Esteghlal Ahvaz F.C.

Esteghlal Ahvaz Football Club (Persian: باشگاه فوتبال استقلال اهواز) is an Iranian football club based in Ahvaz, Iran.

They currently compete in the 2011–12 Iran Football's 2nd Division.

History

Establishment

The club was founded in 1948 with the help of Hakim Shoushtari. The club was one of Taj Tehran F.C. 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 F.C., 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. Their instability in 2010–11 season caused a relegation where they changed their head coach three times.

Ahvaz Derby

Main articles: Ahvaz Derby

Season-by-season

The table below chronicles the achievements of Esteghlal Ahvaz in various competitions since 1999.

Club honours

• National Championships

Runner Up (1): 2006/2007

Club chairmen

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

Club managers

• Mehdi Monajati
• Amir Ghalenoei (Sep 2002)
• Jalal Cheraghpour (Oct 2002)
• Bahram Atef (2002 - 2003)
• Nasser Hejazi (2003 - 2004)
• Luka Bonačić (2004 - 2005)
• Martik Khachatourian (2005)
• Mahmoud Yavari (2005)
• Srđan Gemaljević (2005 - 2006)
• Firouz Karimi (2006 - Nov 2007)
• Majid Jalali (Nov 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 - 2010)
• Dariush Yazdi (? - ?)
• Ali Hanteh (? - Dec 2010)
• Nader Dastneshan (Dec 2010- Feb 2011)
• Firouz Karimi (Feb 2011- ?)
• Afshin Komaei (? - ?)
• Dariush Yazdi (Present)

Players

As of December 17, 2010^[1]

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.

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

Famous players

References

1. ^ http://www.persianleague.com/index.php/teams/teams?id=53&view=team&sid=23

See also

• 2011-12 Hazfi Cup
• 2011–12 Iran Football's 2nd Division

Official

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