From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Aug 2026
114 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rah Ahan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market31 Aug 2026
$800.0K. Fees like that buy a footballer and rent a debate: every touch will be measured against the number for a season at least.
Match29 Aug 2026
Saba will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Rah Ahan were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
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 Rah Ahan can pretend not to have heard.
Market31 Aug 2026
Rah Ahan say no — this time
The offer from Hajduk Split for Majid Ebrahimi 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Majid Torabi takes the match ball home
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Foolad, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Rah Ahan
Sardar Hosseini 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 terraces31 Aug 2026
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Abolfazl Zoleykhaei from Esteghlal for $800.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Majid Ebrahimi
121 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rah Ahan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market24 Aug 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 The request is on a desk at Rah Ahan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market24 Aug 2026
The name of Majid Ebrahimi has come up in conversations Rah Ahan were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Sardar Hosseini 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 terraces24 Aug 2026
The town asked, and Rah Ahan paid $300.0K
Alireza Homaeifard was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $300.0K. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Masoud Ebrahimi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Rah Ahan asked and Esteghlal Khuzestan said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ashkan Ghoddos, and the manager let it.
Market24 Aug 2026
Alireza Homaeifard is 20, and Rah Ahan have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
Majid Ebrahimi damages knee ligaments — 128 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 128 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.86 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The clubs have shaken hands with Persepolis; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Squad17 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 Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Malavan wanted more than $340.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Rah Ahan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Masoud Ebrahimi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets17 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.
The terraces17 Aug 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
Uneasy
Market10 Aug 2026
Rah Ahan say no — this time
The offer from Gostaresh Foulad for Masoud Yazdani was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $368.0K — a club that wants Hamid Reza Shamsipour enough to be asked twice.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sardar Hosseini and Rah Ahan agree another 4 years.
Transfer targets10 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Rah Ahan 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Rah Ahan
Sardar Hosseini 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 ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Majid Torabi
“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 dugout10 Aug 2026
Majid Ebrahimi knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Majid Ebrahimi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 Aug 2026
Rah Ahan say no — this time
The offer from Esteghlal Ahvaz for Morteza Khodadad 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 ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market3 Aug 2026
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Rah Ahan
Sardar Hosseini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom3 Aug 2026
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Rah Ahan
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
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Masoud Ebrahimi 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ramin Shojaei is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market3 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ashkan Karimi has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sardar Hosseini trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Boardroom
Rah Ahan say no to the training-ground money
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The dugout
The plan did not have a place for Majid Ebrahimi