Sepahan
سپاهان

Full name	Foolad Mobarakeh Sepahan Football Club
Nickname(s)	طوفان زرد آسیا طلایی پوشان اصفهان زرد قناری
Founded	1944
Ground	Naghsh-e-Jahan Stadium Esfahan Iran & Foolad Shahr Stadium Esfahan Iran (Capacity: 75,000&20,000)
Owner	Mobarakeh Steel Company
Chairman	Mohammad Reza Saket
Coach	Amir Ghalenoei
League	Persian Gulf Cup
2008-09	Persian Gulf Cup, 4th
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Sepahan (Persian: باشگاه فوتبال فولاد مبارکه ی سپاهان اصفهان) is an Iranian football club based in Esfahan, Iran. They compete in the Iran Pro League and became IPL Champions in the 2002-03 season, the first league champion outside of Tehran.

Sepahan Football Club is the football division of Foolad Mobarakeh Sepahan Sport Club and is owned by steel company Mobarakeh Steel Co.. Foolad Mobarakeh Sepahan also has a successful handball team, the current champions of the Iranian Handball League and the Silver Medalists at the 2004 Asian Club League Championships.

Sepahan also operates a reserve football team Sepahan Novin, currently competing in the Azadegan League.

Contents 1 Club history 1.1 Early years 1.2 First IPL title 1.3 First Club World Cup appearance 1.4 ACL 2008 1.5 IPL 2007/08 and ACL 2009 1.6 Reserve team 2 Season-by-season 3 Club honours 4 Individual Honours 5 Club managers 6 Players 6.1 First-team squad 6.2 Former players 6.3 Famous players 6.4 World Cup Players 7 Sister clubs 8 Club officials 9 References 10 External links 10.1 Official 10.2 Fan club site

[edit] Club history

[edit] Early years

In 1944, with the help of Mahmoud Hariri, the Shahin Esfahan 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 Esfahan branch was forced to cease operations. The club changed its name to Sepahan. The club played in the local Esfahan leagues for many years until 1993. That year the club was purchased by the Siman (cement) factory of Esfahan. It participated in the Azadegan League until the year 2000, when Foolad Mobarekeh (Steel Mill of Mobarekeh Esfahan) 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.

[edit] First IPL title

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.

[edit] First Club World Cup appearance

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 quarterfinal 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.

[edit] ACL 2008

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.

[edit] IPL 2007/08 and ACL 2009

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.They tried to improve the team where they sacked the brasilian 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.

[edit] Reserve team

Sepahan is also one of the few clubs in Iranian football to have a senior reserve team, Foolad Sepahan Novin F.C., that as of the 2007/08 season, participates in Iran's Azadegan League and the Hazfi Cup.

[edit] Season-by-season

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

[edit] Club honours

• Iran Pro League

Winners (1): 2003

Runner Up (1): 2008

• Hazfi Cup

Winners (3): 2004, 2006, 2007

• Asian Champions League

Runner Up (1): 2007

[edit] Individual Honours

2009 FIFA Confederations Cup

The following players have played in the FIFA Confederations Cup whilst playing for Sepahan :

• 2009 - Abdul-Wahab Abu Al-Hail
• 2009 - Emad Mohammed

[edit] Club managers

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Mahmoud Hariri Mahmoud Yavari Zdravko Rajkov (1977) Mahmoud Yavari Mansour Ebrahimzadeh Masoud Tabesh Firouz Karimi (1993) Rasoul Korbekandi Mahmoud Yavari Mehdi Monajati Hamid Nadimian Stanko Poklepović (2001-02)

Farhad Kazemi (2002-05) Nasser Pourmehdi (Caretaker) Stanko Poklepović (2005) Edson Tavares (2005-06) Luka Bonačić (2006-08) Karim Ghanbari (Caretaker) Jorvan Vieira (2008) Engin Firat (2008) Hossein Charkhabi (2008) Farhad Kazemi (2008-09) Amir Ghalenoei (2009-)

[edit] Players

[edit] First-team squad

No. Position Player 1 GK Mehdi Rahmati 2 DF Amir Saadati 3 DF Hamid Azizadeh 4 MF Moharram Navidkia (captain) 5 DF Hadi Aghily 6 DF Jalal Hosseini 7 FW Emad Mohammed 8 DF Mohsen Bengar 9 MF Mehdi Jafarpour 10 FW Ibrahima Touré 11 MF Mehdi Karimian [1] 12 MF Shahin Kheiri 14 MF Ahmad Alenemeh 15 MF Hossein Papi 16 FW Bahman Tahmasebi

No. Position Player 17 MF Hadi Jafari 18 FW Farzad Hatami 19 MF Javad Maheri 20 FW Ahmad Jamshidian 21 DF Armando Sá 22 GK Rahman Ahmadi 23 DF Reza Talabeh 24 DF Mohammad Reza Zare 25 MF Ebrahim Loveinian 26 FW Jalaledin Alimohammadi 27 MF Hadi Reesh Esfahani 28 MF Ehsan Hajysafi 29 MF Behzad Soltani 32 GK Miad Abazari 40 MF Ali Molaei 43 DF Mohammad Ali Rouzati

For recent transfers, see List of Iranian football transfers summer 2009.

[edit] Former players

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

[edit] Famous players

This is a list of famous or notable sports persons with no clear inclusion or exclusion criteria. Please help to improve Wikipedia by ensuring that there is consensus on the inclusion criteria on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the section contains only verifiable material.

Ahmadreza Abedzadeh Moharram Navidkia Ali Shojaei Mahmoud Karimi Sibaki Rasoul Khatibi Hadi Aghily Majid Basirat Bahram Mavaddat Mahmoud Hariri Mahmoud Yavari Mohsen Garousi Mohsen Bengar

Mohammad Reza Mahdavi Abbas Aghaei Edmond Bezik Hossein Kazemi Mehrdad Minavand Jalal Akbari Abdul-Wahab Abu Al-Hail Emad Mohammed Ridha Armenak Petrosyan Levon Stepanyan Kamil Susko

[edit] World Cup Players

World Cup 1978 Ali Shojaei Bahram Mavaddat

World Cup 2006 Moharram Navidkia

[edit] Sister clubs

Four clubs are affiliated to Sepahan:^[2][3]

• Kawasaki Frontale
• Al Arabi Kuwait
• Jonac FC
• FC Bunyodkor
• Sharjah FC
• Al-Minaa
• Adanaspor
• Fenerbahçe S.K.^[4]
• Al Ahed

[edit] Club officials

Position	Name
President	Mohammad Reza Saket
Vice President	Masoud Tabesh
General Secretary	Abbas Ramezani
Treasurer	Ali Reza Shafiei
Media Officer	Hamid Bagheri

[edit] References

[edit] External links

[edit] Official

• (Persian) Official club website

[edit] Fan club site

• (Persian) Forum

Foolad Mobarekeh Sepahan Sport Club v • d • e
Football | Football Reserves | Handball | Players | Current squad | Managers Ground: Naghsh-e-Jahan Stadium Rivalry : Persepolis rivalry Seasons: 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10

v • d • e Iran Pro League   Iran Football League seasons Takht Jamshid Cup 1973-74 • 1974-75 • 1975-76 • 1976-77 • 1977-78 • 1978-79 Azadegan League (Pre 2001) 1989-90 • 1991-92 • 1992-93 • 1993-94 • 1994-95 • 1995-96 • 1996-97 • 1997-98 • 1998-99 • 1999-2000 • 2000-01 IPL 2001-02 • 2002-03 • 2003-04 • 2004-05 • 2005-06 • 2006-07 • 2007-08 • 2008-09 • 2009-10   2009-10 Iran Pro League clubs (18 clubs) Aboumoslem • Esteghlal Ahvaz • Esteghlal • Foolad • Malavan • Mes • Moghavemat • Pas Hamedan • Paykan • Persepolis • Rah Ahan • Saba • Saipa • Sepahan • Shahin Bushehr • Steel Azin • Tractor Sazi • Zob Ahan   Competitions involving Iranian clubs Domestic IPL • Azadegan League • 2nd Division • 3rd Division • Hazfi Cup • Super Cup Defunct Takht Jamshid Cup • Local Leagues • Qods League • 17th of Shahrivar league • Espandi Cup International AFC Champions League • Asian Cup Winners Cup (Defunct)   IPL awards Iran football award winners   See also Iranian football league system • Foreign Players • Top Scorers: All-time , Seasons

v • d • e Football in Iran League competitions Pro League · Azadegan League  · 2nd Division  · 3rd Division Cup competitions Hazfi Cup · Super Cup National teams Men · Women · U-23 · U-20 · U-17 Lists and categories League system · Champions · Foreign Players · List of clubs · List of venues · Top goalscorers(all-time · by season) Iran Football Federation

v • d • e 2009 AFC Champions League Champions Pohang Steelers Runners-up Al-Ittihad Eliminated in Semi-finals Nagoya Grampus • Umm-Salal Eliminated in Quarter finals Bunyodkor • Pakhtakor Tashkent  • FC Seoul • Kawasaki Frontale Eliminated in Round of 16 Al-Ettifaq • Al-Hilal • Al-Shabab • Gamba Osaka • Kashima Antlers • Newcastle United Jets • Persepolis • Suwon Bluewings Eliminated in group stage Al-Ahli Dubai • Al-Gharafa • Al-Jazira • Al-Shabab • Beijing Guoan • Central Coast Mariners • Esteghlal • Saba Qom • Sepahan • Shandong Luneng • Shanghai Shenhua • Sharjah † • Singapore Armed Forces • Sriwijaya • Tianjin Teda • Ulsan Hyundai † Withdrew from the competition after 4 matches. Schedule • Qualifying play-off • Group stage • Knockout stage • Final

v • d • e Iranian football league champions 8 titles : Persepolis(73-74, 75-76, 95-96, 96-97, 98-99, 99-00, 01-02, 07-08) 6 titles : Esteghlal Tehran (74-75, 89-90, 97-98, 00-01, 05-06, 08-09) 5 titles : PAS Tehran (76-77, 77-78, 91-92, 92-93, 03-04) 3 titles : Saipa (93-94, 94-95, 06-07) 1 title : Sepahan (02-03) Foolad (04-05)