Gostaresh Foulad F.C.

GFT
گسترش فولاد

Full name	Gostaresh Foulad Tabriz Football Club
Nickname(s)	Göy Dəmirçilər (The Blue Smiths)
Founded	2008; 9 years ago
Ground	Bonyan Diesel Stadium
Ground Capacity	12,000
Owner	Mohammad Reza Zonuzi
Chairman	Hooshang Nasirzadeh
Manager	Luka Bonačić
League	Persian Gulf Pro League
2016–17	Persian Gulf Pro League, 8th
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

Gostaresh Foulad Tabriz Football Club (Persian: باشگاه فوتبال گسترش فولاد تبریز‎‎) is an Iranian football club based in Tabriz, Iran. The club was founded in 2008. They currently compete in the Persian Gulf Pro League. They were promoted from the Azadegan League in the 2012–13 season. The club is owned by Mohammad Reza Zonuzi, an Iranian businessman and economist. Gostaresh is one of the few privately owned clubs in Iran.

Gostaresh Foolad also has a futsal team in the senior, under 22's, under 19's, under 17's, and under 15's levels.

History

Establishment

Formed in 2008, Gostaresh took over the licence of Niroye Zamini when they ran into financial difficulties. Gostaresh had played the previous season in Iran Football's 3rd Division, placing first overall.

Azadegan League

While providing limited results in the clubs inaugural season in the Azadegan League, Gostaresh found success in the Hazfi Cup.

The team reached the finals by securing a 2–0 victory over Persian Gulf Pro League side Zob Ahan^[1] The victory sealed Gostaresh a meeting with Asian powerhouse Persepolis in the Hazfi Cup final.^[1] Clearly outmatched, Gostaresh lost the home leg 1–0 from a goal by Persepolis forward Sheys Rezaei, who scored in the 12th minute.^[2] In the second leg at Azadi Stadium in Tehran, gostaresh lost 3–1 for a total aggregate loss of 4 goals to 1, giving Persepolis the Hazfi Cup.^[3]

In the 2011–2012 season Luka Bonacic took over the clubs managerial role, at the end of the year Gostaresh was tied for second place and a shot at promotion, but goal difference dropped them to third, and hopes of promotion were destroyed on the final day.

The 2012–2013 season saw the introduction of Rasoul Khatibi, his tactics seemed to work and Gostaresh easily clinched automatic promotion to the Iran Pro League

Persian Gulf Pro League

Gostaresh Foolad play in the 2013–14 Iran Pro League season. They lost in the round of 16 of the Hazfi Cup to Azadegan League side Sanat Naft Abadan. In their first year in the league, Gostaresh had a decent season, finishing 10th.

After a bad start to the 2014–15 season Mehdi Tartar was fired as head coach of the club and replaced by Faraz Kamalvand who saved Gostaresh from relegation, finishing in 11th place.

Under Faraz Kamalvand Gostaresh had one of their best ever season in the 2015–16 season, finishing in ninth place. In the summer of 2016, Gostaresh signaled their big ambitions to Iranian football with several big purchases. Namely Brazilian goalkeeper Fernando de Jesus from champions Esteghlal Khuzestan and former national team player Mohammadreza Khalatbari. The club finished a best ever 8th place in the 2016–17 season. However shortly after, Faraz Kamalvand resigned and signed with Sanat Naft Abadan.

Stadium

Bonyan Diesel Stadium is Gostaresh Foolad's main stadium with the capacity of 12,000. The stadium and its complex includes two grass pitches. The club aim's to get an A rating from the Asian Football Confederation regarding their stadium. Starting in the 2014–15 season the club will play its home games at Bonyan Diesel Stadium.

The stadium is expandable and it expanded can host a final capacity of 20,000.

Kit

Since the clubs establishment in 2008, the teams has worn an all blue home kit with an all white away kit, corresponding with the clubs logo. From 2008 to 2014 Gostaresh's kit sponsor was German company Uhlsport who also supplied the Iran national football team and a large number of other Iranian clubs. Starting in the summer of 2014 the club switched to Spanish company Kelme. After only one season with Kelme, Gostaresh once again switched sponsors and chose Iranian based company Merooj.

Season-by-season

Gostaresh Foulad in 2015.

The table below chronicles the achievements of Gostaresh Foolad F.C. in various competitions since 2009.

International Friendlies

Since its establishment Gostaresh has played a number of European friendlies. Their biggest result came on 3 July 2016 after defeating Turkish runners up Fenerbahçe.

  Win   Draw   Loss   Postponed

Eskişehirspor v Gostaresh Foolad

8 January 2016 (2016-01-08)	Eskişehirspor	0–2	Gostaresh Foolad	Turkey
		[4]	Ebrahimi Ebrahimi

Hannover 96 v Gostaresh Foolad

13 January 2016 (2016-01-13)	Hannover 96	2–0	Gostaresh Foolad	Turkey

Fenerbahçe v Gostaresh Foolad

3 July 2016 (2016-07-03)	Fenerbahçe	0–3	Gostaresh Foolad	Turkey
		[5]	Shojaeian Seyedi Seyedi

Gostaresh Foolad v Voluntari

7 July 2016 (2016-07-07)	Gostaresh Foolad	0–0	Voluntari	Turkey

Beşiktaş U23 v Gostaresh Foolad

8 July 2017 (2017-07-08)	Beşiktaş U23	0–2	Gostaresh Foolad	Turkey

Players

First Team Squad

As of July 1, 2017.^[6]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Fernando de Jesus Ribeiro 2 DF Ahmad Reza Zendeh Rouh 3 DF Masoud Haghjou 4 DF Dragan Žarković 5 DF Mohammad Amin Hajmohammadi 6 DF Mehrdad Ghanbari 7 FW Yousef Seyyedi U21 8 MF Kakhaber Kakashvili 9 FW Alireza Arjmandian U23 10 FW Reza Khaleghifar 11 FW Mohammad Amin Darvishi 12 GK Kourosh Maleki 14 MF Andranik Teymourian (captain) 16 MF Alireza Naghizadeh 17 MF Amin Khatibi U21

No. Position Player 19 FW Peyman Babaei U23 24 DF Amin Taghizadeh U23 27 MF Ali Cheraghali U21 33 GK Shahin Mahmoudi U21 34 DF Milad Fakhreddini 35 DF Mohammad Moghanlou U21 37 FW Nima Mokhtari U21 61 FW Masoud Ebrahimzadeh 71 FW Mohammad Ousani 80 FW Alireza Arjomandian U21 88 MF Bahram Ahmadi — MF Mohammad Reza Khorsandnia

Head coaches

Manager	Years
Hossein Khatibi	Jan 2009 – March 2010
Farhad Kazemi	March 2010 – Dec 2010
Luka Bonačić	Dec 15, 2010 – June 25, 2011
Engin Firat	July 1, 2011 – Sept 30, 2011
Mohammad Hossein Ziaei	Oct 2011 – Feb 2012
Hadi Bargizar	Feb 2012 – July 2012
Rasoul Khatibi	July 1, 2012 – Jan 2, 2014
Mehdi Tartar	Jan 2, 2014 – Oct 3, 2014
Faraz Kamalvand	Oct 4, 2014 –May 4, 2017
Luka Bonačić	May 10, 2017 –

Coaching Staff

Staff [7]	Name
Head coach	Luka Bonačić
Assistant coach	Sattar Hamedani
Assistant coach	Satar Nobarimehr
Coach	Mohammad Farshbaf
Coach	Farhad Koochakzadeh
Coach	Abbas Aghaei
Goalkeeping Coach	Darius Esfandiari
Analyzer	Alireza Moradi
Doctor	Darius Khalil Pourazar
Physiotherapist	Musa Najmi
Physiotherapist	Hossein Atar Nosrati
Physiotherapist	Sasan Assadi Eskandani
Technical Manager	Hassan Azarnia

Management

Achievements

• Hazfi Cup

Runners-up (1): 2009–10

• Azadegan League

Winner (1): 2012–13

• League 3

Winner (1): 2008–09

• Persian Gulf Pro League

Fair play Team of the Year: 2014–15^[8]

Unofficial titles

• MDS Cup:
  • Winners (1): 2016

Asian clubs ranking

As of 12 February 2017.^[9]

Current Rank	Country	Team
81		Gostaresh Foulad
82		Gwangju FC
83		Vegalta Sendai
84		Persib Bandung
85		Adelaide United

See also

• Gostaresh Foolad Tabriz FSC

References

External links

• (in Persian) Official Web Site