From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad31 Aug 2026
28 days out for Abolfazl Jalali after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Esteghlal will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match29 Aug 2026
4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Market31 Aug 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Esteghlal have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.18, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.55, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market31 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.
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 $1.7M sale of Saleh Hardani
He is going to Persepolis, the club has $1.7M 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
Persepolis pay $1.7M, 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.
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From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad24 Aug 2026
36 days out for Abolfazl Jalali after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Esteghlal will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
Esteghlal say no — this time
The offer from Sepahan for Abolfazl Jalali 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 ratings24 Aug 2026
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.81 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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 name of Amir Mohammad Razzaghinia has come up in conversations Esteghlal were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Match22 Aug 2026
It finished 3‑1, and it was Jasir Asani’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Esteghlal.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Esteghlal asked and Gostaresh Foulad said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad17 Aug 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match15 Aug 2026
Esteghlal Khuzestan will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Esteghlal were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
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.
Market17 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Saleh Hardani again, and this time the name on the line is Persepolis. Esteghlal are listening politely and promising nothing.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Esteghlal had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Tractor, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Duckens Nazon at his very best
Marked 9.57. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Esteghlal.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Duckens Nazon and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.37 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market10 Aug 2026
Esteghlal say no — this time
The offer from Foolad for Saman Fallah 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.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
Supporters turn on the $1.1M sale of Abolfazl Zamani
He is going to Persepolis, the club has $1.1M 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The deal with Tractor 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.
Market10 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.
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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Duckens Nazon 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 targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Siah Jamegan have kept their man, and Esteghlal go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Antonio Adán commits to Esteghlal for another 2 years.
Boardroom3 Aug 2026
1 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.
Squad3 Aug 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Karim Nekounam is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Match1 Aug 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Mohammed Reza Azadi’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Esteghlal.
Market3 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Market3 Aug 2026
36 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
7.67, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Esteghlal had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Milad Vafaei on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.