2018–19 Zob Ahan F.C. season

The 2018–19 season was Zob Ahan Football Club's 18th season in the Iran Pro League, and their 23rd consecutive season in the top division of Iranian football. They also competed in the Hazfi Cup and AFC Champions League, and had their 48th year in existence as a football club.

Zob Ahan Isfahan FC

2018–19 season
Chairman	Saeid Azari
Manager	Omid Namazi (until 14 November 2018) Alireza Mansourian (from 15 November 2018)
Stadium	Foolad Shahr Stadium
Iran Pro League	6th
Hazfi Cup	Round of 32
AFC Champions League	Round of 16
Home colours Away colours
← 2017–18 2019–20 →

Players

First team squad

As of 30 May 2019.

Out for Injuries

Released – Retired

No.	Name	Nat.	Position(s)	Since	Date of Birth (Age)	Signed From	Ends	Games	Goals
Goalkeepers
1	Mohammad Bagher Sadeghi		GK	2017	(1989-04-01) April 1, 1989 (age 36)	(Youth system) Saipa	2019	57	0
12	Mohammad Rashid Mazaheri		GK	2014	(1989-05-18) May 18, 1989 (age 36)	Foolad	2019	176	0
13	Meraj Esmaeili		GK	2017	(2000-01-13) January 13, 2000 (age 25)	(Youth system)	2020	2	0
Defenders
2	Mohammad Nejad Mehdi		CB / RB	2015	(1992-10-20) October 20, 1992 (age 32)	Padideh	2019	128	7
3	Vahid Mohammadzadeh		CB / LB	2016	(1989-05-16) May 16, 1989 (age 36)	Saipa	2020	105	5
4	Hadi Mohammadi		CB	2014	(1991-03-08) March 8, 1991 (age 34)	Damash	2019	93	5
5	Aref Gholami		CB / RB	2018	(1997-04-19) April 19, 1997 (age 28)	Sepahan	2019	7	0
24	Mehran Derakhshan Mehr		LB / LM	2015	(1998-08-10) August 10, 1998 (age 27)	(Youth system)	2018	65	3
26	Mojtaba Moghtadaei		RB	2018	(1996-03-20)March 20, 1996 (aged 22)	Sanat Naft	2021	8	0
61	Masoud Ebrahimzadeh		LB / LM	2018	(1989-01-16) January 16, 1989 (age 36)	Sanat Naft	2020	19	0
69	Milad Fakhreddini		RB / RM	2018	(1990-05-26) May 26, 1990 (age 35)	Gostaresh Foulad	2020	55	4
Midfielders
6	Hamid Bou Hamdan		DM / LB	2017	(1991-05-05)May 5, 1991 (aged 27)	Foolad	2020	75	2
7	Mohammad Reza Hosseini		RW / AM	2015	(1989-09-15) September 15, 1989 (age 35)	Fajr Sepasi	2019	133	14
8	Ghasem Hadadifar		CM / DM	2003	(1983-07-12) July 12, 1983 (age 42)	(Youth system)	2019	349	20
10	Mohsen Mosalman		AM / CM	2018	(1991-01-27)January 27, 1991 (aged 27)	(Youth system) Persepolis	2020	147	15
17	Mohammadreza Abbasi		AM / LW / RW	2014	(1996-07-27) July 27, 1996 (age 29)	(Youth system)	2020	81	5
20	Zobeir Niknafs		DM / CM	2018	(1993-04-12)April 12, 1993 (aged 25)	Sanat Naft	2020	29	1
23	Reza Habibzadeh		LW / RW	2018	(1996-04-13)April 13, 1996 (aged 22)	Naft Tehran	2021	23	3
47	Mojtaba Haghdoust		AM	2018	(1996-01-22)January 22, 1996 (aged 22)	Foolad	2021	0	0
77	Abouzar Safarzadeh		RW / LW	2018	(1995-12-24)December 24, 1995 (aged 22)	Fajr Sepasi	2021	2	0
Forwards
9	Masoud Hassanzadeh		CF	2018	(1991-04-12) April 12, 1991 (age 34)	Sepahan	2020	56	17
14	Eddie Hernández		CF	2018	(1991-02-27) February 27, 1991 (age 34)	Irtysh Pavlodar	2019	3	2
99	Marion Silva Fernandes		LW / CF	2018	(1991-09-07) September 7, 1991 (age 33)	CRB	2020	2	0
loan Players
6	Mehdi Mehdipour		DM, CM	2014	(1994-02-18)February 18, 1994 (aged 24)	On loan at Tractor Sazi		106	2
23	Danial Esmaeilifar		RM, RB	2014	(1993-02-26)February 26, 1993 (aged 25)	On loan at Tractor Sazi		104	6
10	Ehsan Pahlavan		LM, LW, AM	2013	(1993-07-25)July 25, 1993 (aged 24)	On loan at Tractor Sazi		131	13
Players transferred during the season
11	Morteza Tabrizi		LW / CF	2013	(1991-01-06) January 6, 1991 (age 34)	Moving to Esteghlal		180	53

Transfers

In

No	P	Name	Age	Moving from	Ends	Transfer fee	Type	Transfer window	Quota	Source
4	CB	Hadi Mohammadi	27	Tractor Sazi	2019	—	Loan return	Summer		[1]
22	GK	Mohammad Amin Bahrami	21	Tractor Sazi	2019	—	Loan return	Summer
9	FW	Masoud Hassanzadeh	27	Sepahan	2020	—	Transfer	Summer		[2]
10	MF	Mohsen Mosalman	27	Persepolis	2020	—	Transfer	Summer		[3]
61	DF	Masoud Ebrahimzadeh	29	Sanat Naft	2020	—	Transfer	Summer		[4]
23	MF	Reza Habibzadeh	22	Naft Tehran	2021	—	Transfer	Summer
77	MF	Abouzar Safarzadeh	22	Fajr Sepasi	2021	—	Transfer	Summer
20	MF	Zobeir Niknafs	25	Sanat Naft	2020	—	Transfer	Summer		[5]
47	MF	Mojtaba Haghdoust	22	Foolad	2021	—	Transfer	Summer		[6]
99	FW	Marion Silva Fernandes	26	CRB	2020	—	Transfer	Summer		[7]
14	FW	Eddie Hernández	27	Irtysh Pavlodar	2019	—	Transfer	Summer		[8]
26	CB	Mojtaba Moghtadaei	22	Sanat Naft	2021	—	Transfer	Summer
5	CB	Aref Gholami	21	Sepahan	2019	—	Transfer	Summer		[9]
32	LB	Hamid Maleki	21	Sepidrood	2021	—	Transfer	Summer

Out

No	P	Name	Age	Moving to	Transfer fee	Type	Transfer window	Source
9	RW	Rabih Ataya	28	Al Ansar	Free		Summer	[10]
99	FW	Kiros Stanlley	29	Sepahan	Free		Summer	[11]
66	CB	Khaled Shafiei	30	Sepahan	Free		Summer	[12]
33	CB	Mohammad Sattari	24	Pars Jonoubi	Free		Summer	[13]
4	DM	Akbar Imani	26	Sanat Naft	Free		Summer	[14]
21	DM	Bakhtiar Rahmani	26	Sepahan	Free		Summer	[15]
32	LB	Mohammad Amini	22	Sorkhpooshan	Free		Summer
5	CB	Giorgi Gvelesiani	27	Nassaji	Free		Summer
11	FW	Morteza Tabrizi	27	Esteghlal	180 Tsd.		Summer	[16]
30	AM	Mehdi Rajabzadeh	40	Retired	Free		Summer	[17]

Competitions

Overview

Competition	First match	Last match	Starting round	Final position	Record
					Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
PGPL	26 July 2018	16 May 2019	Matchday 1	6th	30	9	13	8	28	28	+0	030.00
Hazfi Cup	13 September 2018	13 September 2018	Round of 32	Round of 32	1	0	0	1	1	2	−1	000.00
2019 ACL	12 February 2019		Preliminary round 2		7	5	2	0	14	7	+7	071.43
Total					38	14	15	9	43	37	+6	036.84

Last updated: 7 May 2019
Source: Competitions

Iran Pro League

Main article: 2018–19 Persian Gulf Pro League

Standings

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
4	Padideh	30	16	8	6	32	16	+16	56	Qualification for 2020 AFC Champions League Qualifying play-offs
5	Tractor Sazi	30	14	10	6	42	25	+17	52
6	Zob Ahan	30	9	13	8	28	28	0	40
7	Saipa	30	9	11	10	28	33	−5	38
8	Foolad	30	9	11	10	30	39	−9	38

Source: IPL Table
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored.^[18]

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
30	9	13	8	28	28	0	40	3	8	4	14	13	+1	6	5	4	14	15	−1

Last updated: 3 May 2019.
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	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A
Result	W	D	D	L	W	L	L	D	D	D	L	L	L	D	D	D	L	L	D	D	W	W	W	D	W	D	W	W	W	D
Position	4	4	6	8	4	9	9	9	9	9	11	12	13	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	13	12	10	10	8	8	8	7	6	6

Updated to match(es) played on 3 May 2019. Source: "Ipl".
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Matches

  Win   Draw   Loss

Nassaji Mazandaran v Zob Ahan

July 27, 2018 1	Nassaji Mazandaran	–	Zob Ahan	Qa'em Shahr
UTC+04:30		[ Report]		Stadium: Vatani Stadium

AFC Champions League

AFC Champions League 2019

Main article: 2019 AFC Champions League

Qualifying play-offs

Main article: 2019 AFC Champions League qualifying play-offs

Zob Ahan v Al-Kuwait

12 February 2019 (2019-02-12) Preliminary round 2	Zob Ahan	1–0 (a.e.t.)	Al-Kuwait	Isfahan
19:00 UTC+3:30	Marion  72' Mazaheri  112' Osaguona 110',  120'	Report	Youssuf  66' Mido  75' Al Hajri  103' Zayid  109' Hamoud  113'	Stadium: Foolad Shahr Stadium Attendance: 3,600 Referee: Minoru Tōjō (Japan)

Al-Gharafa v Zob Ahan

19 February 2019 (2019-02-19) Play-off round	Al-Gharafa	2–3	Zob Ahan	Al Rayyan
18:00 UTC+3	Alaaeldin 21' Taremi 36' Mendes  58'	Report	Osaguona 47' Motahari 63' Nejad Mehdi 79'	Stadium: Thani bin Jassim Stadium Attendance: 677 Referee: Hettikamkanamge Perera (Sri Lanka)

Group stage

Main article: 2019 AFC Champions League group stage § Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		ZOB	NAS	ZAW	WAS
1	Zob Ahan	6	3	3	0	10	5	+5	12	Advance to knockout stage		—	0–0	0–0	2–0
2	Al-Nassr	6	3	1	2	11	7	+4	10			2–3	—	4–1	3–1
3	Al-Zawraa	6	2	2	2	14	9	+5	8			2–2	1–2	—	5–0
4	Al-Wasl	6	1	0	5	4	18	−14	3			1–3	1–0	1–5	—

Source: AFC
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers

Zob Ahan v Al-Zawra'a

4 March 2019 (2019-03-04) 1	Zob Ahan	0–0	Al-Zawra'a	Isfahan, Iran
19:00 UTC+3:30	Haddadifar  30'	Live Report Stats Report	Saeed  17' Kareem  28'	Stadium: Foolad Shahr Stadium Attendance: 2,433 Referee: Fu Ming (China)

Al-Nassr v Zob Ahan

11 March 2019 (2019-03-11) 2	Al-Nassr	2–3	Zob Ahan	Dubai, United Arab Emirates
19:45 UTC+4	Giuliano 5' Hamdallah 58' (pen.)	Live Report Stats Report	Fakhreddini  24' Nejadmehdi 30' Mohammadzadeh 39',  90+4' Mazaheri  56' Motahari 90+1' Hosseini  90+4'	Stadium: Al Maktoum Stadium Attendance: 2,850 Referee: Ma Ning (China)
Note: Matches between teams from Iran and Saudi Arabia are played on neutral venues due to deterioration of Iran–Saudi Arabia relations.

Al-Wasl v Zob Ahan

8 April 2019 (2019-04-08) 3	Al-Wasl	1–3	Zob Ahan	Dubai, United Arab Emirates
19:40 UTC+4	Caio 14' Esmaeel  67' Khamis  74' Ali  79' Al-Bloushi  90+2'	Live Report Stats Report	Osaguona 16' Motahari 35' Niknafs  43' Bouhamdan 86'	Stadium: Zabeel Stadium Attendance: 620 Referee: Yudai Yamamoto (Japan)

Zob Ahan v Al-Wasl

23 April 2019 (2019-04-23) 4	Zob Ahan	2–0	Al-Wasl	Isfahan, Iran
20:00 UTC+4:30	Cheraghali 2' Bouhamdan  9' Osaguona  11' Motahari 15',  39'	Live Report Stats Report		Stadium: Foolad Shahr Stadium Attendance: 3,560 Referee: Ko Hyung-jin (South Korea)

Al-Zawraa v Zob Ahan

7 May 2019 (2019-05-07) 5	Al-Zawraa	2–2	Zob Ahan	Karbala, Iraq
21:30 UTC+3	Abbas 44' Abdul-Raheem 61' Fadhel  84'	Live Report Stats Report	Niknafs 28' Osaguona  82' Habibzadeh 90+2' Fakhreddini  90+10'	Stadium: Karbala Sports City Attendance: 7,621 Referee: Hettikamkanamge Perera (Sri Lanka)

Zob Ahan v Al-Nassr

29 May 2019 (2019-05-29) 6	Zob Ahan	0–0	Al-Nassr	Doha, Qatar
21:30 UTC+3	Nejadmehdi  76'	Live Report Stats Report		Stadium: Grand Hamad Stadium Attendance: 456 Referee: Valentin Kovalenko (Uzbekistan)
Note: Matches between teams from Iran and Saudi Arabia are played on neutral venues due to deterioration of Iran–Saudi Arabia relations.

Statistics

Appearances

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Pro League		AFC Champions League		Hazfi Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	IRN	Mohammad Bagher Sadeghi	5	0	4	0	1	0	0	0
2	DF	IRN	Mohammad Nejad Mehdi	26	3	17	1	8	2	1	0
3	DF	IRN	Vahid Mohammadzadeh	23	2	19	1	4	1	0	0
4	DF	IRN	Hadi Mohammadi	26	1	20	1	5	0	1	0
5	DF	IRN	Aref Gholami	7	0	7	0	0	0	0	0
6	MF	IRN	Hamid Bou Hamdan	36	2	27	1	8	1	1	0
7	MF	IRN	Mohammad Reza Hosseini	35	2	27	2	7	0	1	0
8	MF	IRN	Ghasem Hadadifar	31	0	22	0	8	0	1	0
9	FW	IRN	Mohammad Reza Khalatbari	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
10	MF	IRN	Mohsen Mosalman	13	3	12	3	0	0	1	0
11	FW	IRN	Morteza Tabrizi	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
12	GK	IRN	Mohammad Rashid Mazaheri	33	0	25	0	7	0	1	0
13	GK	IRN	Meraj Esmaeili	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0
14	FW	HON	Eddie Hernández	14	3	13	3	0	0	1	0
16	MF	IRN	Alireza Cheraghali	16	2	9	1	7	1	0	0
17	MF	IRN	Mohammadreza Abbasi	26	0	21	0	4	0	1	0
18	FW	NGA	Christian Osaguona	19	4	13	1	6	3	0	0
19	MF	IRN	Alireza Ghaderi	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
20	MF	IRN	Zobeir Niknafs	30	1	23	0	6	1	1	0
21	FW	IRN	Ali Khodadadi	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
23	MF	IRN	Reza Habibzadeh	22	3	17	2	5	1	0	0
24	DF	IRN	Mehran Derakhshan Mehr	18	2	13	2	4	0	1	0
26	DF	IRN	Mojtaba Moghtadaei	10	0	8	0	2	0	0	0
28	MF	IRN	Hamidreza Sepahi	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
32	DF	IRN	Hamid Maleki	17	0	11	0	6	0	0	0
33	FW	IRN	Alireza Monazzemi	4	0	3	0	1	0	0	0
47	MF	IRN	Mojtaba Haghdoost	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
48	DF	IRN	Nima Taheri	3	0	1	0	2	0	0	0
61	DF	IRN	Masoud Ebrahimzadeh	21	0	17	0	3	0	1	0
69	DF	IRN	Milad Fakhreddini	32	0	24	0	7	0	1	0
70	FW	IRN	Rahim Zahivi	4	1	4	1	0	0	0	0
72	FW	IRN	Amir Arsalan Motahari	20	10	13	6	7	4	0	0
77	MF	IRN	Abouzar Safarzadeh	16	1	14	0	1	0	1	1
99	FW	BRA	Marion Silva Fernandes	28	2	23	2	4	0	1	0

Hazfi Cup

Main article: 2018–19 Hazfi Cup

Matches

  Win   Draw   Loss

Top scorers

Includes all competitive matches. The list is sorted by shirt number when total goals are equal.

Last updated on 15 May 2018

Ranking	Position	Nation	Name	Pro League	Champions League	Hazfi Cup	Total
1

Friendlies and pre-season goals are not recognized as competitive match goals.

Top assistors

Includes all competitive matches. The list is sorted by shirt number when total assistors are equal.

Last updated on 14 May 2018

Ranking	Position	Nation	Name	Pro League	Champions League	Hazfi Cup	Total
1

Friendlies and Pre season goals are not recognized as competitive match assist.

Disciplinary record

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

Last updated on 15 May 2019

				2017–18 Iran Pro League			AFC Champions League			Hazfi Cup			Total
Position	Nation	Number	Name
1				0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Goals conceded

• Updated on 30 May 2016

Position	Nation	Number	Name	Pro League	Champions League	Hazfi Cup	Total	Clean Sheets
GK				0	0	0	0	0
TOTALS				0	0	0	0	0

Own goals

• Updated on 5 January 2016

Position	Nation	Number	Name	Pro League	Champions League	Hazfi Cup	Total
				0	0	0	0

Club

Alireza Mansourian, current manager of Zob Ahan

Position	Name
Head Coach	Alireza Mansourian
Assistant Coach	Mohammad Khorramgah Ali Dehghan
Goalkeeping Coach	Anthony McAllen
Fitness Coach	Brian O'Donnell
Analyst	Kianoush Forouzesh
Physiotherapist	Abbas Moradi
Doctor	Amir Hossein Sharifianpour
Logistics	Mahmoud Mehruyan
Team Director	Majid Hajrasouliha
B team manager	Mehdi Rajabzadeh
Media Officer	Ehsan Baeedi

Other information

Chairman	Saeed Azari
Ground (capacity and dimensions)	Foolad Shahr Stadium (20,000 / )

Updated to match played 4 January 2016
Source:^{[citation needed]}

See also

• 2018–19 Persian Gulf Pro League
• 2018–19 Hazfi Cup
• 2019 AFC Champions League