From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Feb 2027
32 goals and a season average of 7.77 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad8 Feb 2027
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zob Ahan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad8 Feb 2027
96 days out for Pouya Mokhtari after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zob Ahan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match6 Feb 2027
6‑2, and Jonathan Dellarossa took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Zob Ahan tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad8 Feb 2027
The match ball belongs to Jonathan Dellarossa, whose 4 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Match6 Feb 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 9 matches without defeat is a foundation Zob Ahan did not have in the autumn.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Ajax keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Nobody could get near Ali Eslami
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Jonathan Dellarossa was on a different afternoon to everybody else
10.00. 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Feb 2027
Hasan Shoushtari damages knee ligaments — 46 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 46 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A season average of 7.70 with 28 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Pouya Mokhtari breaks a bone — 103 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 103 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match30 Jan 2027
Zob Ahan win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 93th minute. Malavan will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
A brace, and Jonathan Dellarossa takes the afternoon — 9.23
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jonathan Dellarossa provided it, and the 9.23 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market1 Feb 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Siah Jamegan waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zob Ahan is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Match1 Feb 2027
Zob Ahan are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 48 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 27. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Zob Ahan close the window on a squad of their own making
6 in and 3 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Jan 2027
54 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zob Ahan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad25 Jan 2027
110 days out for Pouya Mokhtari after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zob Ahan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad25 Jan 2027
26 goals and a season average of 7.66. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Market25 Jan 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Zob Ahan people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market25 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zob Ahan can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Zob Ahan have done the hard part with Foolad, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Foolad keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Match23 Jan 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Zob Ahan did not have in the autumn.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Jonathan Dellarossa 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
Upbeat
Squad18 Jan 2027
Pedram Ghazipour damages knee ligaments — 15 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
117 days out for Pouya Mokhtari after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zob Ahan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market18 Jan 2027
Naft Tehran come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Zob Ahan did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
No thanks: Dani Escriche rejects the move
Zob Ahan had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Apollon, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad18 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zob Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match16 Jan 2027
Still nobody has beaten Zob Ahan
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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Zob Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shayan Mosleh 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
Esteghlal paid $48.0K and Zob Ahan took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Jan 2027
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zob Ahan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Pouya Mokhtari breaks a bone — 124 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 124 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad11 Jan 2027
25 goals and a season average of 7.68 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
A brace, and Rahman Jafari takes the afternoon — 8.85
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rahman Jafari provided it, and the 8.85 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with Foolad, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Zob Ahan
Jonathan Dellarossa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad4 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Pedram Ghazipour
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zob Ahan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A season average of 7.65 with 24 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Two goals and a mark of 9.07 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match4 Jan 2027
Zob Ahan are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 40 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
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. Zob Ahan will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Market4 Jan 2027
“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 Zob Ahan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match2 Jan 2027
It finished 3‑1, and it was Jonathan Dellarossa’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Zob Ahan.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
38 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zob Ahan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad28 Dec 2026
22 goals and a season average of 7.60. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.63 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad28 Dec 2026
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Jonathan Dellarossa 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
A point taken on 97 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Match26 Dec 2026
3‑3, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Mohammad Taremi chose the glass-half-full version of 3‑3; the supporters left with the other one.
Market28 Dec 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zob Ahan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Dec 2026
Pedram Ghazipour damages knee ligaments — 46 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 46 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
20 goals and a season average of 7.53. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
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 Zob Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Dec 2026
A 2‑0 win over Rah Ahan, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A performance of 8.40 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Rahman Jafari
“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
Shahin Taherkhani 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.
Loan watch21 Dec 2026
“I did not go to Saipa to sit and watch. I want to come back to Zob Ahan and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 17 matches say the rest.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Defensive actions: 16, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Dec 2026
56 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zob Ahan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match12 Dec 2026
3‑0, and Jonathan Dellarossa took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Zob Ahan tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad14 Dec 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A season average of 7.50 with 19 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Zob Ahan
Jonathan Dellarossa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market14 Dec 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Alireza Jahanbakhsh is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑0, Mohammad Taremi could afford to be generous.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Hasan Shoushtari is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Dec 2026
Zob Ahan bow out of the cup
Tractor go through and Zob Ahan go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The terraces7 Dec 2026
A cup hiding at Tractor leaves Zob Ahan explaining themselves
0-4, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Squad7 Dec 2026
16 goals and a season average of 7.41. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Zob Ahan know it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Zob Ahan
Jonathan Dellarossa and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Zob Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shayan Mosleh 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
Zob Ahan are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
Nobody left the Zob Ahan dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Loan watch7 Dec 2026
“I watch every Zob Ahan 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Nov 2026
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Age has not caught Ehsan Pahlevan yet — 7.92
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.92 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A season average of 7.39 with 15 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Jonathan Dellarossa 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
30 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match28 Nov 2026
Zob Ahan caught on 91 minutes
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Saipa scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Match28 Nov 2026
A 3‑3 draw with Saipa leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Mohammad Taremi was not hiding it after 3‑3, and nobody in the Zob Ahan dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
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 Zob Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match21 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ali Eslami. 3‑2 against Naft Tehran, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A season average of 7.29 with 12 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.72 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Parsa Jafari
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.60 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Ali Eslami was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.20. 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.
Loan watch23 Nov 2026
“I watch every Zob Ahan game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Saipa runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Mohammad Taremi on a 3‑2 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Zob Ahan
Jonathan Dellarossa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Nobody could get near Ali Eslami
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Zob Ahan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Shayan Mosleh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad16 Nov 2026
11 goals and a season average of 7.23. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.29 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match14 Nov 2026
Zob Ahan caught on 89 minutes
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Esteghlal Khuzestan scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
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.
Match14 Nov 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Mohammad Taremi was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Zob Ahan dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Zob Ahan
Jonathan Dellarossa and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Zob Ahan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Shayan Mosleh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match7 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Match9 Nov 2026
Halfway: Zob Ahan sit in position 5
25 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Loan watch9 Nov 2026
“I watch every Zob Ahan 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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Mohammad Taremi after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Looking ahead9 Nov 2026
Esteghlal Khuzestan next, and one man in the Zob Ahan dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Market9 Nov 2026
The name of Arash Ghaderi keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Zob Ahan say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Nov 2026
Jonathan Dellarossa 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
0‑1 to Esteghlal, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad2 Nov 2026
10 goals and a season average of 7.20 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Zob Ahan told Jonathan Dellarossa something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Mohammad Taremi left the room before anybody could ask which.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. 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
A place in the month's best eleven for Saeid Karimi
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Saeid Karimi has come out of that comparison in the side, and Zob Ahan have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Squad2 Nov 2026
One booking too many, and a game watched from the stand. Zob Ahan lose him for the most avoidable reason in the sport.
The dugout2 Nov 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match24 Oct 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 5‑1 against Saba, and it could have been more.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mohammad Javad Mohammadi provided it, and the 9.35 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad26 Oct 2026
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Match24 Oct 2026
Nobody wants to play Zob Ahan 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.
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 Zob Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
A performance of 9.94 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match24 Oct 2026
6 goals in one match, Jonathan Dellarossa on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Zob Ahan and Saba.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Shayan Mosleh 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Zob Ahan. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Zob Ahan
Jonathan Dellarossa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match17 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Jonathan Dellarossa’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Zob Ahan.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.27, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rahman Jafari, and the manager let it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Zob Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shahin Taherkhani 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Mohammad Taremi on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Looking ahead19 Oct 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Amir Hossein Jeddi’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Zob Ahan needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market19 Oct 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jonathan Dellarossa signs something — a contract at Zob Ahan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Zob Ahan know it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Zob Ahan
Jonathan Dellarossa and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Market12 Oct 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Karim Hajsafi has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Match10 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jonathan Dellarossa. 1‑0 against Sepahan, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.08, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I did not go to Foolad to sit and watch. I want to come back to Zob Ahan and fight for my place.” 2 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Mohammad Taremi, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Malavan next, and one man in the Zob Ahan dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
Jonathan Dellarossa was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Shayan Mosleh 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 ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 6.93 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mahmoud Ghaedrahmati and Zob Ahan agree another 1 years.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
103% of the income goes out in wages at Zob Ahan
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Jonathan Dellarossa
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Jonathan Dellarossa has come out of that comparison in the side, and Zob Ahan have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Match3 Oct 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.17, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
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 Zob Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Loan watch28 Sep 2026
“I did not go to Saipa to sit and watch. I want to come back to Zob Ahan and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Zob Ahan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Erfan Ghahremani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Sep 2026
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Jonathan Dellarossa has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
5 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Sep 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Siah Jamegan, and it could have been more.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A brace, and Jonathan Dellarossa takes the afternoon — 9.19
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jonathan Dellarossa provided it, and the 9.19 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Zob Ahan
Jonathan Dellarossa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Transfer targets21 Sep 2026
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Zob Ahan will try again when the window opens; Foolad may not be selling by then.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.32, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Mohammad Taremi kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Player of the week, judged against every other man in the division. A small award, and one most careers never collect.
Looking ahead21 Sep 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Ehsan Pahlevan’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Zob Ahan needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Sep 2026
Chastening afternoon for Zob Ahan
A 1‑4 beating by Persepolis was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Zob Ahan — 6.84
1 for Amir Hossein Jeddi, marked 6.84, 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
The bid was some way short and Zob Ahan did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Esteghlal wanted more than $990.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Al Shabab keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Zob Ahan
Jonathan Dellarossa and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Zob Ahan will try again when the window opens; Tractor may not be selling by then.
Market14 Sep 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Milad Pouraliganji is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Zob Ahan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Shayan Mosleh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
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Boardroom
Doors closed at Zob Ahan
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Loan watch
Hesam Nafari counts the days
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Sep 2026
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Davoud Noushi Soufiani: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match5 Sep 2026
Zob Ahan march on in the cup
Rah Ahan are out and Zob Ahan go through, 0‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The clubs have shaken hands with Foolad; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
At 36 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Zob Ahan close the window on a squad of their own making
12 in and 4 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Market7 Sep 2026
The bid was some way short and Zob Ahan did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Zob Ahan have gone to Esteghlal with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Zob Ahan had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Al-Ahli, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The clubs have shaken hands with Tractor; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Zob Ahan asked and Gostaresh Foulad said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Spartak Moscow keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Zob Ahan
Saeid Karimi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Zob Ahan offered $130.0K; Rah Ahan said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Match29 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Rahman Jafari. 2‑0 against Esteghlal Ahvaz, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Market31 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Zob Ahan have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Rahman Jafari at his very best
Marked 8.37. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Zob Ahan.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Zob Ahan asked and Siah Jamegan said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Zob Ahan offered $2.1M; Sepahan said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Saeid Karimi 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 Aug 2026
Words at Zob Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shayan Mosleh 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
Level with 91 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Zob Ahan had all but put away. Tractor will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Match22 Aug 2026
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A loan move for Vladislav Saus is in the works
Zob Ahan have made the call to Spartak Moscow. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Shahin Taherkhani, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Saipa waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zob Ahan is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Zob Ahan asked and Tractor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
$2.0M on the table at Sepahan. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
At 36 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Rah Ahan come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Zob Ahan did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
No deal for Milad Kor at that price
Zob Ahan offered $520.0K; Tractor said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Ehsan Pahlevan 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 ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Match15 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Rahman Jafari. 2‑1 against Saipa, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Zob Ahan have gone to Tractor with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market10 Aug 2026
Zob Ahan say no — this time
The offer from Smouha for Hadi Baghban 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Zob Ahan spend $810.0K to raise the standard
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $810.0K has been paid because Jonathan Dellarossa is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The offer went to Tractor this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mohammad Javad Mohammadi and Zob Ahan agree another 3 years.
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 Zob Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match8 Aug 2026
Hadi Baghban scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Naft Tehran, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Market10 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Ali Ahmadi again, and this time the name on the line is Rah Ahan. Zob Ahan are listening politely and promising nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Ali Eslami beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 35. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Zob Ahan asked and Bournemouth said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market3 Aug 2026
Zob Ahan say no — this time
The offer from Naft Tehran for Houman Elyasi was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Zob Ahan have gone to Central Espanol with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rahman Jafari and Zob Ahan agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Zob Ahan
Ehsan Pahlevan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Market3 Aug 2026
The name of Hadi Baghban has come up in conversations Zob Ahan were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Boardroom3 Aug 2026
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Zob Ahan
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Zob Ahan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Saeid Karimi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.