| Full name | Steel Azin Football Club | ||
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| Founded | April 30, 2007 | ||
| Ground | Semnan Iran |
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| Owner | Hossein Hedayati | ||
| Chairman | Saeed Azari[1] | ||
| Manager | Human Afazeli | ||
| League | Azadegan League | ||
| 2010-11 | Persian Gulf Cup, 18th (Relegation to the Azadegan League) |
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Steel Azin Football Club (Persian: باشگاه فوتبال استيل آذین) is an Iranian football club based in Semnan, Iran.[2]
The club is owned by Hossein Hedayati, owner of Steel Azin Co.
Steel Azin club also had a volleyball team, sponsored by the same Company, which competed in the Iranian Volleyball Super League.
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Ekbatan football club had been re-established by two of its former players, Rabti & Ghani, in the early 2000s. They started from the lower leagues and gained promotion year after year, as they reached the Azadegan League 1 in 2003. After surviving relegation for two years, the club was taken over by an investor. Despite heavy investments, the club failed to live up to its expectations and only narrowly beat the drop, in a turbulent season with three different head coaches. It was Hadi Ahangaran who finally was able to steer the club out of relegation on the very last day of the season, finishing 10th in the 12 team league. The following year, former Paykan F.C. assistant coach Mohsen Garousi signed on a one year contract to lead the club, setting his sights on promotion. The 2006/2007 season began terribly as the club began the season with a five match losing streak, and sacked Garousi after less than three months in charge. Asghar Sharafi was later presented as the fifth head coach of Ekbatan in less than two seasons. The club went into the winter break with 15 points between them and safety. Ekbatan though, came back strong as they came back with a seven game winning streak to secure a play off encounter in Esfehan. The club was able to beat the drop after winning the play off match.
On April 30, 2007 Hossein Hedayati bought Ekbatan Football Club for a reported $750,000 and renamed the club to Steel Azin Football Club.[3] With strong financial backing and heavy investors behind the team, Steel Azin promised to be the new heavyweights in the Iranian football scene. After taking over, then chairman Ali Parvin immediately announced the name change, from Ekbatan football Club to Steel Azin Football Club. This was only the first of many changes to the club that would be made the following years.
Ekbatan football club was known for having one of the best youth systems in Iranian football and had introduced a number of talented players to Iranian football. Ekbatan FC was one of the youngest teams in the Azadegan League 1, with an age average of 24 & 23 in the two seasons prior to the takeover of Hossein Hedayati. Following the takeover Steel Azin's youth academy was completely recreated by former Iranian national team coach Heshmat Mohajerani.
Hossein Hedayati went on an unprecedented shopping spree as he brought the biggest names in iranian football to his second tier football club of Steel Azin. Players included national team goalkeeper Ebrahim Mirzapour, Davoud Fanaei, Hamed Kavianpour, Ali Ansarian and Mohammad Parvin. Iranian football legend Ali Parvin was installed as Technical director while former Esteghlal and Cameroon assistant coach Theo De Jong became head coach. Heshmat Mohajerani was named director of the youth academy. The huge media buzz and the stars who were brought in, did not prove successful as they were not able to gain promotion to the Premier League. Mohammad Parvin finished as top scorer following a number of impressive appearances. The following year, after a major big names load off, the club was narrowly promoted to the Premier League. Following promotion to the top tier, the heavy investments once again commenced. Star signings followed and even foreign based players like Lek Kcira, Leonard Kweuke and Iranians Ferydoon Zandi and Amir Shapourzadeh. The player who caused for the biggest media attention though, was Ali Karimi who joined from rivals Pirouzi. Steel Azins first season in the Iranian Premier League caused for probably the most media frenzy since a long time. The reds finished in fifth place and the blame was put largely on their defence. In the 2010/2011 season, Steel Azin had a nightmare season. With numerous Managerial and coaching changes, the club was bottom of the table for nearly all of the 34 weeks. Ali Karimis contract was terminated and he moved to German giants Schalke 04, Ali Parvin returned to the club, the controversial fair play saga against their bitter rivals Persepolis F.C., all didn't help prevent a disastrous fall into the second tier of iranian football. The season ended after a 6:1 home defeat against Shahrdari Tabriz F.C. meaning the star studded Tehran club finished the season in rock bottom, despite reported investments of nearly $40mil. by owner Hossein Hedayati. Due to the poor results, major investments, and a star studded line up, the nickname of "FC Hollywood" was given to the club by the media. This was also due to the fact that players seemed to be enjoying themselves with their large salaries, rather than playing as would be expected of them. The club were often referred to as the "Galacticos of Iran" during their first season in the Premier League which was more successful. The controversial refusal to continue playing, following the Tehran derby against Pirouzi, was later withheld and the club agreed to play the last four matches. Steel Azin were relegated two weeks prior to the end of the season. Following their relegation into the Azadegan League, Steel Azin has moved from Tehran to Semnan. Former Zob Ahan General Manager has been appointed as the new CEO of the club.
The table below chronicles the achievements of Steel Azin in various competitions since 2007.
| Season | League | Hazfi Cup | Leagues Top goalscorer | Manager(s) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | Pos | Name(s) | Goals | |||
| 2007–08 | Div 1 | 22 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 41 | 28 | 38 | 3rd | 1/8 Final | Mohammad Parvin | 15 | de Jong/ Jan Verheijen/ Kazemi |
| 2008–09 | Div 1 | 26 | 17 | 4 | 5 | 49 | 30 | 55 | 1st | 1/8 Final | Hadi Khodadadi | 10 | Nader Dastneshan |
| 2009–10 | IPL | 34 | 13 | 13 | 8 | 55 | 49 | 52 | 5th | Quarterfinal | Ali Karimi | 14 | Estili/ Peyrovani |
| 2010–11 | IPL | 34 | 6 | 10 | 18 | 30 | 63 | 28 | 18 | Quarterfinal | Siavash Akbarpour Mohammad Gholami |
9 | Tumbaković/ Peyrovani/ Khakpour/ Parvin/ Yavari |
| 2011–12 | Div 1 | Third Round | Afazeli | ||||||||||
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| Champions | Runners-up | Promoted | Relegated |
The owner of the club, Hossein Hedayati, uses his partners factory Steel Azin to financially back the club. The kit provider is Merooj.
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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For recent transfers, see List of Iranian football transfers, summer 2011.
| Name | Nat | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| Theo de Jong | June 2007 | December 2007 | |
| Jan Verheijen | December 2007 | December 2007 | |
| Farhad Kazemi | December 2007 | July 2008 | |
| Nader Dastneshan | July 2008 | June 2009 | |
| Hamid Reza Estili | June 2009 | April 2010 | |
| Afshin Peyrovani (Temp) | April 2010 | July 2010 | |
| Ljubiša Tumbaković | July 2010 | October 2010 | |
| Afshin Peyrovani | October 2010 | December 2010 | |
| Mohammad Khakpour | December 2010 | February 2011 | |
| Ali Parvin (Temp) | February 2011 | April 2011 | |
| Mahmoud Yavari | April 2011 | June 2011 | |
| Human Afazeli | June 2011 | Present |
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