Azadegan League

This article is about the Iranian 1st division league. For the top division league, see Iran Pro League.

Azadegan League

Country	Iran
Confederation	AFC
Founded	1991 officially 2001 with current format
Divisions	1
Number of teams	20 (since 2015)
Level on pyramid	2 (2001–) 1 (1991–2001)
Promotion to	Persian Gulf Pro League
Relegation to	2nd Division
Domestic cup(s)	Hazfi Cup
Current champions	Foolad Novin (2014–15)
TV partners	IRIB
Website	www.lig1.ir
2015–16 Azadegan League

The Azadegan League (Persian: ليگ آزادگان‎‎) (also called 1st Division) is the second-highest division league in the Iranian football league system after the Persian Gulf Pro League. The top two teams from the group automatically get promoted to the Persian Gulf Pro League, while the third place team plays in the Persian Gulf Pro League promotion play-off against the third last Persian Gulf Pro League team. The four worst teams are directly relegated to the 2nd Division.

In 1991 the league was founded as Iran's top division. But, after the creation of the Persian Gulf Pro League in 2001, the Azadegan League was declared as the second highest football league in the county.

Since the leagues inception as the official second division in 2001, no club has ever won the league title multiple times. Paykan has come the closest to achieving the feat, finishing as runners-up in the 2005–06 season and winning the league in the 2011–12 season.

In the summer of 2015 the format of the league was changed from a two group league to an one group and twenty team league.

History

The first national league in Iran after the revolution was founded in 1989 with the name of Qods League. Esteghlal became winners of the first edition of the league.

In 1991, the national league was named to Azadegan League in honor of the Iranian prisoners of war who were released. The number of teams, playing in the league, varied from year to year. Pas and Saipa dominated the league in the first four years. Pas and Esteghlal both were also able to capture Asian Club Championships in the early 1990s. By the mid-90s Persepolis and Esteghlal regained their dominant form and the league champions in the period of 1995-2001 was either Esteghlal or Persepolis.

Until 2001 the league was the highest division football league in Iran, but that changed when the Iranian Football Federation decided to start a professional league. The Persian Gulf Pro League was created and since then, the Azadegan League became the second-highest division in the Iranian football league system.

In the summer of 2015, before the start of the 2015–16 season, the Iranian Football Federation decided to change the format of the league and make an one group, twenty team league, instead of a two group and twenty-four team league.

Ownership

Main article: List of Iranian football club owners § Azadegan League

Hazfi Cup

All teams in the Azadegan League are entered in the Hazfi Cup, if any club from the Azadegan League wins the cup, they participate in the AFC Champions League. Since 2001, when Azadegan League became the second-highest division league, no team from Azadegan League has become Hazfi Cup champion. Gostaresh Foolad is the only club from the Azadegan League that has reached the final of the Hazfi Cup.

Format

The Azadegan League consists of two subdivisions, each having 12 teams. The top teams in each group are automatically promoted to the Persian Gulf Pro League, while the second place teams play each other in a home and away play-off to decide the third and last promotion spot. The eleventh and twelfth placed teams in the groups are automatically relegated to the 2nd division. Sometimes the playoff match format is not used and one match takes place between the teams on a neutral ground instead.

League Champions

Trophy of Azadegan League, pictured in 2015

Season	Winner	Runner Up
As first-highest Iran's football division (1991–2001)
1991–92	Pas Tehran	Esteghlal Tehran
1992–93	Pas Tehran	Persepolis
1993–94	Saipa	Persepolis
1994–95	Saipa	Esteghlal Tehran
1995–96	Persepolis	Bahman
1996–97	Persepolis	Bahman
1997–98	Esteghlal Tehran	Pas Tehran
1998–99	Persepolis	Esteghlal Tehran
1999–00	Persepolis	Esteghlal Tehran
2000–01	Esteghlal Tehran	Persepolis
As second-highest Iran's football division (2001–)
2001–02	Esteghlal Ahvaz	Sanat Naft
2002–03	Shamoushak Noshahr	Pegah Gilan
2003–04	Saba Battery	Malavan
2004–05	Shahid Ghandi Yazd	Rah Ahan
2005–06	Mes Kerman	Paykan
2006–07	Shirin Faraz	Pegah Gilan
2007–08	Payam Mashhad	Sepahan Novin
2008–09	Tractor Sazi	Steel Azin
2009–10	Naft Tehran	Shahrdari Tabriz
2010–11	Damash Gilan^[1]	Mes Sarcheshmeh
2011–12	Paykan	Aluminium Hormozgan
2012–13	Esteghlal Khuzestan	Gostaresh Foolad
2013–14	Naft Masjed Soleyman	Padideh
2014–15	Foolad Novin	Siah Jamegan

All-time Azadegan League (As second-highest Iran's football division) standings

Since the 2001–02 season, fourteen seasons of the Azadegan League have been completed. The table below shows the total ranking for the all football clubs competing in all 14 seasons.

Pos.	Club	Seasons	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Best Rank
1	Nassaji Mazandaran	12	298	102	91	105	314	330	-16	394¹	3rd
2	Payam Mashhad	9	218	82	73	63	266	236	+30	317²	Champions
3	Niroo Zamini	11	260	78	82	100	242	282	-40	316	3rd
4	Tarbiat Yazd	9	220	81	82	67	251	217	+34	315	Champions
5	Mashin Sazi Tabriz	11	275	75	89	108	270	353	-73	314	3rd
6	Naft Abadan	8	191	85	55	51	243	168	+75	310	2nd
7	Shahrdari Arak	10	246	78	73	95	253	283	-30	307	4th
8	Tractor Sazi Tabriz	7	172	78	56	38	210	148	+62	290	Champions
9	Mes Rafsanjan	8	197	69	69	59	210	177	+33	276	2nd
10	Rahian Kermanshah	8	197	66	76	54	191	172	+19	274	Champions
11	Sh. Bandar Abbas	10	217	71	70	76	229	216	+13	270	2nd
12	Damash Gilan	6	147	75	41	31	193	107	+86	266	Champions
13	Homa	8	194	67	64	63	195	195	0	265	5th
14	Gol Gohar	8	197	67	63	67	221	208	-13	264	5th
15	Iranjavan	8	194	61	71	62	203	203	0	254	2nd
16	Shahrdari Zanjan	8	192	59	62	71	197	215	-18	239	5th
17	Etka	8	185	60	57	68	196	204	-8	237	3rd
18	Aluminium Hormozgan	6	150	61	53	36	168	126	+42	236	2nd
19	Shahrdari Tabriz	6	143	61	48	34	170	120	+50	231	2nd
20	Mes Kerman	6	146	55	47	44	165	136	+29	212	Champions
21	Shamoushak	6	146	47	51	48	134	136	-2	192	Champions
22	Shahin Bushehr	6	140	48	40	52	147	160	-13	184	2nd
23	Padideh	4	102	47	37	18	127	69	+58	178	Champions
24	Oghab Tehran	5	124	46	39	39	151	118	+33	177	4th
25	Gahar Doroud	6	150	43	47	60	133	169	-36	176	3rd
26	Bargh Tehran	5	124	45	38	41	134	120	+14	173	4th
27	Gostaresh	4	104	44	32	28	131	111	+20	164	2nd
28	Naft Masjed Soleyman	4	102	41	34	27	130	111	+19	157	2nd
29	Moghavemate Mersad	5	114	40	35	39	127	120	+7	155	4th
30	Pas Hamedan	4	97	42	24	31	95	84	+11	150	3rd
31	Esteghlal Ahvaz	5	118	39	33	46	122	137	-15	150	Champions
32	Foolad Yazd	5	123	35	42	46	112	126	-14	147	5th
33	Shahrdari Yasuj	4	102	39	27	36	104	96	+8	144	3rd
34	Rah Ahan	4	102	36	29	37	106	110	-4	137	2nd
35	Aboumoslem	4	102	33	37	32	115	112	+3	136	5th
36	Sorkhpooshan	4	86	35	29	22	107	79	+28	134	3rd
37	Paykan	3	72	37	19	16	107	61	+46	130	Champions
38	Parseh Tehran	4	97	33	43	31	103	102	+1	130	3rd
39	Sanati Kaveh	4	100	31	29	40	106	115	-8	122	8th
40	Steel Azin	3	74	38	19	17	119	81	+38	121³	2nd
41	Sepahan Novin	3	74	33	20	21	105	80	+25	119	2nd
42	Bargh Shiraz	4	104	29	30	45	91	129	-38	117	3rd
43	Payam Mokhaberat	4	104	27	33	44	91	110	-19	114	8th
44	Saba Battery	2	60	29	20	11	86	53	+33	107	Champions
45	Kowsar	4	94	22	30	42	86	120	-34	96	8th
46	Persepolis Shomal	3	76	23	20	33	74	96	-22	86	8th
47	Siah Jamegan	2	45	23	15	7	52	32	+20	84	2nd
48	Esteghlal Khuzestan	2	52	22	15	15	52	41	+11	81	Champions
49	Deyhim Ahvaz	4	90	18	22	50	84	157	-73	76	9th
50	Petrochimi Tabriz	2	52	20	15	17	66	63	+3	75	3rd
51	Fajr Sepasi	2	48	19	14	15	46	35	+11	71	2nd
52	Foolad Novin	2	48	20	11	17	62	55	+7	71	Champions
53	Keshto Sannat Shooshtar	3	66	16	23	27	65	89	-24	71	6th
54	Ekbatan	3	66	13	21	32	52	92	-40	66	9th
55	Alvand Hamedan	2	50	17	14	19	56	57	-1	65	4th
56	Giti Pasand	2	46	16	16	14	55	50	+5	64	5th
57	Mehrkam Pars	2	52	16	15	21	53	62	-9	63	9th
58	Yazd Louleh	2	50	15	17	18	58	53	+5	62	7th
59	Sanat Sari	2	52	15	16	21	38	58	-20	61	7th
60	Naft Gachsaran	2	46	15	15	16	51	56	-5	60	7th
61	Malavan	1	30	15	10	5	56	21	+35	55	2nd
62	Fajr Sepah	2	50	12	19	19	44	56	-12	55	5th
63	Naft Tehran	1	26	13	10	3	33	16	+17	49	Champions
64	Shahin Ahvaz	1	22	13	5	4	33	15	+18	44	3rd
65	Foolad Khuzestan	1	74	10	13	51	51	152	-101	43	12th
66	Pasargad Tehran	1	22	11	6	5	41	26	+15	39	3rd
67	Tarbiat Khorasan	1	30	7	10	13	26	38	-12	31	12th
68	Shahrdari Ardabil	1	22	8	6	8	24	23	+1	30	6th
69	Foolad Natanz	1	26	6	10	10	30	36	-6	28	14th
70	Pegah Shush	1	22	5	12	5	24	21	+3	27	7th
71	Esteghlal Dezful	1	22	6	7	9	19	21	-2	27	6th
72	Hafari Ahvaz	1	26	6	8	12	40	42	-2	26	12th
73	Part Sazan	1	20	6	5	6	17	26	-9	26	8th
74	Sanam Tehran	1	20	6	7	7	23	24	-1	25	5th
75	Esteghlal Kish	1	22	7	4	11	25	32	-7	25	8th
76	Badr Hormozgan	1	24	9	4	11	21	30	-9	25⁴	11th
77	Nirou Moharekeh	1	30	5	10	15	21	43	-22	25	15th
78	Shahrdari Kerman	2	42	6	7	29	28	92	-64	25	11th
79	Ararat Tehran	1	20	5	7	8	12	18	-6	22	9th
80	Pas Arak	1	20	6	4	10	21	33	-12	22	9th
81	Shahrdari Bushehr	1	20	5	5	10	20	25	-5	20	10th
82	Nozhan Mazandaran	1	22	4	8	10	12	22	-10	20	11th
83	Sepidrood Rasht	1	26	4	8	14	21	39	-18	20	14th
84	Chooka Talesh	1	20	4	4	12	17	37	-20	16	10th
85	Yadavaran Shalamcheh	1	26	3	7	16	12	35	-23	16	14th
86	Irsotter Noshahr	1	20	4	3	13	17	42	-25	15	11th
87	Kheybar Khorramabad	1	22	3	4	15	24	52	-28	13	12th
88	Shahrdari Langarud	1	22	2	6	14	17	39	-22	12	12th

¹ Nassaji Mazandaran was docked 3 points in 2012–13 season issued by Iranian Football Federation.
² Payam Mashhad was docked 3 points in 2010–11 season issued by Iranian Football Federation.
³ Steel Azin was docked 12 points in 2011–12 season issued by FIFA.
⁴ Badr Hormozgan was docked 6 points in 2013–14 season issued by Iranian Football Federation.

Top Goal Scorer

As second-highest Iran's football division

Season	Player	Club	Goals
2005–06	Hossein Abdi	Sanaye Arak	14
2006–07	Farhad Kheirkhah	Sorkhpooshan	11
2007–08	Mohammad Parvin	Steel Azin	15
2008–09	Abbas Porkhosravani	Gol Gohar	17
2009–10	Ali Karimi	Sh. Tabriz	17
2010–11	Afshin Chavoshi	Damash Gilan	13
	Mostafa Shojaei	Foolad Natanz	13
	Moslem Firoozabadi	Gol Gohar	13
2011–12	Bahman Tahmasebi	Aluminum	13
2012–13	Mohammad Abbaszadeh	Nassaji	17
2013–14	Mokhtar Jomehzadeh	Gol Gohar	15
2014–15	Issa Alekasir	Aluminum	11

Current clubs (2015–16)

Main article: 2015–16 Azadegan League

Nassaji
Khoneh Be Khoneh

Locations of clubs in 2015–16 Azadegan League

References

↑ "داماش گيلان قهرمان ليگ يك شد". isna.ir.

Azadegan League

2015–16 Azadegan League clubs

Teams	Aluminium Arak Aluminium Bandar Abbas Damash Fajr Sepasi Foolad Yazd Giti Pasand Gol Gohar Iranjavan Kheybar Khoune Be Khouneh Machine Sazi Mes Kerman Mes Rafsanjan Naft MIS Nassaji Parseh Tehran Pas Hamedan Paykan Sanat Naft Shahrdari Ardabil

Azadegan League seasons

2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16

Competitions involving Iranian clubs

Domestic	IPL Azadegan League 2nd Division 3rd Division Hazfi Cup

Defunct	Takht Jamshid Cup Local Leagues Qods League 17th of Shahrivar league Espandi Cup Super Cup

International	AFC Champions League Asian Cup Winners Cup (Defunct)

See also

Iranian football league system Top Scorers All-time Seasons

Football in Iran

League competitions	Persian Gulf Pro League Azadegan League 2nd Division 3rd Division Provincial League Kowsar league

Cup competitions	Hazfi Cup

Defunct competitions	Super Cup Takht Jamshid Cup

National teams	Men's B-team Women's M U-23 M U-20 W U-20 M U-17 M U-15

Lists and categories	League system Champions Foreign players List of clubs List of venues List of managers Top goalscorers all-time by season Clubs in the AFC Champions League

Iran Football Federation Iran Football League Organization Football Association of Iranian Club

Second level football leagues of Asia (AFC)

Afghanistan Australia Bahrain Bangladesh Bhutan Brunei Cambodia China PR East Timor Guam Hong Kong India Indonesia Iran Iraq Japan Jordan Korea DPR Korea Republic Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Lebanon Macau Malaysia Maldives Mongolia Myanmar Nepal Northern Mariana Islands^† Oman Pakistan Palestine (West Bank; Gaza Strip) Philippines Qatar Saudi Arabia Sri Lanka Syria Tajikistan Thailand Turkmenistan United Arab Emirates Uzbekistan Vietnam Yemen

^† Provisional Associated Member

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Azadegan League

History

Ownership

Hazfi Cup

Format

League Champions

All-time Azadegan League (As second-highest Iran's football division) standings

Top Goal Scorer

As second-highest Iran's football division

Current clubs (2015–16)

See also

References

External links