Steel Azin F.C.

Steel Azin

Full name	Steel Azin Football Club
Founded	April 30, 2007
Ground	Shahid Dastgerdi Stadium Tehran
Ground Capacity	8,250
Owner	Hossein Hedayati
Chairman	Saeed Azari[1]
Manager	Mojtaba Haghipour
League	Iran Football's 2nd Division
2012-13	7th
Home colours Away colours

Steel Azin Football Club (Persian: باشگاه فوتبال استيل آذین‎) is an Iranian football club based in Tehran, 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.

History

Ekbatan football club

Re- establishment

Ekbatan football club had been re-established by two of its former players, Rabti & Ghani, in the early 2000s. Moving up the Iranian Soccer ladder year after year, the team reached the Azadegan League 1 in 2003. The team was able to avoid relegation for two consecutive years, but lack of financial resources made the club a top favorite for relegation. Following two dismal years, in the summer of 2005, the club was sold by Rabti & Ghani to an Iranian construction magnate living abroad.

New Era

Following the purchase of the club, the new hierarchy of the club announced a new era, vowing to invest in youth. The first move was a shuffle on the bench. Rabti was replaced by his assistant coach, and was installed as the Technical Director of the team. Ghani remained Club manager in the new Club structure modeled after German teams- it included the owner as club chairman. The club's pre- season included a month long stay in Dubai and matches against Sharjah Wonderers Club, Fabexi FC and Al Nasr SC. With the new investments, a trip to Dubai and a place to call home (Dastgerdi Stadium), Ekbatan was often seen as a possible promotion candidate. Once the season started though, it took only three weeks for the coach to be replaced and Rabti was re- installed as head coach. The club's dismal start to the season continued which saw them at the bottom of the standings by mid season despite a remarkable 1:0 win over league leader Pegah F.C.. The club continued a losing run and Rabti was sacked with 5 games left. Team scout and Ekbatan legend Hadi Ahangaran was given the task of surviving relegation and keeping the club in the league. This proved a successful appointment, and the club narrowly avoided relegation. In preparation to the second season under the owners, Ekbatan made some high profile changes to the backroom staff and Farhad Kazemi as the boards consultant. Former Paykan FC assistant coach under Farhad Kazemi, Mohsen Garousi was named head coach and Ebrahim Vatanikia, one of the countries renowned youth coaches as head of the youth academy. Major changes in the team followed, with only 6 players remaining from the previous season, and this time, the club set their sights on a mid table finish. The club start to the season though was anything but successful as Garousi was fired after losing all of the first seven games. His replacement Asghar Sharafi signed on a two year deal and promised to keep the club in the Second division. Despite an eight match winning streak, the team was not able to avoid a hard fought relegation battle and had to win the play offs to stay in the league. The club was able to secure safety with a win in Esfehan, meaning it had secured its place in the second tier of Iranian football for the fourth consecutive year. Shortly after, speculation began on the club's future. While the senior team had been anything but successful during the past two seasons, the club had proved successful with its ambitious plans for the youth academy. Vatanikia also affirmed the support of the board by praising them in an interview after winning numerous titles with Ebatan's academy.

Hedayati takeover

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 it would e transformed into, the following years.

Youth academy

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.

Iran Pro League

Steel Azin F.C. Headquarters in Tehran

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 club was relegated from the first division and currently plays in the third tier of Iranian football.

Season-by-season

The table below chronicles the achievements of Steel Azin in various competitions since 2007.

Key

Sponsorship

Official sponsor

The official club sponsor is Steel Azin Co, which is also owned by Hossein Hedayati. Under the previous ownership, Fabexi LLC was the main sponsor.

Kit providers

• 2005/06: Aghili
• 2006/07: Farhad
• 2007/08: Daei
• 2009/10: Majid
• 2010/11: Shekari / Umbro / Majid
• 2011–present: Merooj

Players

Current squad

First team

As of 6 September 2011^[4]

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

No. Position Player 3 DF Ali Mohammad Dehghan 7 FW Mehran Farziat 9 DF Mohammad Esmail Nazar 14 DF Mohammad Borjlou — GK Mehdi Ghanbari 21 MF Hamed Khosravi 26 MF Fariborz Gerami — DF Hadi Nazar Pak 40 MF Milad Kermani Magham — MF Mohsen Giahi

No. Position Player — DF Arash Gholizadeh — MF Saeed Heidari — MF Mostafa Mehdi Zadeh — MF Mohammad Mehdi Varankesh — MF Bahman Yousefi Zadeh — FW Morteza Molaeian — FW Farid Behzad — Mohammad Arman — Ali Bouli

For recent transfers, see List of Iranian football transfers, winter 2011–12.

Managers

Name	Nat	From	To
Theo de Jong		June 2007	December 2007
Jan Verheijen (Temp)		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
Mahmoud Yavari		April 2011	June 2011
Human Afazeli		June 2011	February 2012
Mojtaba Kheirandish		February 2012	Present

Notable former players

See also Category:Steel Azin F.C. players.

See also

• Steel Azin Futsal Club

Notes

External links

• Official club website