Zob Ahan F.C.

Zob Ahan
ذوب ‌آهن

Full name	Zob Ahan Football Club
Founded	1969
Ground	Foolad Shahr Stadium Fooladshahr Iran (Capacity: 25,000)
Owner	Esfahan Steel Company
Chairman	Asghar Dalili
Head Coach	Mansour Ebrahimzadeh
League	Persian Gulf Cup
2008-09	Persian Gulf Cup, 2nd
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Zob Ahan Football Club (Persian: باشگاه فوتبال ذوب ‌آهن) is an Iranian football club based in Esfahan, Iran.

It is sponsored by the Esfahan Steel Company, which also goes by the name Zob Ahan. The club's main rival is fellow Esfahani team Sepahan, which is also sponsored by the rival steel mill.

Zob Ahan club also has a basketball team, sponsored by the same Esfahan Steel Company, which is one of the teams in the Iranian Super League.

History

Mohammad Ali Taghizadeh Farahmand established the club in 1969. They entered the Takhte Jamshid Cup in 1973. Zob Ahan prepared its team by buying 14 players from Sepahan. Zob Ahan has always been the wealthier team. The team has participated in the highest Iranian league for every year except in 1995 when they played in the 2nd division. They were promoted to the 1st division the year after and are now seen as contenders every season in the IPL ever since. The club's biggest honor to date has been winning the Hazfi Cup in 2003. The club was able to participate in the Asian Champions League after winning the Hazfi Cup, but did not make any noise and was soon eliminated.

Season-by-season

The table below chronicles the achievements of Zob Ahan since 1973.

* Relegated.
** Promoted.

Club honours

• National Championships

Runner Up (2): 2004-2005, 2008-09

• Hazfi Cup:

Winners (1): 2003, 2009

Club chairmen

• Mohammad Mehdi Taghizadeh Farahmand
• Mostafa Ghanei
• Asghar Nilchian
• Fazollah Omranian
• Heydar Taheri
• Nematollah Zargar
• Alireza Shogi
• Saeed Azari (2004-2009)
• Asghar Dalili (Current)

Club managers

• Mahmoud Yavari
• Aziz Asli
• Bahram Atef
• Mohsen Hajnasrollah
• Mahmoud Arabzadeh
• Yevgeny Lyadin (1974-1978)
• Rasoul Korbekandi
• Fereydoon Moeini
• Yevgeny Lyadin (1993 - 1995)
• ?
• Nasser Hejazi (1998 - 2001)
• Bahram Atef (2001 - 2002)
• Samvel Darbinyan (2002 - 2004)
• Rasoul Korbekandi (2004 - Jun 2007)
• Zoran Đorđević (Jun 2007 - Oct 2007)
• Bijan Zolfagharnasab (Nov 2007 - May 2008)
• Mansour Ebrahimzadeh (May 2008 - Present)

Players

First-team squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Shahab Gordan 2 DF Seyed Mohammad Hosseini 3 DF Mohamad Ali Ahmadi 4 DF Farshid Talebi 5 DF Mohammad Salsali 6 DF Mostafa Salehi Nejad (captain) 7 MF Mohammad Mansouri 8 DF Hassan Ashjari 9 MF Mohammad Reza Khalatbari 10 FW Esmaeil Farhadi 11 FW Keivan Amraei 12 GK Abbas Ghasemi 14 MF Ghasem Hadadifar 15 FW Igor Castro 16 FW Mohsen Mosalman

No. Position Player 17 MF Sina Ashouri 18 MF Babak Razi 19 FW Mohammad Ghazi 20 MF Jalal Omidian 22 GK Mohammad Bagher Sadeghi 23 MF Seyed Ahmad Mohammadpour 24 MF Alireza Hadadifar 26 MF Payam Sadeghian 27 MF Saman Ragh 28 MF Ali Goudarzi 29 MF Iman Shirazi 31 MF Reza Rishesfahani 33 MF Hamid Reza Bajlavand

For recent transfers, see List of Iranian football transfers, winter 2009–10.

Famous players

This list of "famous" sporting persons has no clear inclusion or exclusion criteria. Please help to define clear inclusion criteria and edit the list to contain only appropriate entries.

Club officials

Coaching and Medical Staff

• General manager: Ali Shojaei
• Head coach: Mansour Ebrahimzadeh
• First team coach: Majid Saleh
• Goalkeeping coach: Tomislav Savic
• Physiotherapist: Abbas Moradi
• Team doctor: Amir Hossein Sharifianpour
• Logistics: Mahmoud Mehruyan

References

External links

Official

• Official club website