From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
A brace, and Enzo Crivelli takes the afternoon — 8.75
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Enzo Crivelli provided it, and the 8.75 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match26 Dec 2026
The run at home goes on for Sepahan
14 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Enzo Crivelli
16 goals and a season average of 7.27 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Enzo Crivelli was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Defensive actions: 23, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 40. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match21 Dec 2026
Sepahan up to position 1
47 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad21 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Enzo Crivelli
“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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Iván Sánchez
5 goals and a season average of 7.51 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
The terraces21 Dec 2026
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.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Marked 8.54 — 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Gostaresh Foulad leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match12 Dec 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Siah Jamegan, and it could have been more.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
A brace, and Enzo Crivelli takes the afternoon — 8.49
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Enzo Crivelli provided it, and the 8.49 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match12 Dec 2026
Sepahan make home a hard place to visit
13 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.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Age has not caught Ricardo Alves yet — 7.90
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.90 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 24 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Enzo Crivelli 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Enzo Crivelli is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.26 with 14 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad14 Dec 2026
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.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Marked 8.99. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Sepahan.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 40. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match2 Dec 2026
Sepahan through in the cup
A 3‑2 win over Foolad, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match2 Dec 2026
Sepahan win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 94th minute. Foolad will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Arash Rezavand, 33, rolls back the years — 9.28
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.28 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
No sign of nerves from Ashkan Alijani at 20 — 8.44
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ashkan Alijani did not need any: 8.44, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The terraces7 Dec 2026
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 30 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Ali Karimi: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sepahan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match5 Dec 2026
Sepahan make home a hard place to visit
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match28 Nov 2026
18 unbeaten for Sepahan
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 18 matches without defeat is a foundation Sepahan did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Age has not caught Arash Rezavand yet — 8.58
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.58 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match28 Nov 2026
Nobody wins at Sepahan
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.85 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad30 Nov 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
A 2‑2 draw with Rah Ahan leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match21 Nov 2026
Still nobody has beaten Sepahan
The unbeaten run reaches 17. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Match23 Nov 2026
Sepahan refuse to drop out of the race
Position 1, 42 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.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Age has not caught Iván Sánchez yet — 8.63
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.63 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad23 Nov 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Marked 9.60. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Sepahan.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Sepahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammad Reza Akhbari 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Enzo Crivelli, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match14 Nov 2026
Still nobody has beaten Sepahan
The unbeaten run reaches 16. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Match14 Nov 2026
Sepahan throw away a 2-goal lead
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Tractor the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Sepahan will enjoy reviewing.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.68, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Enzo Crivelli 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
The run at home goes on for Sepahan
10 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Enzo Crivelli
12 goals and a season average of 7.28 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Iván Sánchez, 34, rolls back the years — 9.52
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.52 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match7 Nov 2026
Sepahan cannot stop winning
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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Match7 Nov 2026
The run at home goes on for Sepahan
9 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Match7 Nov 2026
It finished 2‑1, and it was Enzo Crivelli’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Sepahan.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.95 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Omid Nourafkan, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match31 Oct 2026
Whatever happens, Sepahan do not lose
14 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Enzo Crivelli was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Marked 9.21. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Sepahan.
Match31 Oct 2026
Three points for Sepahan, 2‑1 the final word against Naft Tehran in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.32 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match26 Oct 2026
Sepahan are in among the leaders
Position 1 and 32 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Match24 Oct 2026
Still nobody has beaten Sepahan
The unbeaten run reaches 13. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
25 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 ratings26 Oct 2026
Defensive actions: 25. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad26 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 Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Enzo Crivelli at his very best
Marked 8.68. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Sepahan.
Match24 Oct 2026
Nobody wins at Sepahan
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match17 Oct 2026
Still nobody has beaten Sepahan
The unbeaten run reaches 12. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Age has not caught Iván Sánchez yet — 9.16
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.16 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Ashkan Alijani: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sepahan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
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.
Squad19 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 Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match17 Oct 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Padideh leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Shots: 10. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 44. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
29 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 ratings12 Oct 2026
Iván Sánchez, 34, rolls back the years — 9.00
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.00 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match10 Oct 2026
Nobody wants to play Sepahan right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Kaveh Rezaei 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 Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
20 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.
Squad12 Oct 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Iván Sánchez’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Sepahan.
Squad12 Oct 2026
5 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Age has not caught Iván Sánchez yet — 9.28
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.28 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match3 Oct 2026
10 unbeaten for Sepahan
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 10 matches without defeat is a foundation Sepahan did not have in the autumn.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Enzo Crivelli 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.
Match3 Oct 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.
Squad5 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
It finished 3‑1, and it was Iván Sánchez’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Sepahan.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 9.26. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Sepahan.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Sepahan release $2.0M for the manager
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
Squad5 Oct 2026
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Mohammad Reza Akhbari knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match28 Sep 2026
Sepahan refuse to drop out of the race
Position 1, 22 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
31 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Still nobody has beaten Sepahan
The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad28 Sep 2026
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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
22 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.
Squad28 Sep 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.00, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.89, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match26 Sep 2026
A 2‑0 win over Malavan, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match19 Sep 2026
Still nobody has beaten Sepahan
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad21 Sep 2026
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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mohammad Reza Akhbari, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Hossein Hosseini 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
It needed Enzo Crivelli to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Esteghlal, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 35. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match12 Sep 2026
Sepahan cannot stop winning
7 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Iván Sánchez, 33, rolls back the years — 8.53
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.53 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad14 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 Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 9.61 — 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.
Squad14 Sep 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Arash Rezavand was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.33. 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Arash Rezavand’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Sepahan.
Match12 Sep 2026
Sepahan are at home on the road
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match2 Sep 2026
Sepahan march on in the cup
Esteghlal Ahvaz are out and Sepahan go through, 4‑2 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.82 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match5 Sep 2026
Sepahan make it 6 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Sepahan have 6 straight wins of it.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Tiziano Perrotta at 19 — 8.87
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Tiziano Perrotta did not need any: 8.87, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
29 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Sepahan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Age has not caught Ricardo Alves yet — 7.84
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.84 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market7 Sep 2026
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Saba moved on, Amirreza Changalvaei reports back to Sepahan, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A debut Ashkan Alijani will not forget — 8.37
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 2 on the scoresheet, 8.37 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match29 Aug 2026
Sepahan make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Sepahan have 4 straight wins of it.
Market31 Aug 2026
Sepahan say no — this time
The offer from Saipa for Mehdi Sorkhi 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
The fee is $1.0M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Esteghlal drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Match29 Aug 2026
Siah Jamegan made Sepahan work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Sepahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammad Reza Akhbari 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
Mohammad Daneshgar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Defensive actions: 32, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Age has not caught Iván Sánchez yet — 8.65
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.65 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market24 Aug 2026
Sepahan say no — this time
The offer from Zob Ahan 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match22 Aug 2026
Sepahan make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Sepahan have 3 straight wins of it.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Defensive actions: 23, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad24 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 Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 38. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Age has not caught Iván Sánchez yet — 9.46
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.46 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad17 Aug 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market17 Aug 2026
Sepahan say no — this time
The offer from Esteghlal for Hadi Mohammadi was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad17 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match15 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Enzo Crivelli. 2‑0 against Rah Ahan, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Market17 Aug 2026
The name of Amirreza Changalvaei has come up in conversations Sepahan were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.59, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Age has not caught Ricardo Alves yet — 7.85
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.85 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad10 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 Sepahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 Aug 2026
The name of Hadi Mohammadi has come up in conversations Sepahan were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Match8 Aug 2026
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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.37 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
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.
Market10 Aug 2026
24 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Squad10 Aug 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ricardo Alves and Sepahan agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Enzo Crivelli 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.
Boardroom3 Aug 2026
4 academy players handed senior numbers at Sepahan
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
Arash Rezavand scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Tractor, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad3 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Aref Haji Eydi again, and this time the name on the line is Saba. Sepahan are listening politely and promising nothing.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market3 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Kaveh Dejagah is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.