fallah sold
Persepolis arrived with $1.7M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
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.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Saman Fallah has gone, the accounts have $1.7M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Match15 Aug 2026
Esteghlal cannot stop winning
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Esteghlal
Rouzbeh Cheshmi 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.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Saeid Saharkhizan 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Saipa have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Abolfazl Zoleykhaei. The answer from Esteghlal has not changed — yet.
Match15 Aug 2026
A 1‑0 win over Esteghlal Khuzestan, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match8 Aug 2026
3‑0, and Jasir Asani took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Esteghlal tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Jasir Asani takes the match ball home
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Market10 Aug 2026
Tractor come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Esteghlal did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market10 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Tractor have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Saleh Hardani. The answer from Esteghlal has not changed — yet.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Malavan is saying, and nobody at Esteghlal is enjoying the guessing.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Antonio Adán and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Duckens Nazon and Esteghlal agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ahmad Dejagah 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Kaveh Cheshmi 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad3 Aug 2026
9 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match1 Aug 2026
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Jasir Asani scored in the 89th minute, Padideh had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Esteghlal took the lot.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“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.
Market3 Aug 2026
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
5 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 2‑1 win over Padideh, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces3 Aug 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Sardar Nekounam 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.