2016–17 Esteghlal F.C. season

The 2016–17 season is the Esteghlal Football Club's 16th season in the Persian Gulf Pro League, their 23rd consecutive season in the top division of Iranian football, and 71st year in existence as a football club. They also compete in the Hazfi Cup and AFC Champions League.

Esteghlal F.C.

2016–17 season
President	Reza Eftekhari
Head coach	Ali Reza Mansourian
Stadium	Azadi Stadium
Iran Pro League	2nd
Hazfi Cup	Quarter-finals
AFC Champions League	Round of 16
Top goalscorer	League: Kaveh Rezaei (7 goals) All: Kaveh Rezaei (13 goals)
Highest home attendance	77,560 v Persepolis (12 February 2017)
Lowest home attendance	0 v Naft Tehran (25 July 2016) (spectator ban)
Average home league attendance	32,500
Home colours Away colours
← 2015–16 2017–18 →

Club

Coaching Staff

Position	Staff
Head coach	Alireza Mansourian
Assistant coach	Ali Chini
Assistant coach	Mohammad Khorramgah
Assistant coach	Saleh Mostafavi
Goalkeeper coach	Hamid Babazadeh
Fitness coach	Steven Jones
Physiotherapist	Amin Noroozi
Doctor	Kaveh Sotoudeh
Analyst	Kianoush Forouzesh
Team Manager	Mansour Pourheidari

Source: Jam News

Other information

Chairman	Reza Eftekhari
Deputy Chairman
Media Officer	Mohammad hossein Zarandi
Director of Football
Ground (capacity and dimensions)	Azadi Stadium (78,116 / 110x75m)
Training ground	Nasser Hejazi Training Camp

Kit

Kit manufacturer	Sponsor(s)
Li-Ning	Major Sponsor	Hamrah Avval
	Sleeve	Bimeh Iran
	Back of Shirt	Kosar Credit Institution, Bimeh Iran

Home

Away

Kit information

First team squad

Last updated: 22 May 2017

No.	Name	Nationality	Position(s)	Since	Date of Birth (Age)	Signed from	Ends	Games	Goals
Goalkeepers
1	Mehdi Rahmati		GK	2015	(1983-02-02)2 February 1983 (aged 33)	Paykan	2019	223	0
19	Arshia Babazadeh		GK	2016	(1995-11-05)5 November 1995 (aged 21)	De Anza Force	2017	0	0
22	Hossein Hosseini		GK	2012	(1992-06-30)30 June 1992 (aged 24)	Youth system	2019	10	0
Defenders
2	Khosro Heydari		RB, RM	2011	(1983-09-14)14 September 1983 (aged 33)	Sepahan	2019	265	7
3	Róbson Januário de Paula		CB	2016	(1994-02-14)14 February 1994 (aged 22)	Bahia	2017	35	0
8	Yaghoub Karimi		LM, LB	2014	(1991-08-31)31 August 1991 (aged 25)	Sepahan	2017	60	1
15	Hrayr Mkoyan		CB, RB, LB	2014	(1986-09-02)2 September 1986 (aged 30)	FC Shirak	2018	75	0
18	Milad Zakipour		LB	2016	(1995-11-23)23 November 1995 (aged 21)	Naft Tehran	2019	23	0
21	Vouria Ghafouri		RB, RM	2016	(1987-09-20)20 September 1987 (aged 29)	Sepahan	2017	22	0
33	Majid Hosseini		CB, RB, DM	2014	(1996-06-20)20 June 1996 (aged 20)	Youth system	2017	24	1
90	Leandro Padovani Celin		CB	2016	(1983-12-21)21 December 1983 (aged 33)	Sepahan	2017	32	2
Midfielders
6	Omid Ebrahimi		DM, CM	2014	(1987-09-16)16 September 1987 (aged 29)	Sepahan	2017	100	28
11	Jaber Ansari		AM, LM, RM	2015	(1987-01-10)10 January 1987 (aged 29)	Gostaresh Foulad	2017	64	16
13	Miad Yazdani		RM, LM	2016	(1992-08-26)26 August 1992 (aged 24)	Sepidrood Rasht	2019	6	0
14	Farshid Bagheri		DM	2016	(1992-06-05)5 June 1992 (aged 24)	Saba Qom	2018	26	2
24	Omid Noorafkan		DM, CM, LB	2015	(1997-04-09)9 April 1997 (aged 19)	Youth system	2017	30	3
28	Mohsen Karimi		LW, RW	2014	(1994-09-20)20 September 1994 (aged 22)	Youth system	2018	52	10
74	Mojtaba Haghdoust		AM, LM, RM	2016	(1996-01-22)22 January 1996 (aged 20)	Naft Tehran	2017	23	2
77	Behnam Barzay		RW, LW	2015	(1993-02-11)11 February 1993 (aged 23)	Rah Ahan	2017	50	7
88	Farshid Esmaeili		AM, CM, RM	2015	(1994-02-23)23 February 1994 (aged 22)	Fajr Sepasi	2018	58	4
Forwards
9	Kaveh Rezaei		CF	2016	(1992-04-05)5 April 1992 (aged 24)	Zob Ahan	2017	39	12
17	Ali Ghorbani		CF, RW, LW	2016	(1990-09-18)18 September 1990 (aged 26)	Naft Tehran	2018	39	8
Players transferred during the season
7	Bakhtiar Rahmani		AM, CF, RW, LW	2016	(1991-09-23)23 September 1991 (aged 25)	Naft Tehran	2018	16	1
16	Arash Afshin		CF, RW, LW	2016	(1989-01-21)21 January 1989 (aged 27)	Naft Tehran	2018	6	0
20	Meysam Majidi		LB, LM	2015	(1986-10-25)25 October 1986 (aged 30)	Esteghlal Khuzestan	2017	31	3
55	Mohammad Amin Hajmohammadi		CB	2015	(1991-02-14)14 February 1991 (aged 25)	Naft Tehran	2017	18	1

Persian Gulf Pro League squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  IRN Mehdi Rahmati (Captain) 2 DF  IRN Khosro Heydari (Vice-captain) 3 DF  BRA Róbson Januário U23 5 DF  IRN Hossein Kanaanizadegan U23 6 MF  IRN Omid Ebrahimi 8 MF  IRN Yaghoub Karimi 9 FW  IRN Kaveh Rezaei 11 MF  IRN Jaber Ansari 13 MF  IRN Miad Yazdani 14 MF  IRN Farshid Bagheri 15 DF  ARM Hrayr Mkoyan 17 FW  IRN Ali Ghorbani 18 DF  IRN Milad Zakipour U23

No. Pos. Nation Player 19 GK  IRN Arshia Babazadeh U23 21 DF  IRN Vouria Ghafouri 22 GK  IRN Hossein Hosseini 24 MF  IRN Omid Noorafkan U21 28 MF  IRN Mohsen Karimi U23 30 DF  IRN Azim Gök U21 33 DF  IRN Majid Hosseini U21 74 MF  IRN Mojtaba Haghdoust U21 77 FW  IRN Behnam Barzay 88 MF  IRN Farshid Esmaeili U23 90 DF  BRA Leandro Padovani 99 MF  IRN Alireza Sayyar U23

• List of Esteghlal squad in Iran league Organization^[1]
• [U19 = Under 19 Player | U21 = Under 21 Player | U23 = Under 23 Player]^[2]

New contracts

No.	Pos	Name	Age	Contract length	Ends	Date	Source
2	RB	Khosro Heydari	32	3 years	2019	19 June 2016	[3]
4	DM	Roozbeh Cheshmi	22	3 years	2019	29 June 2016	[4]
6	DM	Omid Ebrahimi	28	1 year	2017	3 July 2016	[5]
15	CB	Hrayr Mkoyan	29	2 years	2018	4 July 2016	[6]
22	GK	Hossein Hosseini	24	3 years	2019	19 July 2016	[7]

Transfers

Main articles: List of Iranian football transfers summer 2016 and List of Iranian football transfers winter 2016–17

In

Summer

No.	Pos	Nat.	Name	Age	Moving From	Type	Ends	Date	Source
7	CM		Bakhtiar Rahmani	26	Tractor Sazi	Free transfer	2018	3 June 2016	[8]
14	DM		Farshid Bagheri	24	Saba Qom	Free transfer	2018	4 June 2016	[9]
21	RB		Vouria Ghafouri	28	Sepahan	Free transfer	2017	5 June 2016	[10]
22	GK		Hossein Hosseini	23	Malavan	Loan return	2017	7 June 2016	[11]
19	LB		Milad Zakipour	20	Naft Tehran	Free transfer	2019	8 June 2016	[12]
17	CF		Ali Ghorbani	25	Naft Tehran	Free transfer	2018	9 June 2016	[13]
5	CB		Hossein Kanaanizadegan	22	Persepolis	Free transfer	2018	14 June 2016	[14]
23	CB		Majid Hosseini	19	Rah Ahan	Loan return	2017	16 June 2016	[15]
12	GK		Arshia Babazadeh	21	De Anza Force	Free transfer		17 June 2016	[16]
9	CF		Kaveh Rezaei	24	Zob Ahan	Free transfer	2017	19 June 2016	[17]
16	CF		Arash Afshin	27	Malavan	Free transfer	2018	20 June 2016	[18]
13	RM		Mi'ad Yazdani	24	Sepidrood Rasht	Free transfer	2019	31 July 2016	[19]
30	CB		Alireza Sayyar	21	Gol Gohar	Free transfer		5 September 2016	[20]
90	CB		Leandro Padovani	32	Sepahan	Free transfer	2017	6 September 2016	[21]

Winter

No.	Pos	Nat.	Name	Age	Moving From	Type	Ends	Date	Source
44	AM		Server Djeparov	34	Lokomotiv Tashkent	Free transfer	2018	15 January 2017	[22]

Out

Summer

No.	Pos	Nat.	Name	Age	Moving To	Type	Date	Source
1	GK		Vahid Talebloo	34	Foolad	Released	8 June 2016	[23]
16	AM		Mehdi Momeni	30	Esteghlal Khuzestan	Released	8 June 2016	[24]
14	CF		Pero Pejić	33	FK Kukësi	Released	8 June 2016	[25]
3	DM		Mohammad Reza Khorsandnia	28	Padideh	Released	8 June 2016	[26]
34	RB		Milad Fakhreddini	26	Naft Tehran	End of Contract	8 June 2016	[27]
5	CB		Hanif Omranzadeh	31	Khooneh Be Khooneh	End of Contract	8 June 2016	[28]
9	CF		Arash Borhani	32	Paykan	End of Contract	8 June 2016	[29]
99	RM		Adil Chihi	28	FSV Frankfurt	End of Contract	8 June 2016	[30]
33	GK		Amir Hossein Najafi	19	Sardar Bukan	Released	17 June 2016	[31]
37	CM		Mohammad Mehdi Rajabifar	18	Moghavemat Tehran	Free transfer	21 June 2016	[32]
17	CM		Milad Shabanloo	21	Sanat Naft	Released	23 June 2016	[33]
19	RM		Alireza Ramezani	23	Tractor Sazi	Free transfer	26 June 2016	[34]
10	CF		Sajjad Shahbazzadeh	26	Alanyaspor	Transfer	20 July 2016	[35]
26	RB		Iman Abbaszadeh	20	Nassaji	Free transfer	15 August 2016	[36]

Winter

No.	Pos	Nat.	Name	Age	Moving To	Type	Date	Source
16	CF		Arash Afshin	27	Esteghlal Khuzestan	Released	5 January 2017	[37]
7	CM		Bakhtiar Rahmani	25	Foolad	Released	17 January 2017	[38]
55	CB		Mohammad Amin Hajmohammadi	26	Machine Sazi	Released	21 January 2017	[39]
20	LM		Meysam Majidi	30	Saba Qom	Released	25 January 2017	[40]

Loan in

Summer

No.	Pos	Nat.	Name	Age	Loaned From	Start	End	Source
3	CB		Róbson Januário	22	Bahia	24 June 2016	30 June 2017	[41]
74	AM		Mojtaba Haghdoost	20	Naft Tehran	31 August 2016	June 2017	[42]

Loan out

Winter

No.	Pos	Nat.	Name	Age	Loaned To	Start	End	Source
44	AM		Server Djeparov	34	Sepahan	2 February 2017	1 June 2017	[43]
4	DM		Roozbeh Cheshmi	23	Saba Qom	15 February 2017	1 June 2017	[44]

Friendly Matches

Pre-season

Esteghlal v Esteghlal B

2 July 2016 (2016-07-02) 1	Esteghlal	5 – 0	Esteghlal B	Tehran, Iran
17:45 (UTC+03:30)	V. Ghafouri 20' K. Rezaei 35', 38' F. Bagheri 45' M. Majidi	report		Stadium: Nasser Hejazi Camp Attendance: 2,000

Ararat v Esteghlal

8 July 2016 (2016-07-08) 2	Ararat	1 – 0	Esteghlal	Yerevan, Armenia
18:30 (UTC+04:00)	65'	report		Stadium: Yerevan Football Academy Attendance: 200

Gandzasar Kapan v Esteghlal

14 July 2016 (2016-07-14) 3	Gandzasar Kapan	1 – 4	Esteghlal	Armenia
19:00 (UTC+04:00)		report	J. Ansari 34', 44', 45' Y. Karimi 70' (pen.)	Attendance: 50

Esteghlal v Khooneh Be Khooneh

18 July 2016 (2016-07-18) 4	Esteghlal	3 – 1	Khooneh Be Khooneh	Tehran, Iran
19:00 (UTC+03:30)	K. Rezaei 18' J. Ansari O. Ebrahimi p'	report	R. Bagheri	Stadium: Azadi Football Training Pitches Attendance: 2,000

Mid-season

Esteghlal v PAS Hamedan

19 August 2016 (2016-08-19) 1	Esteghlal	0 – 1	PAS Hamedan	Tehran, Iran
18:00 (UTC+03:30)		report	S. Kowsari 19'	Stadium: Azadi Stadium

Esteghlal v Shahrdari Fouman

21 August 2016 (2016-08-21) 2	Esteghlal	1 – 1	Shahrdari Fouman	Tehran, Iran
18:15 (UTC+03:30)	A. Ghorbani 10'	report	S. Delavar	Stadium: Azadi Stadium

Esteghlal v Rah Ahan

28 August 2016 (2016-08-28) 3	Esteghlal	2 – 1	Rah Ahan	Tehran, Iran
17:45 (UTC+03:30)	J. Ansari 36' A. Ghorbani 78'	report	M. Jamshidi 76'	Stadium: Azadi Stadium

Esteghlal v Saba Qom

4 September 2016 (2016-09-04) 4	Esteghlal	2 – 0	Saba Qom	Tehran, Iran
17:15 (UTC+03:30)	M. Hosseini 65' A. Ghorbani 80'	report		Stadium: Azadi Stadium

Competitions

Overview

Competition	First match	Last match	Starting round	Final position	Record
					Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Pro League	25 July 2016	4 May 2017	—	Runners-up	30	16	9	5	45	27	+18	053.33
Hazfi Cup	1 October 2016	20 December 2016	Round of 32	Quarter-Final	4	3	0	1	5	3	+2	075.00
AFC Champions League	7 February 2017	29 May 2017	qualifying play-off	Round of 16	9	5	2	2	12	11	+1	055.56
Total					43	24	11	8	62	41	+21	055.81

Last updated: 12 June 2017 (2017-06-12).
Source: Competitions

Persian Gulf Pro League

Main article: 2016–17 Persian Gulf Pro League

Standings

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Persepolis (C)	30	20	6	4	46	14	+32	66	Qualification for the 2018 AFC Champions League group stage
2	Esteghlal	30	16	9	5	45	27	+18	57
3	Tractor Sazi	30	15	11	4	38	24	+14	56
4	Zob Ahan	30	12	10	8	39	30	+9	46	Qualification for the 2018 AFC Champions League qualifying play-offs
5	Sepahan	30	12	9	9	38	34	+4	45

Updated to match(es) played on 4 May 2017. Source: IPL Stats, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored.^[45]
(C) Champions

Results summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
26	13	9	4	39	23	+16	48	6	4	3	20	16	+4	7	5	1	19	7	+12

Last updated: 7 April 2017.
Source: Ipl Stats

Results by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
Ground	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H
Result	D	L	L	D	D	D	W	W	W	D	D	W	L	W	D	W	L	W	W	W	W	W	D	W	W	D	W	L	W	W
Position	7	12	15	15	14	15	10	7	5	5	6	5	7	7	7	5	6	4	4	3	3	3	3	3	2	2	2	3	2	2

Updated to match(es) played on 7 April 2017. Source: "Ipl".
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Matches

  Win   Draw   Loss   Postponed

Esteghlal v Naft Tehran

25 July 2016 (2016-07-25) 1	Esteghlal	1 – 1	Naft Tehran	Tehran
20:45 IRDT (UTC+04:30)	J. Ansari 31'	report	A. Motahari 68' R. Aliyari  90'	Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 0 (spectator ban) Referee: Hossein Zargar

Esteghlal Khuzestan v Esteghlal

31 July 2016 (2016-07-31) 2	Esteghlal Khuzestan	2 – 1	Esteghlal	Ahvaz
20:45 IRDT (UTC+04:30)	H. Beyt Saeed 25', 84'	report	K. Rezaei 77'	Stadium: Ghadir Stadium Attendance: 10,000 Referee: Mouood Bonyadifar

Esteghlal v Sanat Naft

5 August 2016 (2016-08-05) 3	Esteghlal	1 – 2	Sanat Naft	Tehran
20:30 IRDT (UTC+04:30)	A. Ghorbani 66'	report	H. Baghlani  58' 90+3' (pen.) K. Gwi-hyeon  66' R. Norouzi 86'	Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 55,000 Referee: MohammadReza Akbarian

Paykan v Esteghlal

11 August 2016 (2016-08-11) 4	Paykan	1 – 1	Esteghlal	Shahr-e Qods
18:15 IRDT (UTC+04:30)	A. Sadeghi  7' S. Nemati  33' M. Aghakhan 40'  40' M. Shiri  88'	report	B. Rahmani  36' R. Januário  42' B. Barzay 82' H. Mkoyan  83'	Stadium: Shahr-e Qods Stadium Attendance: 8,360 Referee: Reza Kermanshahi

Esteghlal v Machine Sazi

11 September 2016 (2016-09-11) 5	Esteghlal	1 – 1	Machine Sazi	Tehran
18:45 IRDT (UTC+04:30)	K. Rezaei 7'	report	S. Narimanjahan 52' A. Amir Kamdar  81'	Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 15,000

Persepolis v Esteghlal

16 September 2016 (2016-09-16) 6	Persepolis	0 – 0	Esteghlal	Tehran
17:00 IRDT (UTC+04:30)	A. Alipour  21'	report	O. Ebrahimi  13' F. Bagheri  69' K. Heydari  89'	Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 75,000 Referee: Alireza Faghani

Esteghlal v Zob Ahan

20 September 2016 (2016-09-20) 7	Esteghlal	2 – 1	Zob Ahan	Tehran
19:30 IRDT (UTC+04:30)	K. Rezaei  37' O. Ebrahimi 43' (pen.) A. Ghorbani 48'	report	M. Tabrizi 64' M. Hosseini  78'	Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 35,000 Referee: Hamid Haj Malek

Siah Jamegan v Esteghlal

15 October 2016 (2016-10-15) 8	Siah Jamegan	0 – 1	Esteghlal	Mashhad
15:30 IRST (UTC+03:30)	M. Khanzadeh  66' A. Kalantari  90+1'	report	K. Rezaei 27' O. Khaledi  88'	Stadium: Samen Stadium Attendance: 15,700 Referee: Seyed Reza Mahdavi

Esteghlal v Saipa

21 October 2016 (2016-10-21) 9	Esteghlal	2 – 0	Saipa	Tehran
16:45 IRST (UTC+03:30)	M. Karimi 76' J. Ansari 82' L. Padovani  88'	report	O. Khaledi  32'	Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 25,000 Referee: Mouood Bonyadifar

Foolad v Esteghlal

27 October 2016 (2016-10-27) 10	Foolad	1 – 1	Esteghlal	Ahvaz
16:40 IRST (UTC+03:30)	J. Ansari 35' F. Esmaeili  44' L. Padovani  69'	report	A. Nasseri  64' S. Ansari 77' Y. Vakia  83'	Stadium: Ghadir Stadium Attendance: 25,000 Referee: Mohsen Torky

Esteghlal v Gostaresh

25 November 2016 (2016-11-25) 11	Esteghlal	2 – 2	Gostaresh	Tehran
16:20 IRST (UTC+03:30)	M. Hosseini 14' (o.g.) M. Karimi 23'	report	L. Pereira 43' F. de Jesus  74' A. Naghizadeh 80'	Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 10,000 Referee: Mohammad Hossein Zahedifar

Saba Qom v Esteghlal

1 December 2016 (2016-12-01) 12	Saba Qom	0 – 2	Esteghlal	Qom
16:20 IRST (UTC+03:30)	R. Enayati  8'  40' H. Divsalar  55' G. Dehnavi  76' M. Haghjou  86'	report	K. Rezaei 18' A. Ghorbani 68' B. Rahmani  80' Y. Karimi  86'	Stadium: Yadegar-e Emam Stadium Attendance: 7,000 Referee: Mehdi Seyedali

Esteghlal v Tractor Sazi

9 December 2016 (2016-12-09) 13	Esteghlal	1 – 2	Tractor Sazi	Tehran
15:00 IRST (UTC+03:30)	K. Rezaei 7'  90+3' O. Ebrahimi  29' Y. Karimi  83'	report	F. Hatami 56', 68'  77'	Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 55,000 Referee: Bijan Heydari

Esteghlal v Padideh

15 December 2016 (2016-12-15) 14	Esteghlal	1 – 0	Padideh	Tehran
16:20 IRST (UTC+03:30)	J. Ansari 69'	report	M. Kafshgari  54' A. Jafari  63'	Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 6,000 Referee: Vahid Kazemi

Sepahan v Esteghlal

25 December 2016 (2016-12-25) 15	Sepahan	1 – 1	Esteghlal	Isfahan
16:25 IRST (UTC+03:30)	J. Alimohammadi 69'	report	F. Esmaeili  21' H. Mkoyan  56' B. Barzay 90+2'	Stadium: Naghsh-e Jahan Stadium Attendance: 35,000 Referee: Alireza Faghani

Naft Tehran v Esteghlal

12 January 2017 (2017-01-12) 16	Naft Tehran	0 – 1	Esteghlal	Tehran
16:35 IRST (UTC+03:30)	R. Asadi  12' V. Hamdinejad  13' I. Alekasir  22' M. Farahani  90+3'	report	M. Hosseini  7' O. Ebrahimi  16' 59' H. Hosseini  71'	Stadium: Takhti Stadium Attendance: 6,854 Referee: Tooraj Haghverdi Man of the Match: Omid Ebrahimi

Esteghlal v Esteghlal Khuzestan

17 January 2017 (2017-01-17) 17	Esteghlal	1 – 2	Esteghlal Khuzestan	Tehran
16:40 IRST (UTC+03:30)	L. Padovani  49' M. Hosseini  66' K. Rezaei 88'	report	S. Bahrani  58' H. Beyt Saeed 68' A. Alaei  79' A. Ashouri 83' M. Tayyebi  90'  90+1'	Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: Payam Heydari

Sanat Naft v Esteghlal

22 January 2017 (2017-01-22) 18	Sanat Naft	0 – 3	Esteghlal	Abadan
16:45 IRST (UTC+03:30)	M. Mamashli  82'	report	V. Ghafouri  15' M. Haghdoust 28' B. Barzay 56' M. Hosseini 62' M. Yazdani  90'	Stadium: Takhti Stadium (Abadan) Attendance: 15,000 Referee: Ashkan Khorshidi Man of the Match: Omid Ebrahimi

Esteghlal v Paykan

27 January 2017 (2017-01-27) 19	Esteghlal	3 – 2	Paykan	Tehran
16:45 IRST (UTC+03:30)	O. Ebrahimi 13' O. Noorafkan 61' A. Ghorbani 80' M. Hosseini  85' F. Esmaeili  90+3'	report	S. Yazdani  11' S. Nemati 21'  90+2' M. Aghakhan  35' 87.pen'	Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 7,000 Referee: Mouood Bonyadifar Man of the Match: Ali Ghorbani

Machine Sazi v Esteghlal

1 February 2017 (2017-02-01) 20	Machine Sazi	0 – 3	Esteghlal	Tabriz
17:00 IRST (UTC+03:30)	A. Amir Kamdar  60' F. Abedini  72' H. Gordani  80' M. Hajmohammadi  90+2'	report	L. Padovani  32' A. Ghorbani 42' M. Haghdoust 77' O. Noorafkan 90+2'	Stadium: Yadegar-e Emam Stadium (Tabriz) Attendance: 1,000 Referee: Mohammad Hossein Zahedifar Man of the Match: Omid Noorafkan

Esteghlal v Persepolis

12 February 2017 (2017-02-12) 21	Esteghlal	3 – 2	Persepolis	Tehran
15:00 IRST (UTC+03:30)	F. Esmaeili 18'  74' A. Ghorbani 20' O. Ebrahimi  23' Róbson  27' K. Rezaei 44' M. Rahmati  90+2'  90+3' O. Noorafkan  90+5' B. Barzay  90+5'	report	S. Rafiei 5' H. Mahini  39' J. Hosseini  90+2' 90+3' F. Ahmadzadeh  90+5'	Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 80,000 Referee: Alireza Faghani

Zob Ahan v Esteghlal

16 February 2017 (2017-02-16) 22	Zob Ahan	0 – 2	Esteghlal	Isfahan
15:00 IRST (UTC+03:30)	M. Tabrizi  10' M. Hosseini  80'	report	F. Esmaeili 24' L. Padovani  29' B. Barzay 78' M. Zakipour  88'	Stadium: Foolad Shahr Stadium Attendance: 15,000 Referee: Mouood Bonyadifar Man of the Match: F. Esmaeili

Esteghlal v Siah Jamegan

5 March 2017 (2017-03-05) 23	Esteghlal	1 – 1	Siah Jamegan	Tehran
17:25 IRST (UTC+03:30)	O. Ebrahimi 65' Y. Karimi  66'	Report	G. Jerković 44' A. Jalali  71'	Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 2,000 Referee: Mohammad Hossein Zahedifar Man of the Match: Mohammad Nasseri

Saipa v Esteghlal

10 March 2017 (2017-03-10) 24	Saipa	1 – 2	Esteghlal	Tehran
17:30 IRST (UTC+03:30)	E. Pourghaz  81' 89' A. Kalantari  88'  90+6'	report	M. Hosseini  34' F. Bagheri 41' L. Padovani 90+4'	Stadium: Takhti Stadium Attendance: 5,000 Referee: Mohammad Reza Faghani

Esteghlal v Foolad

31 March 2017 (2017-03-31) 25	Esteghlal	1 – 0	Foolad	Tehran
IRDT (UTC+04:30)	K.Rezaei  60' M.Karimi 71'	Report		Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 25,000 Referee: Hossein Zargar Man of the Match: M.Karimi

Gostaresh v Esteghlal

7 April 2017 (2017-04-07) 26	Gostaresh	1 – 1	Esteghlal	Tabriz
IRDT (UTC+04:30)	M.Naghizadeh 74'	Report	O. Ebrahimi 80'	Stadium: Bonyan Diesel Stadium Attendance: 5,000 Referee: Reza Kermanshahi Man of the Match: Omid Ebrahimi

Esteghlal v Saba Qom

14 April 2017 (2017-04-14) 27	Esteghlal	2 – 1	Saba Qom	Tehran
IRDT (UTC+04:30)	O. Ebrahimi 18' 87'	Report	Keyvan Amraei 28'	Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 15,000 Referee: Hamid Hajmalek Man of the Match: O. Ebrahimi

Tractor Sazi v Esteghlal

20 April 2017 (2017-04-20) 28	Tractor Sazi	1 – 0	Esteghlal	Tabriz
IRDT (UTC+04:30)	Mohammad Ebrahimi 87'	Report	Róbson Januário Omid Ebrahimi	Stadium: Yadegar-e Emam Stadium Attendance: 45,000 Referee: Ashkan Khorshidi

Padideh v Esteghlal

29 April 2017 (2017-04-29) 29	Padideh	1 – 2	Esteghlal	Mashhad
IRDT (UTC+04:30)	Moein Abbasian 33'	Report	Omid Noorafkan 57' Yaghoub Karimi 72' Jaber Ansari 81' Ali Ghorbani 89' Hrayr Mkoyan	Stadium: Samen Stadium Attendance: 8,000 Referee: Payam Heydari Man of the Match: Jaber Ansari

Esteghlal v Sepahan

4 May 2017 (2017-05-04) 30	Esteghlal	2 – 1	Sepahan	Tehran
IRDT (UTC+04:30)	Jaber Ansari 59' Farshid Bagheri 84'	Report	Mehrdad Mohammadi 39'	Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 25000 Referee: Zahedi Fard Man of the Match: Jaber Ansari

Hazfi Cup

Main article: 2016–17 Hazfi Cup

  Win   Draw   Loss   Postponed

Malavan Novin v Esteghlal

1 October 2016 (2016-10-01) First round	Malavan Novin	0 – 2	Esteghlal	Bandar-e Anzali
16:10 IRST (UTC+03:30)	Moaf  16' A. Rahnavard  21'	report	A. Ghorbani 8' B. Rahmani 27' Róbson  35'	Stadium: Takhti Stadium Attendance: 100 Referee: Ali Safaei Man of the Match: Kaveh Rezaei

Esteghlal v Mes Kerman

31 October 2016 (2016-10-31) Second round	Esteghlal	1–0	Mes Kerman	Tehran
16:35 IRST (UTC+03:30)	Y. Karimi  107' M. Karimi 113'	report	M. Ayoubi  28' Z. Kheiri  87'  31' F. Hosseinkhani  92'	Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 10,000 Referee: Mohammad Reza Faghani

Esteghlal v Saba Qom

18 November 2016 (2016-11-18) Round of 16	Esteghlal	0–0 (a.e.t.) (5 – 3 p)	Saba Qom	Tehran
16:20 IRST (UTC+03:30)	F. Esmaeili  80' Y. Karimi  97'	report	G. Dehnavi  31' V. Aliabadi  43'  31' H. Lak  119'	Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 25,000 Referee: Ahmad Salehi
	Penalties
	H. Mkoyan O. Ebrahimi A. Ghorbani Y. Karimi F. Esmaeili		K. Amraei M. Haghjou G. Dehnavi M. Abtahi

Naft Tehran v Esteghlal

20 December 2016 (2016-12-20) Quarter-finals	Naft Tehran	3–2 (a.e.t.)	Esteghlal	Tehran
16:20 IRST (UTC+03:30)	M. Ghazi 2.pen' 108' A. Motahari  22' A. Sadeghi  37' M. Fakhreddini  90' I. Mobali  90' M. Daneshgar  105' I. Alekasir 106'  106'	report	R. Januário  2' K. Rezaei  40' J. Ansari 68' B. Barzay 92'  96' M. Zakipour  119'	Stadium: Takhti Stadium (Tehran) Attendance: 3,000 Referee: Ashkan Khorshidi

AFC Champions League

Main article: 2017 AFC Champions League

Qualifying play-off

Main article: 2017 AFC Champions League qualifying play-off

  Win   Draw   Loss   Postponed

Esteghlal v Al-Sadd

7 February 2017 (2017-02-07) qualifying play-off	Esteghlal	0–0 (a.e.t.) (4–3 p)	Al-Sadd	Tehran
19:00 UTC+3:30	B. Barzay  52' M. Karimi  106'	report	H. Ismail  45+1' J. Hamroun  63'	Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 74,560 Referee: Ahmed Al-Kaf (Oman)
	Penalties
	K. Rezaei O. Ebrahimi A. Ghorbani F. Esmaeili K. Heydari		H. Al-Haidos Xavi I. Majid M. Kasola B. Bounedjah

Group stage

Main article: 2017 AFC Champions League group stage

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Al-Ahli	6	3	2	1	10	5	+5	11[a]	Advance to knockout stage
2	Esteghlal	6	3	2	1	10	5	+5	11[a]
3	Al-Taawoun	6	1	2	3	7	12	−5	5[b]
4	Lokomotiv Tashkent	6	1	2	3	7	12	−5	5[b]

Source: AFC
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
Notes:

1. Head-to-head results: Al-Ahli 2–1 Esteghlal, Esteghlal 1–1 Al-Ahli.
2. Head-to-head results: Al-Taawoun 1–0 Lokomotiv Tashkent, Lokomotiv Tashkent 4–4 Al-Taawoun.

Al-Ahli v Esteghlal

20 February 2017 (2017-02-20) 1	Al-Ahli	2–1	Esteghlal	Dubai, United Arab Emirates
20:15 UAEST (UTC+04:00)	Majed H.  41' M. Diop 45+1', 90' H. Al-Fardan  55'	summary	B. Barzay  10' Róbson  20' K. Heydari  57' O. Ebrahimi 74' M. Zakipour  85'	Stadium: Al-Rashid Stadium Attendance: 5,300 Referee: Peter Green (Australia)

Esteghlal v Al-Taawoun

27 February 2017 (2017-02-27) 2	Esteghlal	3–0	Al-Taawoun	Muscat, Oman
19:30 UTC+4	K.Rezaei 1' J.Ansari  55' M.Karimi 70' L.Padovani 89'	summary	M.Muaaz  88' L.Sânmărtean  90+4'	Stadium: Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex Attendance: 1,050 Referee: Hiroyuki Kimura (Japan)

Esteghlal v Lokomotiv Tashkent

13 March 2017 (2017-03-13) 3	Esteghlal	2–0	Lokomotiv Tashkent	Tehran, Iran
19:00 IRST (UTC+03:30)	Esmaeili 37' Ghorbani 84'	summary		Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 42,369 Referee: Kim Jong-hyeok (South Korea)

Lokomotiv Tashkent v Esteghlal

11 April 2017 (2017-04-11) 4	Lokomotiv Tashkent	1–1	Esteghlal	Tashkent, Uzbekistan
16:00 UST (UTC+05:00)		summary	K.Rezaei 88'	Stadium: Lokomotiv Stadium

Esteghlal v Al-Ahli

25 April 2017 (2017-04-25) 5	Esteghlal	1–1	Al-Ahli	Tehran, Iran
20:15 IRDT (UTC+04:30)	Rezaei 58'	summary	Sanqour 17'	Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 76,428 Referee: Jumpei Iida (Japan)

Al-Taawoun v Esteghlal

9 May 2017 (2017-05-09) 6	Al-Taawoun	1–2	Esteghlal	Doha, Qatar
18:50 AST (UTC+03:00)	Al-Saiari 36'	summary	Ansari 19' Rezaei 76'	Stadium: Hamad bin Khalifa Stadium Attendance: 375 Referee: Hettikamkanamge Perera (Sri Lanka)

Knockout stage

Main article: 2017 AFC Champions League knockout stage

Round of 16

Esteghlal v Al-Ain

22 May 2017 (2017-05-22) First leg	Esteghlal	1–0	Al-Ain	Tehran, Iran
20:45 IRDT (UTC+04:30)	Rezaei 90+2' (pen.)	summary		Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 67,202 Referee: Fu Ming (China)

Al-Ain v Esteghlal

29 May 2017 (2017-05-29) Second leg	Al-Ain	6–1 (6–2 agg.)	Esteghlal	Al Ain, UAE
22:45 UAE (UTC+04:00)	Caio 27', 33' O. Abdulrahman 49', 60' Lee Myung-joo 56' Al-Shamrani 75'	summary	Rezaei 83'	Stadium: Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium Attendance: 19,006 Referee: Ryuji Sato (Japan)

Statistics

Appearances and goals

				Pro League						Hazfi Cup						ACL						Total
No	P	N	Name	S	P			GP	M	S	P			GP	M	S	P			GP	M	S	P			GP	M
1	GK		Mehdi Rahmati	22	22	-21	0	-0.9	1980	4	4	-3	0	-0.6	420	9	9	-11	0	-1.2	840	35	35	-35	0	-1.0	3240
2	RM		Khosro Heydari	17	19	0	3	0.0	1038	2	2	0	0	0.0	140	7	9	0	2	0.0	719	20	22	0	5	0.0	1178
3	CB		Róbson Januário	19	19	0	0	0.0	1350	3	3	0	0	0.0	330	9	9	0	0	0.0	840	22	22	0	0	0.0	1680
5	CB		Kanaanizadegan	2	2	0	0	0.0	180	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	2	2	0	0	0.0	180
6	CM		Omid Ebrahimi	24	24	7	5	0.1	1710	1	2	0	0	0.0	210	7	7	1	1	0.1	624	25	26	8	6	0.1	1920
7	AM		Rahmani	12	13	0	1	0.0	1003	3	3	1	0	0.4	240	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	15	16	1	1	0.1	1243
8	LB		Yaghoub Karimi	11	16	0	0	0.0	1008	2	2	0	0	0.0	240	1	2	0	0	0.0	90	13	15	0	0	0.0	1227
9	CF		Kaveh Rezaei	22	22	7	9	0.3	1607	3	3	0	3	0.0	322	9	9	6	1	0.6	840	27	27	13	13	0.3	1929
11	LW		Jaber Ansari	13	17	6	2	0.3	1127	3	3	1	1	0.3	330	6	2	1	1	0.4	233	17	19	5	4	0.3	1457
13	LW		Mi'ad Yazdani	0	4	0	0	0.0	32	0	1	0	0	0.0	12	0	1	0	0	0.0	2	0	5	0	0	0.0	44
14	DM		Farshid Bagheri	7	15	2	0	0.0	503	3	4	0	0	0.0	360	3	6	0	1	0.4	252	9	19	2	1	0.0	890
15	CB		Hrayr Mkoyan	12	12	0	2	0.0	1070	3	4	0	0	0.0	380	3	4	0	0	0.0	268	13	14	0	2	0.0	1450
16	CF		Arash Afshin	0	3	0	0	0.0	35	1	3	0	0	0.0	138	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	1	6	0	0	0.0	173
17	CF		Ali Ghorbani	13	21	6	3	0.6	776	2	4	1	1	0.2	368	6	8	1	0	0.2	552	15	26	8	4	0.5	1246
18	LB		Milad Zakipour	9	10	0	1	0.0	449	1	1	0	0	0.0	120	7	8	0	2	0.0	646	11	12	0	2	0.0	569
20	LB		Meysam Majidi	0	1	0	0	0.0	9	1	1	0	0	0.0	90	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	1	2	0	0	0.0	99
21	RB		Vouria Ghafouri	13	14	0	2	0.0	1122	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	5	6	0	0	0.0	344	14	16	0	2	0.0	1122
22	GK		Hossein Hosseini	6	6	-5	0	-1.0	360	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	5	5	-4	0	-1.0	360
24	CM		Omid Noorafkan	8	8	2	2	0.3	532	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	6	6	0	0	0.0	570	10	10	2	2	0.3	532
25	CB		Azim Gök	0	1	0	0	0.0	3	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	1	0	0	0.0	3
28	LM		Mohsen Karimi	5	10	4	0	0.8	327	2	2	1	0	0.4	240	3	7	1	0	0.0	346	6	12	5	0	0.6	567
33	CB		Majid Hosseini	12	13	1	0	0.1	811	2	2	0	0	0.0	210	2	3	0	0	0.0	181	12	14	1	0	0.1	1021
74	AM		Haghdoust	7	13	2	0	0.4	481	3	3	0	0	0.0	228	2	4	0	0	0.0	201	9	15	2	0	0.3	709
77	RW		Behnam Barzay	8	10	4	0	0.6	568	1	3	1	0	0.0	120	3	6	0	0	0.0	283	10	15	5	0	0.6	688
88	AM		Farshid Esmaeili	13	20	2	2	0.0	1039	1	3	0	0	0.0	217	6	8	1	1	0.2	564	15	24	3	3	0.0	1256
90	CB		Padovani	14	16	1	1	0.0	1023	3	3	0	0	0.0	360	9	9	1	0	0.1	840	19	21	2	0	0.0	1383
Last updated: 1 February 2017

Disciplinary record

Includes all competitive matches. Players with 1 card or more are included only.

No.	Nat.	Position	Name	Pro League			Hazfi Cup			ACL			Total
7		MF	Bakhtiar Rahmani	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
8		MF	Yaghoub Karimi	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
15		DF	Hrayr Mkoyan	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
TOTALS				3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0

Last updated: 11 August 2016.
Source: Competitive matches

Top scorers

The list is sorted by shirt number when total goals are equal.

Rnk	Pos	No.	Player	Pro League	Hazfi Cup	ACL	Total
1	FW	9	Kaveh Rezaei	7	0	6	13
2	MF	6	Omid Ebrahimi	7	0	1	8
	FW	17	Ali Ghorbani	6	1	1	8
	MF	11	Jaber Ansari	6	1	1	8
3	FW	28	Mohsen Karimi	4	1	1	6
4	FW	77	Behnam Barzay	4	1	0	5
5	MF	24	Omid Noorafkan	3	0	0	3
	MF	88	Farshid Esmaeili	2	0	1	3
6	MF	74	Mojtaba Haghdoust	2	0	0	2
	MF	14	Farshid Bagheri	2	0	0	2
	DF	90	Leandro Padovani	1	0	1	2
7	DF	33	Majid Hosseini	1	0	0	1
	MF	7	Bakhtiar Rahmani	0	1	0	1
Own goals				0	0	0	0
TOTALS				45	5	12	62

Last updated: 3 June 2017.
Source: Competitive matches

Clean sheets

The list is sorted by shirt number when total clean sheets are equal.

Rnk	No.	Player	Pro League	Hazfi Cup	ACL	Total
1	1	Mehdi Rahmati	8	3	4	15
2	22	Hossein Hosseini	3	0	0	3
TOTALS			11	3	4	18

Last updated: 3 June 2016.
Source: Competitive matches

Goals conceded

The list is sorted by shirt number when total 'minutes played' are equal.

Rnk	No.	Player	Pro League	Hazfi Cup	ACL	Total	Minutes Played
1	1	Mehdi Rahmati	21	3	11	35	92.6 min
2	22	Hossein Hosseini	6	0	0	6	120 min
TOTALS			27	3	11	41	96.6 min

Last updated: 3 June 2017.
Source: Competitive matches

See also

• 2016–17 Persian Gulf Pro League
• 2016–17 Hazfi Cup
• 2017 AFC Champions League