From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Oct 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Saipa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad12 Oct 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.
Squad12 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.
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 Saipa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
A performance of 9.39 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match10 Oct 2026
A 1‑0 win over Persepolis, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
14 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Marked 5.72, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
Market12 Oct 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Saipa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Saipa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Saipa
Mojtaba Moghtadaei 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Saipa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alireza Koushki 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The medical room confirms 21 days on the sidelines for Omid Nekounam, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 96% of everything Saipa earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Match3 Oct 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Rah Ahan leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 121 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad28 Sep 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 Saipa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Saipa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Ramírez Agudelo 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.
Squad28 Sep 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Esteghlal Ahvaz made Saipa work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 8.55 — 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
5 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
11 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 9. 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
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 128 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Age has not caught Fabián Muñoz yet — 8.17
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.17 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Erfan Bahri is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Saipa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alireza Koushki 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Ali Dehghan 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 Saipa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Sep 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Saipa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
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 Saipa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Alireza Koushki 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.
Squad14 Sep 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Esteghlal left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match2 Sep 2026
Saipa out of the cup
Esteghlal Khuzestan ended it 2‑3. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 9 of the 31 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Age has not caught Fabián Muñoz yet — 7.97
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.97 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market7 Sep 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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Fabián Muñoz 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 Saipa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
José Ramírez Agudelo 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Fabián Muñoz. 2‑1 against Naft Tehran, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match5 Sep 2026
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Naft Tehran tried to reorganise, Saipa did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
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 Saipa can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match29 Aug 2026
4 matches without a win for Saipa
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Saipa are no longer polite ones.
Squad31 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 Saipa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match29 Aug 2026
0‑2 to Esteghlal Khuzestan, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad31 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Saipa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aref Seifi 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
5 new faces, and Saipa 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
4 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
From our football correspondent
Steady
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 Saipa can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Ali Dehghan 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 Saipa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
José Ramírez Agudelo 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
Vahid Asgarpour is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Saipa has been clear about where Vahid Asgarpour stands, which is more than many ever get.
Match22 Aug 2026
Saipa and Padideh take a point apiece
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
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.25 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Saipa
Ali Dehghan 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Saipa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Ramírez Agudelo 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Hesam Pourhashem has his answer from Saipa; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Match15 Aug 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad17 Aug 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market17 Aug 2026
At 35, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
Market17 Aug 2026
At 36, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces10 Aug 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 7 of the 28 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Saipa
Ali Dehghan 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.
Match8 Aug 2026
Saipa come up short against Saba
Saba left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad10 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Market10 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Majid Ghashghaei has his answer from Saipa; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Mehdi Abdi dropped after a run of poor form
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 ratings10 Aug 2026
The one thing Bahman Salari could not do
Shots: 6, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Market10 Aug 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Hamid Golzari signs something — a contract at Saipa or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.00 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ali Dehghan and Saipa agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Ali Dehghan 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 Saipa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom3 Aug 2026
Graduation day at Saipa
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Match1 Aug 2026
Saipa get the job done against Malavan
A 2‑1 win over Malavan, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Market3 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Vahid Taremi 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Saeid Rezaeian 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
One of our own: Ahmad Karimi joins the Saipa first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ahmad Karimi 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
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ali Ebrahimi 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.