From our football correspondent
Upbeat
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 The request is on a desk at Rah Ahan, and it is not being withdrawn.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
Rah Ahan say no — this time
The offer from Saba for Ramin Mohammadi 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Esteghlal wanted more than $930.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Rah Ahan asked and Esteghlal said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The offer went to Esteghlal Khuzestan 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Rah Ahan
Mohammad Reza Rezaei and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Alireza Beiranvand 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ramin Mohammadi. 2‑1 against Malavan, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout24 Aug 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 48. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market17 Aug 2026
$590.0K. No player has ever cost Rah Ahan more, and expectation arrives with him.
Market17 Aug 2026
$2.0M 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Rah Ahan say no — this time
The offer from Esteghlal for Ali Beiranvand 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Supporters turn on the $2.0M sale of Ashkan Dejagah
He is going to Tractor, the club has $2.0M 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 targets17 Aug 2026
Rah Ahan 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Persepolis, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Rah Ahan and Malavan have settled on $590.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Market10 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 targets10 Aug 2026
Rah Ahan had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Esteghlal Khuzestan, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Alireza Beiranvand commits to Rah Ahan for another 5 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Rah Ahan
Ali Beiranvand and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Temur Odilov arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Temur Odilov has, at Rah Ahan, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Omid Noorafkan 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 dugout10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Pejman Nekounam, and the manager let it.
Market10 Aug 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Rah Ahan will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Ramin Noorafkan at 21 — 8.09
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ramin Noorafkan did not need any: 8.09, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market3 Aug 2026
Mehdi Karimi 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 Rah Ahan can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
$550.0K on the table at Malavan. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Rah Ahan
Ali Beiranvand 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. Alireza Beiranvand 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ali Noorafkan commits to Rah Ahan for another 2 years.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Malavan have kept their man, and Rah Ahan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.