Sepahan Isfahan FC

Sepahan Esfahan (Persian: باشگاه فوتبال فولاد مبارکه ی سپاهان اصفهان) is an Iranian football club based in Isfahan, Iran. They compete in Iran's top flight known as Persian Gulf League and hold most of the records in the PGL under their belt. Sepahan are the latest champions of the PGL in 2010–11 season for the record third time in the ten-year PGL history. They are also the first and only club to have won the title in back-to-back seasons (2009–2010 and 2010–2011). They became the first non-Tehran based team to win the title in the 2002–03 season.

Sepahan have been the most successful football club in Iran during the 1980s and are one of the only six clubs who have been present in all the PGL editions. They are also the first Iranian club who reached the Asian Champions League final in 2007 and qualified to play in the FIFA Club World Cup the same year.

Sepahan FC is usually referred to as an example for successful and consistent management, and has succeeded in ending the complete dominance of two famous clubs, Persepolis and Esteghlal in the Iranian football. The club is the football division of Foolad Mobarakeh Sepahan Sport Club and is owned by steel company Mobarakeh Steel Co..

Club history

Early years

In 1944, with the help of Mahmoud Hariri, the Shahin Isfahan club was created. This club was one of teams attached to the more popular and successful Shahin F.C. of Tehran. In 1967 due to the problems that arose in the Shahin F.C. organization in Tehran, the Isfahan branch was forced to cease operations. The club changed its name to Sepahan. The club played in the local Isfahan leagues for many years until 1993. That year the club was purchased by the Siman (cement) factory of Isfahan. It participated in the Azadegan League until the year 2000, when Foolad Mobarekeh (Steel Mill of Mobarekeh Isfahan) bought the team from the Siman factory. The team now plays under the name of Foolad Mobarakeh Sepahan, and enjoys very good support by the club board, and has been able to attain a respectable fan base in its hometown.

IPL & AFC Champions League

The club was able to demonstrate its worth when it captured the league title in the 2002–2003 season of the IPL, and qualified for the AFC Champions League tournament. It also won the Hazfi Cup in 2004 and was able to qualify for another season of the ACL competition, though the club did not have much success in the continental tournaments of ACL 2004 and 2005.

With Luka Bonačić, Sepahan was able to once again win the Hazfi Cup on September 22, 2006. With this win, they gained Iran's final and second spot in the AFC Champions League 2007. They were impressive in continental stage as they finished top of their group and defeated Kawasaki Frontale of Japan and Al Wahda of the UAE to reach the final of the newly established continental tournament for the first time. Although they lost the final to Urawa Red Diamonds on aggregate, by reaching the final, Sepahan became the first Iranian club to qualify for the FIFA Club World Cup.

In the opening match of the FIFA Club World Cup 2007, Sepahan defeated Waitakere United of New Zealand to reach the quarter-final where they met Urawa Red Diamonds for a spot in the semifinal match against AC Milan. Urawa Reds managed to defeat Sepahan for the second time in just one month, reaching the semifinals of the FIFA Club World Cup.

By winning the Hazfi Cup once again in 2007, Sepahan also qualified for the AFC Champions League 2008, but could not repeat their success of 2007.

Sepahan has qualified for the AFC Champions League for the third consecutive time in 2009, coming as the Runners-up in Persian Gulf Cup 2007-08. Sepahan lost the title by only one point to Persepolis F.C., who beat them 2–1 in the last match of the season with a winner six minutes into second half injury time. They tried to improve the team where they sacked the Brazilian coach Viera and replaced him with the German coach Firat but they had a difficult season where they could not win anything in 2008–09 season and changed the coach for 3 times.

In the next season sepahan hired Turkish and former Iran's assistant coach Engin Firat, but he was fired after getting poor result in the league, and Hossein Charkhabi who was Sepahan Novin head coach at that time was replaced with Firat. Although getting good result with team Charkahbi was replaced once again with Farhad Kazemi who got the champion with Sepahan in 2002–03 season. Finally Sepahan finished 4th in the league and qualified for 2010 AFC Champions League Group stage. In the next season club hired former's Iran & Estegjlal head coach Amir Ghalenoei, at the helm of Sepahan's 2010 Season, the club sealed a championship title two weeks before the end of the season with a 2–2 tie against F.C. Aboomoslem.^[1]

In 2010–11 Persian Gulf Cup, Sepahan dominated the league after a slow start and practically won the title 2 weeks before the season end. They also advanced to the knock out stage of the ACL competition, after finishing on top of the table in the group stage. Their group was arguably the group of death, consisting of Al-Helal, Al-Gharafeh and Al-Jazireh. They won their third championship and becomes the most successful team in Iran Pro League.

Reserve team

Sepahan is also one of the clubs in Iranian football to have a senior reserve team, Foolad Sepahan Novin F.C., that as of the 2007/08 season, participates in 3rd Division and the Hazfi Cup.

Esfahan Derby

Main articles: Esfahan Derby

The Naqsh-e Jahan derby is a football match played annually in of Isfahan, Iran, between the two rival professional teams of the city: Zob Ahan F.C. and Sepahan F.C.. Naqsh-e Jahan is an important square in old centrum of Isfahan.

According to Iranian football journalist Afshin Afshar, the competition is one of the most popular annual football events in Iran.^[2]Esfahan derby goes back to the 1970s, when Zob Ahan F.C. and Sepahan F.C. faced each other in Takht Jamshid Cup seasons(1974/75, 1975/76, 1976/77, 1977/78). Their rivalry resumed in the 1990s when they faced each other in Azadegan League seasons (1993/94, 1996/97, 1997/98) and from then on the two met each other twice a year.

Stadium

The Naghsh-e-Jahan Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Isfahan, Iran that is home ground of Sepahan. It is currently used for football matches. The stadium was built in 2003 and holds 45,000 in a three-tier configuration. It is currently used by Sepahan, an Iranian football team in Iran's Premier Football League.The first phase finished in 2003 and they have decided to finish the second phase which is the first floor of the stadium. It was started in 2007 and has been going on but meant to finish by 2008 and is still going on till summer 2011. The final capacity in of the stadium will be 75,000. Sepahan's second home ground is Foolad Shahr Stadium that is home ground of Zob Ahan F.C. too. Some of games of Sepahan is held in that stadium.

Naghsh-e-Jahan Stadium is the third biggest stadium in Iran after Azadi Stadium and Yadegar-e Emam Stadium.

Season-by-season

For details on seasons, see List of Sepahan F.C. seasons

Club honours

• Iran Pro League

Winners (3): 2002–03, 2009–10, 2010–11

Runner Up (1): 2007–08

• Hazfi Cup

Winners (3): 2003–04, 2005–06, 2006–07

• Asian Champions League

Runner Up (1): 2007

Players

As of July 30, 2011

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.

On loan

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 2011–12.

Former players

For details on former players, see Category:Sepahan players.

Sepahan players on international cups

Notable players

This list of former players includes those who received international caps (in bold) while playing for the team, made significant contributions to the team in terms of appearances or goals while playing for the team, or who made significant contributions to the sport either before they played for the team, or after they left. It is clearly not yet complete and all inclusive, and additions and refinements will continue to be made over time.

Managerial history

Below is a list of Sepahan coaches from 1944 until the present day.