From our football correspondent
Steady
Match22 Feb 2027
66 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Squad22 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 Persepolis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“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.
Match20 Feb 2027
0‑1 to Tractor, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Dániel Gera
8 goals and a season average of 7.34 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Dániel Gera 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.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Omid Taremi to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. 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 dugout22 Feb 2027
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.05, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match13 Feb 2027
15 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Age has not caught Marko Bakić yet — 8.35
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.35 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Igor Sergeev is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.22 with 17 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Hossein Kanaani 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.
Match13 Feb 2027
Three points for Persepolis, 3‑1 the final word against Saipa in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces15 Feb 2027
At 21 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.
Match13 Feb 2027
Persepolis settle it inside twenty minutes
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Saipa spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Looking ahead15 Feb 2027
Top-of-the-table clash for Persepolis
Tractor next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Xande Silva
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The dugout
Payam Niazmand dropped after a run of poor form
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.00, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market8 Feb 2027
So close: Omid Alishah’s move dies late
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Sepahan moved on, Omid Alishah reports back to Persepolis, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Persepolis had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Al Ain, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Shabab have kept their man, and Persepolis go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Xande Silva 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.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
The clock did what Zob Ahan would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Dániel Gera 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.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Ali Alipour 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad1 Feb 2027
Soroush Rafiei damages knee ligaments — 14 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 14 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mohammad Mehdi Mohebi provided it, and the 8.38 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Match30 Jan 2027
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
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 Persepolis, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Persepolis close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 7 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persepolis is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Hossein Kanaani and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Persepolis have gone to Zob Ahan 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad25 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Soroush Rafiei
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persepolis lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Match25 Jan 2027
59 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Market25 Jan 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Persepolis have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.96, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market25 Jan 2027
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Alireza Beiranvand is a Persepolis player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Market25 Jan 2027
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Alireza Enayatzadeh reports back to Persepolis with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad25 Jan 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 Persepolis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Esteghlal wanted more than $210.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad18 Jan 2027
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Persepolis lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market18 Jan 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Persepolis people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market18 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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
$500.0K on the table at Tractor. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Hossein Kanaani 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 targets18 Jan 2027
The offer went to Zob Ahan 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
Amir Reza Rafiei has left for Zob Ahan in a $510.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Match16 Jan 2027
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 7 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Market18 Jan 2027
Thievy Bifouma has left for Naft Tehran in a $200.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad11 Jan 2027
Soroush Rafiei damages knee ligaments — 39 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 39 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market11 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Naft Tehran waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Persepolis is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Match9 Jan 2027
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Persepolis have 7 straight wins of it.
Market11 Jan 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 Persepolis, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match9 Jan 2027
13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The terraces11 Jan 2027
Oston O'runov has gone, the accounts have $3.4M 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
Saipa come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Persepolis did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market11 Jan 2027
The name of Hossein Kanaani has come up in conversations Persepolis were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Rah Ahan is saying, and nobody at Persepolis is enjoying the guessing.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad4 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Soroush Rafiei
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persepolis lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market4 Jan 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 Persepolis, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.31, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match2 Jan 2027
6 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
Tractor come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Persepolis did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad4 Jan 2027
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Persepolis had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Hossein Kanaani and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market4 Jan 2027
Add another name to the list: Saipa have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mohammad Amin Kazemian. The answer from Persepolis has not changed — yet.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Persepolis asked and Tractor 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
Squad28 Dec 2026
56 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Persepolis lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match28 Dec 2026
50 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Match26 Dec 2026
5 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
Persepolis make home a hard place to visit
12 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.
Squad28 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 Persepolis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Dec 2026
It finished 2‑1, and it was Oston O'runov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Persepolis.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Ninety minutes of Dániel Gera at his very best
Marked 8.56. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Persepolis.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Dániel Gera is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.34 with 8 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Persepolis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dániel Gera 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad21 Dec 2026
65 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Persepolis lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A mark of 7.94 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
Nobody wants to play Persepolis right now
4 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 terraces21 Dec 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
Foolad made Persepolis work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.41, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Persepolis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dániel Gera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Ninety minutes of Oston O'runov at his very best
Marked 8.01. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Persepolis.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad14 Dec 2026
72 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Persepolis lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match12 Dec 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑0 against Gostaresh Foulad, and it could have been more.
Squad14 Dec 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.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Age has not caught Igor Sergeev yet — 9.65
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.65 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
A mark of 7.96 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Match12 Dec 2026
The run at home goes on for Persepolis
11 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Match12 Dec 2026
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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Hossein Kanaani and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Oston O'runov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.39. 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
Triumph
Squad7 Dec 2026
Soroush Rafiei damages knee ligaments — 81 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 81 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match2 Dec 2026
Malavan are out and Persepolis go through, 2‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match5 Dec 2026
3‑0, and Igor Sergeev took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Persepolis tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
A brace, and Sajjad Shahbazzadeh takes the afternoon — 8.91
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sajjad Shahbazzadeh provided it, and the 8.91 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Hossein Kanaani and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match5 Dec 2026
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The terraces7 Dec 2026
At 21 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Persepolis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dániel Gera 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Nov 2026
89 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Persepolis lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match30 Nov 2026
38 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Squad30 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 Persepolis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match28 Nov 2026
After 6 games, Persepolis finally taste it again
The first defeat in 6 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Esteghlal; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Match28 Nov 2026
Esteghlal left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Dániel Gera 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.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Danial Eiri, and the manager let it.
Match30 Nov 2026
Halfway: Persepolis sit in position 1
38 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad23 Nov 2026
98 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Persepolis lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A brace, and Igor Sergeev takes the afternoon — 8.79
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Igor Sergeev provided it, and the 8.79 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match21 Nov 2026
Nobody wants to play Persepolis right now
6 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Hossein Kanaani 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Match21 Nov 2026
Rah Ahan made Persepolis work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Marked 8.33 — 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Omid Alishah
“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 ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Nov 2026
Soroush Rafiei damages knee ligaments — 107 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 107 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Hossein Kanaani 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.
Looking ahead16 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. Persepolis will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Persepolis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dániel Gera 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
Oston O'runov gets picked when it counts
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 Oston O'runov is on it.
The dugout16 Nov 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 Persepolis, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Rah Ahan next, and one man in the Persepolis dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Market16 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Mohammad Mohebi’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Omid Alishah has been promised minutes
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 Omid Alishah has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad9 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Soroush Rafiei
114 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persepolis lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match7 Nov 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Esteghlal Ahvaz, and it could have been more.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.45 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match7 Nov 2026
5 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Hossein Kanaani and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match7 Nov 2026
Persepolis keep winning on the road
4 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.39, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.33 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Persepolis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dániel Gera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad2 Nov 2026
121 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Persepolis lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match2 Nov 2026
The view from the top for Persepolis
32 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.43, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Persepolis have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match31 Oct 2026
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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match31 Oct 2026
It finished 3‑1, and it was Marko Bakić’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Persepolis.
Match31 Oct 2026
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.12, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad26 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Soroush Rafiei
129 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persepolis lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Marko Bakić, 33, rolls back the years — 8.20
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.20 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Persepolis — 7.91
1 for Saman Fallah, marked 7.91, 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Nobody wants to play Persepolis right now
3 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Amir Mohammad Razzaghinia 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Saman Fallah. 2‑1 against Saipa, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match24 Oct 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Persepolis. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Match24 Oct 2026
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Saman Fallah in the middle of it, and Saipa unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad19 Oct 2026
138 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Persepolis lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A brace, and Igor Sergeev takes the afternoon — 8.96
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Igor Sergeev provided it, and the 8.96 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match17 Oct 2026
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 11 matches without defeat is a foundation Persepolis did not have in the autumn.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Hossein Kanaani 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
The medical room confirms 33 days on the sidelines for Danial Eiri, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Match17 Oct 2026
Three points for Persepolis, 2‑0 the final word against Naft Tehran in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad19 Oct 2026
200 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
Omid Taremi: “That is the standard”
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Soroush Rafiei
147 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persepolis lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Soroush Rafiei: 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.” Persepolis have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Hossein Kanaani and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Danial Eiri 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Igor Sergeev named player of the week
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Igor Sergeev has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Nobody at Persepolis 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 ahead12 Oct 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Mohammad Mehdi Mohebi’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Persepolis needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market12 Oct 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mohammad Mohebi signs something — a contract at Persepolis or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Ali Alipour has been promised minutes
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 Ali Alipour has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad5 Oct 2026
Soroush Rafiei damages knee ligaments — 154 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 154 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.81, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match5 Oct 2026
The view from the top for Persepolis
23 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Match3 Oct 2026
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 10 matches without defeat is a foundation Persepolis did not have in the autumn.
Squad5 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 Persepolis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Appearance number 200 for Dániel Gera
200 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Persepolis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dániel Gera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 8.00 — 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.
In brief
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Market
Ali Alipour told to find a new club
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Boardroom
Wages swallow 86% of the Persepolis income
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Sep 2026
Soroush Rafiei damages knee ligaments — 162 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 162 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match26 Sep 2026
Still nobody has beaten Persepolis
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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Hossein Kanaani 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
4 matches without defeat, and then Padideh. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Oston O'runov 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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Omid Taremi: “We have to be better”
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
14 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match19 Sep 2026
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Persepolis have 4 straight wins of it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Hossein Kanaani 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 terraces21 Sep 2026
The crowd has taken to Mehdi Zare
At 23 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Mehdi Zare’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Persepolis.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 8.21 — 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 dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Saman Fallah, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
7 new faces, and Persepolis 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 dugout21 Sep 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.” Omid Taremi, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match9 Sep 2026
A 2‑1 win over Gostaresh Foulad, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match12 Sep 2026
Saba will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Persepolis were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
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 Persepolis, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match9 Sep 2026
There were 86 minutes on the clock and Gostaresh Foulad had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Persepolis did not stop to explain themselves.
Squad14 Sep 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match12 Sep 2026
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.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Persepolis will try again when the window opens; Tractor may not be selling by then.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
He is 22 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
$2.7M settles it between the clubs for Mohammad Naderi
Tractor have accepted the money. What Persepolis do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Market7 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 Persepolis, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market7 Sep 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Persepolis have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 15 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Persepolis 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
$1.9M was the most the club would pay and Esteghlal were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Saman Fallah 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 Persepolis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The clock did what Malavan would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Dániel Gera 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Mohammad Mehdi Mohebi is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match29 Aug 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Malavan, and it could have been more.
Market31 Aug 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 Persepolis can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.36, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Persepolis offered $2.0M; Esteghlal 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
Tractor come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Persepolis did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The offer went to Malavan 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Hossein Kanaani 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Oston O'runov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.05. 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.
Market31 Aug 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market24 Aug 2026
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Naft Tehran had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Persepolis asked and Padideh said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market24 Aug 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 Persepolis can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
$2.0M 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Persepolis have gone to Esteghlal 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer from Zob Ahan for Soheil Sahraei 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.
Boardroom24 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 Saleh Hardani enough to be asked twice.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Hossein Kanaani 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Persepolis offered $190.0K; Malavan 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Persepolis asked and Tractor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market17 Aug 2026
The paperwork is done: Saman Fallah joins from Esteghlal in a deal worth $1.7M. Now comes the harder part.
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.
Match15 Aug 2026
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
Hossein Kanaani and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Persepolis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dániel Gera 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
It finished 2‑1, and it was Mohammad Mohebi’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Persepolis.
Market17 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Persepolis have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Mohammad Mohebi at his very best
Marked 8.21. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Persepolis.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market10 Aug 2026
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Squad10 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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A brace, and Dániel Gera takes the afternoon — 8.42
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dániel Gera provided it, and the 8.42 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The clubs have shaken hands with Esteghlal; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Mohammad Mohebi gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Mohammad Mohebi has just signed for Persepolis, and for once the answer mattered.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Persepolis offered $7.8M; 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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Persepolis — 7.96
1 for Marko Bakić, marked 7.96, 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.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.9M — a club that wants Saman Fallah enough to be asked twice.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Hossein Kanaani 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings3 Aug 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 7.59 for the rest of it.
Market3 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Danial Eiri again, and this time the name on the line is Al Shaab. Persepolis are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Hossein Kanaani commits to Persepolis for another 2 years.
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 Persepolis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom3 Aug 2026
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Persepolis
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
A row about effort at Persepolis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dániel Gera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
At 22 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
A 2‑0 win over Siah Jamegan, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Market3 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Masoud Dejagah is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.