Paykan F.C.

Paykan
پيکان

Full name	Paykan Football Club
Nickname(s)	خودروسازان (Car makers), لاجوردی ها (Ultramarines)
Founded	1967; 50 years ago
Ground	Shahr-e Qods Stadium
Ground Capacity	25,000
Owner	Iran Khodro
Chairman	Kamran Sahebpanah
Head Coach	Majid Jalali
League	Persian Gulf Pro League
2016–17	Persian Gulf Pro League, 6th
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Paykan Football Club (Persian: باشگاه فوتبال پيکان‎‎) is a football team based in Qods, Iran. The team is sponsored by Iran's main automobile manufacturer Iran Khodro and is named after one of its older products; the Paykan car. Paykan F.C. is the football club of the multisport Paykan Sport Club which also includes Basketball and volleyball teams.

History

Establishment

The club was established in 1967 by Mahmoud Khayami with financial help from the Iran Khodro factory. The main objective was to promote their factory's products, and improve their reputation. They were able to lure great players such as Ali Parvin, Majid Halvaei and Amir Abedini, and several of the Persepolis players of the time. In 1969 the team became the Tehran City League's champions and the team appeared to have a bright future. The team was dissolved in 1970 after a series of difficulties between the players and management. Most of the players went back to Persepolis.

Rebirth of Paykan

Paykan still operated without a football team specifically in the 1980s but carried on with basketball, handball, and volleyball teams. Paykan did not have a football team until the year 2000, when they were able to buy Bahman's shares and participate in the top level of Iranian football after 30 years. The team participated in the 2000–01 Azadegan League with Bahman's squad but with a different coach.

Among Iranian football clubs, the team is known to have one of the better organizations in terms of facilities and management. The team had little success and were relegated from the Iran Pro League in the 2004–05 season. They were back in the IPL for the 06–07 season where they finished a respectable 7th and showed their ability to compete at the highest standard.

Relocation to Qazvin

In 2008 Paykan was moved to Qazvin because the city of Tehran had many football teams with low attendance figures. They started the season well but toward the end their results got worse. The team changed their coach in the last weeks of the 2008–09 season and finished in mid table. Although they finished in the top half of the table in 2009–10 season the club chairman decided to replace Hamid Derakhshan with Mohammad Ahmadzadeh as the head coach. Paykan were relegated in 2010–2011, but the following year they earned their promotion back to the Iran Pro League for the 2012–2013 season.

Tehran and Qods

Paykan moved back to Tehran and started playing in the newly renovated Takhti Stadium. Paykan was relegated to Azadegan League again in April 2013. Before the start of the 2013–14 season Paykan once again relocate and this time to the city of Qods. In the 2013–2014 season Paykan finished 2nd in the Azadegan League, thus giving them a shot at Iran Pro League promotion. Paykan defeated Siah Jamegan 3–1 on aggregate and advanced to play Iran Pro League club Fajr Sepasi in a promotion play-off. The first game in Shiraz ended 0–0 with neither team getting the upper hand. But, in the return leg in Qods, Paykan achieved promotion with a lone goal in the 65th minute. Following the good support from the people of Qods, Paykan announced they will be playing in that city for the 2014–15 Persian Gulf Pro League season. At the end of the 2014–15 season, Paykan finished 15th and was relegated.

In the 2015–16 Azadegan League season, Paykan finished first and were directly promoted to the Persian Gulf Pro League. In the winter of 2017, after a good first half of the season, Paykan became the first ever Persian Gulf Pro League side to sign an Afghan player, when they signed Afghan national team captain Faysal Shayesteh.

Seasons

Sponsorship

Official sponsors

For the 2007/08 season it has been announced that Paykan's official kit sponsor will be ISACO.

Kit providers

• 2008/09: Majid
• 2009/10: Daei
• 2011/12: Umbro^[1]

Club chairmen

• Nader Shahsavari (1970–05)
• Hossein Kafami (2005–06)
• Ibrahim Sanaei (2006–07)
• Mostafa Karkhaneh (2007–08)
• Mohammad-Reza Davarzani (2008)
• Kamran Sahebpanah (2008–)

Club managers

Managerial history

Players

First-team squad

As of 1 July 2017

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 Rahman Ahmadi 2 MF Mehdi Shiri 4 DF Amir Hossein Sadeghi 6 MF Amir Hossein Amiri U23 7 MF Mohammad Sadegh Barani (captain) 8 MF Abolfazl Ebrahimi 9 FW Morteza Aghakhan 10 MF Mehdi Momeni 11 MF Bakhtiar Rahmani 12 GK Payam Niazmand U23 13 FW Ali Abbasi U23 14 MF Mahan Rahmani U21 15 DF Mehran Mousavi 16 DF Arman Ghasemi

No. Position Player 17 DF Shahriar Moghanlou U23 19 FW Peyman Ranjbari 20 DF Hojjat Haghverdi 22 DF Amir Hossein Bayat U21 23 FW Kenneth Ikechukwu 24 MF Sadegh Nikfar U21 31 GK Hojjat Sedghi U23 35 MF Esmaeil Babaei U21 37 MF Mehdi Feyzabadi U21 40 DF Ali Hamoudi 77 MF Sajjad Ashouri 88 FW Faraz Emamali U23 90 FW Amir Roostaei U21 99 MF Amir Hossein Karimi U21

For recent transfers, see List of Iranian football transfers summer 2017.

Former players

For notable former players, see Category:Paykan F.C. players.

Honours

• Azadegan League:
  • Winners (2): 2011–12, 2015–16
  • Runners–up (1): 2005–06, 2013–14
• Friendship Cup:
  • Winners (1): 1970
• Tehran Football League:
  • Winners (1): 1968–69

References

1. ↑ http://farsi.farhadkazemi.net/archives/301
2. ↑ http://farhadkazemi.net/archives/698

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Paykan F.C..

• Official website
• Peykan's History in IPL
• Farhad Kazemi's official website