Esteghlal Ahvaz F.C.

Esteghlal Ahvaz

Full name	Esteghlal Ahvaz Football Club
Founded	1948; 67 years ago
Ground	Takhti Stadium Ahvaz Iran
Capacity	15,000[1]
Owner	Mohammad Maleki
Chairman	Mohammad Maleki
Head Coach	Siavash Bakhtiarizadeh
League	Azadegan League
2015–16	Persian Gulf Pro League, 16th (relegated)
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours

Esteghlal Ahvaz Football Club (Persian: باشگاه فوتبال استقلال اهواز‎‎) is an Iranian football club based in Ahvaz, Iran. They currently compete in the Persian Gulf Pro League.

History

Establishment

The club was founded in 1948 with the help of Hakim Shoushtari. The club was one of Taj Tehran branches at the time, and was called Taj Ahvaz F.C. From the beginning the club was able to attract some of the better Khuzestani players.

Takht Jamshid Cup

In 1973 the team was promoted to the Takht Jamshid Cup, but league rules allowed for only one team of the same name to participate, therefore Taj Tehran, remained in the league, and Taj Ahvaz F.C. was forced to stay in the lower leagues.

Post-revolution success

After the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, Taj Ahvaz F.C. (Persian: تاج اهواز‎‎) changed its name to Esteghlal Ahvaz F.C. (Persian: استقلال اهواز‎‎). The Iran–Iraq War hit Ahvaz and Khuzestan hard, and very little attention was paid to the club at that time. Finally in 1991 the team was promoted to the Azadegan League and was allowed to participate, despite two teams having the same name. In 1997, the club was relegated, but returned to Iran's Premier Football League (IPL) in 2002. The club started to develop during its initial and second season in the IPL, because of the amount of money they spent, thanks to club chairman Ali Shafizadeh. The club became known as Iran's Chelsea after that. Despite being the only private club in the league they could not win anything and they finally came so close and finished second in the league in 2006–07 by only 2 points. They continued to be an average team in 2007–08 and 2008–09 seasons which finished in mid table for both seasons.

Relegation

Their instability in 2010–11 season caused the teams relegation to the Azadegan League where they changed their head coach three times. In their first year in the Azadegan League, they had a dismal season as they finished 13th and were relegated to the 2nd Division. Fortunately for Esteghlal Ahvaz, the team bounced back in 2012 as they finished first in the 2nd Division and were promoted to the Azadegan League.

Return to Persian Gulf Pro League

After the 2014–15 Azadegan League they bought the right to play in Persian Gulf Pro League from Foolad Novin and were promoted to the 2015–16 Persian Gulf Pro League.^[2]

Ahvaz Derby

Main articles: Ahvaz Derby

The Ahvaz derby is a football local derby match between the two rival professional teams of Ahvaz, Iran: Esteghlal Ahvaz and Foolad. It is one of the most important derbies in Iran.

Season-by-season

The table below chronicles the achievements of Esteghlal Ahvaz in various competitions since 1991.

Season	Division	League	Position	Hazfi Cup	Notes
1991–92	1	Azadegan League	8th
1992–93	1	Azadegan League	5th
1993–94	1	Azadegan League	14th
1994–95	1	Azadegan League	4th
1995–96	1	Azadegan League	7th
1997–98	1	Azadegan League	13th
1996–97	1	Azadegan League	9th		Relegated
1998–99	2	2nd Division	4th
1999–00	2	2nd Division	5th
2000–01	2	2nd Division	3rd
2001–02	2	Azadegan League	1st		Promoted
2002–03	1	Iran Pro League	11th
2003–04	1	Iran Pro League	8th	Quarterfinal
2004–05	1	Iran Pro League	5th	Semifinal
2005–06	1	Iran Pro League	12th	1/16 Final
2006–07	1	Iran Pro League	2nd	Quarterfinal
2007–08	1	Iran Pro League	8th	1/8 Final
2008–09	1	Iran Pro League	14th	1/8 Final
2009–10	1	Iran Pro League	18th	1/16 Final	Relegated
2010–11	2	Azadegan League	13th	Third Round	Relegated
2011–12	3	2nd Division	1st	First Round	Promoted
2012–13	2	Azadegan League	10th	1/16 Final
2013–14	2	Azadegan League	8th	Third Round
2014–15	2	Azadegan League	1st	Third Round	Promoted
2015–16	1	Iran Pro League^R	16th	Third Round	Relegated

Notes

• ^R buy the right to play in IPL.

Club honours

• Persian Gulf Pro League

Runners–Up (1): 2006–2007

• Azadegan League

Winners (1): 2001–02

• 2nd Division

Winners (1): 2011–12

Club chairmen

• Nasrollah Heibodi (−2002)
• Ali Shafizadeh (2002–2006)
• Shahram Shafizadeh (2006–2011)
• Safar Jamalpour (2011–present)

Club managers

Bahram Atef (1993–2001) Mehdi Monajati (2001–2002) Jalal Cheraghpour (2002) Amir Ghalenoei (2002–2003) Nasser Hejazi (2003–2004) Luka Bonačić (2004–2005) Martik Khachatourian (2005) Mahmoud Yavari (2005) Srđan Gemaljević (2005–2006) Firouz Karimi (2006 – November 2007) Majid Jalali (November 2007 – May 2008) Karim Boustani (July 2008 – August 2008, interim) Mahmoud Yavari (August 2008) Reza Ahadi (August 2008) Akbar Misaghian (August 2008 – February 2009) Khodadad Azizi (June 2009 – September 2009) Majid Bagherinia (2009) Mohammad Ahmadzadeh (2009) Mehdi Hasheminasab (2009)

Alireza Firouzi (2009– September 2010) Dariush Yazdi (September 2010 – January 2011) Firouz Karimi (February 2011 – March 2011) Afshin Komaei (March 2011) Fereydoon Fazli (April 2011, interim) Dariush Yazdi (April 2011 – May 2011) Adel Hardani (?- December 2012) Masoud Norouzi (November 2012, interim) Ali Hanteh (November 2012 – June 2013) Davoud Mahabadi (2013–2014) Dariush Yazdi (2014–2015)[3] Habib Khadirian (2015)[4] Fereydun Hardani (2015)[5] Hossein Seyed-Salehi (2015)[6] Saber Mirghorbani (2015, interim)[7] Siavash Bakhtiarizadeh (2015)[8] Ali Hanteh (2015) Siavash Bakhtiarizadeh (2015–present)

Players

First-team squad

As of 19 January 2016.

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

No. Position Player 8 FW Taleb Reykani 10 MF Adel Kolahkaj 13 FW Ali Bigdeli 15 DF Peyman Taleshi ^U23 17 MF Milad Pakparvar ^U23 19 MF Hamzeh Khaziravi ^U23 20 DF Mehdi Eslami 21 MF Reza Ayyar ^U23 22 GK Luiz Fernando 24 FW Reza Bahmaei ^U23 25 DF Milad Rabbani ^U23 26 DF Maki Sharifi 28 FW Mehdi Niyayesh Pour 29 MF Mohammad Javad Kerdouni ^U21

No. Position Player 30 MF Hossein Bahrami ^U21 31 MF Mojtaba Rashidi ^U21 32 MF Sadegh Zharfani ^U21 34 DF Mehdi Yalali ^U21 36 MF Danial Mousavi ^U21 37 DF Hossein Saki ^U21 38 FW Mirfarzad Majidi 39 DF Adel Masoudifard ^U23 40 DF Ali Helichi ^U21 44 GK Ehsan Moradian ^U23 45 GK Ali Kordani MF Pedram Ardalany FW Sandi Sahman

For recent transfers, see List of Iranian football transfers winter 2015–16.

See also

• Esteghlal Tehran Football Club
• Esteghlal Meli-Sanati Khuzestan Football Club
• Esteghlal Dushanbe Football Club
• 2011-12 Hazfi Cup
• 2011–12 Iran Football's 2nd Division

References

1. "World Stadiums – Stadiums in Iran". worldstadiums.com.
2. "واگذاری رسمی امتیاز فولادنوین به استقلال اهواز". ورزش سه.
3. "داریوش یزدی، سرمربی استقلال اهواز شد". shooshan.ir.
4. "حبیب خدریان سرمربی استقلال اهواز شد". khouznews.ir.
5. "فریدون حردانی سرمربی استقلال اهواز شد". khouznews.ir.
6. "سیدصالحی سرمربی استقلال اهواز شد +عکس". shooshan.ir.
7. "اتفاق عجیب در اهواز؛ صابر میرقربانی سرمربی استقلال شد!". طرفداری.
8. "بختیاری‌زاده سرمربی استقلال اهواز شد". ورزش سه.

External links

• (Persian) Official club website
• (Persian) Khuzestan Football Association