The words a physio says slowly. 72 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.
A 2‑0 win over Gostaresh Foulad, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 1 on the scoresheet, 7.85 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 120th minute. Gostaresh Foulad will replay every second of the added time for a week.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.34 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 79 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.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.31 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Aria Shafiedoost will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sepahan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Emiliano Daghero has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Add another name to the list: Naft Tehran have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mohammad Cheshmi. The answer from Sepahan has not changed — yet.
The words a physio says slowly. 88 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sepahan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Sepahan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sepahan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mohammad Cheshmi is 17, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Sina Asadbeigi has his answer from Sepahan; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The words a physio says slowly. 95 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.
Beaten 1‑4 by Rah Ahan, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
The terraces21 Aug 2028
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 8 of the 35 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
1 for Mohammad Amin Hazbavi, marked 7.65, 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Ariel Kippes 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.
105 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sepahan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Adib Zarei 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.
A 1‑0 win over Esteghlal Ahvaz, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“I watch every Sepahan game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al Jazira runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
114 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sepahan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The shirt still fits. Mohammad Javad Akbari is back at Sepahan, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
123 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sepahan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sepahan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The words a physio says slowly. 131 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sepahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Ariel Kippes has improved at 34, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
139 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sepahan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 1, 51 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sepahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mohammad Reza Bordbar is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
The words a physio says slowly. 147 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 43 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ehsan Hajsafi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sepahan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Amirmohammad Salehi is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Padideh paid $90.0K and Sepahan took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
155 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sepahan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 50 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Sepahan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sepahan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
53 appearances across 8 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 57 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sepahan can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Position 1, 51 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sepahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Adib Zarei 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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Sepahan will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The name of Abbas Habibi has come up in conversations Sepahan were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 73 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from Gostaresh Foulad for Ashkan Alijani 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 accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Aria Yousefi was one of the reasons people came, and $4.0M does not replace that by itself.
Tractor paid $4.0M and Sepahan took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The chase for Amir Mehdi Janmaleki ended with $1.4M changing hands and Foolad out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
This is the season the town will measure the next twenty against. The trophy travels home with the squad, and the route through the streets was agreed days ago.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sepahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Foolad for Aria Yousefi 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.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Sepahan will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sepahan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Adib Zarei 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 Jun 2028
Aria Yousefi 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 board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
The loan was meant to give him football. 4 games and 0 goals later he is back at Sepahan no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their doing.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sepahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The terraces29 May 2028
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 8 of the 34 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Ali Kolahkaj 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.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at Sepahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aria Yousefi 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.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
In brief
Player ratingsAn afternoon Arash Rezavand will want back
Player ratingsThe one thing Ali Kolahkaj could not do
Position 1, 51 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sepahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sepahan can pretend not to have heard.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sepahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sepahan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sepahan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sepahan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sepahan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Adib Zarei 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.
Squad8 May 2028
Aria Yousefi 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 board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Sepahan, and 4 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
8 goals in 24 games at CS Constantine — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Sepahan updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Naft Tehran will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Diego Velázquez has pre-agreed a move to Sepahan, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
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.
Position 1, 51 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“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 Sepahan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Adib Zarei 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.
In brief
SquadAria Yousefi falls out with a teammate over standards
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ehsan Hajsafi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sepahan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ricardo Alves 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 Apr 2028
Words at Sepahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aria Yousefi 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.
“I watch every Sepahan game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Foolad runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sepahan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sepahan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Sepahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammad Reza Bordbar 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.
“I watch every Sepahan game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Malavan runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody at Sepahan 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.
5 goals in 24 games at Naft Tehran — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Sepahan updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Ramin Azizi’s exile
MarketThe clock does Matías Duffard’s negotiating for him
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sepahan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Ali Kolahkaj 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at Sepahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aria Yousefi 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Sepahan, and 2 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sepahan can pretend not to have heard.
Adib Zarei 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.
In brief
SquadAria Yousefi falls out with a teammate over standards
Squad9 new faces, and Sepahan are still learning each other
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ehsan Hajsafi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sepahan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Adib Zarei 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Aria Yousefi 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.
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sepahan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Adib Zarei: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
12 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Amir Mehdi Maghsoudi is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sepahan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Adib Zarei 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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Aria Yousefi 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.
8.86. 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.
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Sepahan, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sepahan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sepahan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ehsan Hajsafi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sepahan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Ehsan Hajsafi has agreed terms with Esteghlal for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Sepahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aria Yousefi 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Mohammad Daneshgar has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Sepahan have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Ariel Kippes 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 words a physio says slowly. 40 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sepahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Aria Yousefi 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 49 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sepahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I did not go to Esteghlal Khuzestan to sit and watch. I want to come back to Sepahan and fight for my place.” 16 appearances in 29 matches say the rest.
59 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sepahan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 34 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sepahan can pretend not to have heard.
He is going to Saipa, the club has $3.0M 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.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Adib Zarei 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.
In brief
SquadAria Yousefi falls out with a teammate over standards
The words a physio says slowly. 69 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 41 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ariel Kippes is living that version at Sepahan, and it tends to show in the first month.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.95 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
9 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
79 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sepahan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sepahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Sepahan, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Esteghlal Khuzestan for Abbas Habibi 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.
Adib Zarei 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 words a physio says slowly. 87 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sepahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The fee is $870.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Tractor drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at Sepahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aria Yousefi 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 phone has started ringing about Abbas Habibi again, and this time the name on the line is Esteghlal Ahvaz. Sepahan are listening politely and promising nothing.
94 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sepahan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 1, 44 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sepahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Sepahan, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Foolad for Omid Nourafkan 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.
101 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sepahan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sepahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
A brace, and Iván Sánchez takes the afternoon — 9.18
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Iván Sánchez provided it, and the 9.18 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The 86th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Iván Sánchez decided nobody was going anywhere. Gostaresh Foulad had no time left to answer.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
110 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sepahan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sepahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sepahan can pretend not to have heard.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.84 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Sepahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aria Yousefi 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.
Arash Rezavand 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Giovanni Cantizano has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
117 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sepahan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 94 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sepahan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Sepahan game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Esteghlal Khuzestan runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
7 goals in 13 games at CS Constantine — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Sepahan updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
124 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sepahan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Adib Zarei: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 101 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Giovanni Cantizano 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.
131 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sepahan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Adib Zarei 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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Aria Yousefi 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.
“I watch every Sepahan game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Esteghlal Ahvaz runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
13 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sepahan can pretend not to have heard.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.46 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Sepahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aria Yousefi 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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.53 — 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.
Marked 8.39 — 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 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sepahan can pretend not to have heard.
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Sepahan have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Sepahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aria Yousefi 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Sepahan game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Esteghlal Khuzestan runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Marked 8.59 — 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mohammad Mehdi Mohebi. 1‑0 against Naft Tehran, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Aria Yousefi 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Sepahan, and 4 appearances in 18 say he has earned the hearing.
A 1‑0 win over Esteghlal Khuzestan, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 14 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
“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 Sepahan, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.37 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Giovanni Cantizano 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.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 3 times before the twentieth minute. Padideh tried to reorganise, Sepahan did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Sepahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgi Gvelesiani 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.
Adib Zarei 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Aria Yousefi 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.
It needed Mohammad Mehdi Mohebi to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Zob Ahan, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Sepahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aria Yousefi 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Sepahan, and 5 appearances in 12 say he has earned the hearing.
“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 Sepahan, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.86 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sepahan can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
A brace, and Cristian Duma takes the afternoon — 8.33
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Cristian Duma provided it, and the 8.33 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation Sepahan did not have in the autumn.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Sepahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aria Yousefi 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.
Arash Rezavand 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.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
“I watch every Sepahan game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al Dhafra runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
A mark of 8.63 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Rait Alarcón is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Aria Yousefi 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Giovanni Cantizano. 1‑0 against Foolad, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
18 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.
Giovanni Cantizano 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Sepahan has been clear about where Mohammad Mahdi Lotfi stands, which is more than many ever get.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mahan Bandani did not need any: 7.86, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.08 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The offer from Malavan for Amirmohammad Salehi 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mohammad Reza Bordbar is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Sepahan, and it is not being withdrawn.
A mark of 8.54 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.05 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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 7.21 for the rest of it.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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.
Giovanni Cantizano 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sepahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sepahan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Sepahan, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mohammad Amin Hazbavi. 2‑1 against Rah Ahan, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
“I watch every Sepahan game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al Dhafra runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sepahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sepahan can pretend not to have heard.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Sepahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aria Yousefi 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.
Arash Rezavand 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sepahan can pretend not to have heard.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mohammad Amin Hazbavi and Sepahan agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Foolad pay $270.0K, 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Ricardo Alves 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sepahan can pretend not to have heard.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
The board have signed the man in the dugout to a longer contract, which says more than any statement of support. Stability is easy to promise and costly to keep.
Giovanni Cantizano 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.
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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Sepahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ricardo Alves 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Ahmad Hajsafi 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.
Position 3 and 51 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Aria Yousefi 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Giovanni Cantizano trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Giovanni Cantizano 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Sepahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ricardo Alves 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Giovanni Cantizano trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at Sepahan 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.
Al Dhafra did not take him to make up a number: they want him playing. For Ramin Azizi that is worth more than another season of watching from Sepahan's bench, and everyone involved has said so out loud.
“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 Sepahan, and it is not being withdrawn.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $2.2M has been paid because Diego Sánchez is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces12 Jul 2027
Sepahan spend $2.2M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $2.2M for Diego Sánchez, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Ricardo Alves 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.
In brief
Squad11 new faces, and Sepahan are still learning each other
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Sepahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aria Yousefi 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.
Position 3, 51 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The offer from Padideh for Amirreza Changalvaei 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.
Giovanni Cantizano 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Sepahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ricardo Alves 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.
“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 Sepahan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Aria Yousefi 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 Jun 2027
7 new faces, and Sepahan 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 offer from Foolad for Arash Rezavand 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 phone has started ringing about Sebastián Lentinelly again, and this time the name on the line is Cerro Porteno. Sepahan are listening politely and promising nothing.
The chase for Vouria Pouraliganji ended with $1.2M changing hands and Rah Ahan out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sepahan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
Position 3, 51 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The words a physio says slowly. 24 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.
Giovanni Cantizano 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Sepahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aria Yousefi 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 words a physio says slowly. 31 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sepahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Sebastián Lentinelly wants continental football; whether Sepahan can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sepahan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Ashkan Alijani 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 words a physio says slowly. 47 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 40 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
51 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad3 May 2027
Aria Yousefi 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 47 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Giovanni Cantizano 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Sepahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aria Yousefi 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sepahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Giovanni Cantizano 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 64 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sepahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Giovanni Cantizano 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sepahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sepahan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Seyed Pouria Rafiei is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 91 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Ashkan Alijani 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 100 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Sebastián Lentinelly wants continental football; whether Sepahan can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Position 3, 51 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Ashkan Alijani 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 award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Sepahan have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Mohammad Mehdi Mohebi has come out of that comparison in the side, and Sepahan have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Sebastián Lentinelly 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.
Arash Rezavand 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.
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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Sepahan, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad22 Feb 2027
The division's best last weekend was a Sepahan man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Mohammad Mehdi Mohebi was the best thing in any of them.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Tanque provided it, and the 8.65 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
8.46. 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.
“I watch every Sepahan game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Siah Jamegan runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Mehdi Limouchi.
Squad15 Feb 2027
The division's best last weekend was a Sepahan man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Tanque was the best thing in any of them.
Arash Rezavand 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.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Esteghlal paid $210.0K and Sepahan took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sepahan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The terracesThe spotlight tightens on Aria Yousefi
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Milad Zakipour 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.
“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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Iván Sánchez's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Sepahan told Mohammad Mahdi Lotfi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
The terraces18 Jan 2027
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 6 of the 26 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Sepahan can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Ricardo Alves 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.
Foolad will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Yousef Mazrae has pre-agreed a move to Sepahan, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Sepahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ricardo Alves 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.
21 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Sepahan can tell you which week it ends in.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sepahan can pretend not to have heard.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Sepahan will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
The phone has started ringing about Ali Karimi again, and this time the name on the line is Esteghlal. Sepahan are listening politely and promising nothing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
18 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.
The unbeaten run reaches 6. 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 Dec 2026
Words at Sepahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ricardo Alves 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.
Kaveh Rezaei 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 crowd waited for a goal that never came. Foolad defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
7 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.61 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
6 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Ricardo Alves 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.
A 2‑0 win over Gostaresh Foulad, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Mohammad Amin Hazbavi has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Arielson 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.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.88 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Ricardo Alves 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There were 7 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Sepahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ricardo Alves 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.
Kaveh Rezaei 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Tanque provided it, and the 10.00 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Sebastián Lentinelly 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
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Sepahan. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Esteghlal Ahvaz tried to reorganise, Sepahan did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Sepahan, and 2 appearances in 14 say he has earned the hearing.
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. Sepahan deserved better, and so did he.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sepahan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces16 Nov 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 6 of the 28 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sepahan may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Sepahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ricardo Alves 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.
Kaveh Rezaei 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 words a physio says slowly. 27 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Sebastián Lentinelly wants continental football; whether Sepahan can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Ricardo Alves 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.61 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Position 3, 23 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sepahan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Naft Tehran spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.79 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Defensive actions: 24, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Ricardo Alves 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tanque. 2‑0 against Esteghlal Khuzestan, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.13 — 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.
“I watch every Sepahan game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Siah Jamegan runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Sepahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ricardo Alves 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.
Kaveh Rezaei 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.
8.95. 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mohammad Amin Hazbavi. 1‑0 against Padideh, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.