2021–22 Persian Gulf Pro League

The 2021–22 Persian Gulf Pro League (formerly known as Iran Pro League) was the 39th season of Iran's Football League and 21st as Persian Gulf Pro League since its establishment in 2001.Persepolis were the defending champions. Esteghlal won the league with a record 68-point through an unprecedented unbeaten campaign. The season featured 14 teams from the 2020–21 Persian Gulf Pro League and two new teams promoted from the 2020–21 Azadegan League: Fajr Sepasi and Havadar.

Persian Gulf Pro League

Esteghlal championship celebration
Season	2021–22
Dates	19 October 2021 – 2 June 2022
Champions	Esteghlal 4th Pro League title 9th Iranian title
Relegated	Shahr Khodro Fajr Sepasi
Champions League	Nassaji
Matches played	237
Goals scored	425 (1.79 per match)
Top goalscorer	Godwin Mensha (14 Goals)
Best goalkeeper	Hossein Hosseini (18 CS)
Biggest home win	Zob Ahan 4–0 Aluminium Arak (11 March 2022)
Biggest away win	Naft MIS 0–3 Sepahan (24 October 2021) Zob Ahan 0–3 Mes Rafsanjan (4 December 2021) Paykan 0–3 Esteghlal (9 December 2021) Padideh 0–3 Esteghlal (24 December 2021) Naft MIS 0–3 Esteghlal (13 January 2022)
Highest scoring	Gol Gohar 4–1 Tractor (20 October 2021) Sepahan 4–1 Naft MIS (12 February 2022) Mes Rafsanjan 3–2 Tractor (10 November 2021) Esteghlal 3–2 Mes Rafsanjan (8 January 2022) Gol Gohar 3–2 Zob Ahan (2 June 2022)
Longest winning run	Esteghlal (6 matches)
Longest unbeaten run	Esteghlal (30 matches)
Longest winless run	Fajr Sepasi (25 matches)
Longest losing run	Naft MIS (7 matches)
Highest attendance	85,000 Esteghlal – Naft MIS[1][2] (30 May 2022)
Lowest attendance	0 (spectator ban) 199 matches
Total attendance	412,300
Average attendance	10,572 (matches with spectator bans not included)
← 2020–21 2022–23 →

The 2021–22 season started 24 September 2021 and ended 20 June 2022.

Teams

Stadia and locations

Mes Rafsanjan

Gol Gohar

Foolad

Aluminium Arak

Sepahan
Zob Ahan

Shahr Khodro

Sanat Naft

Tractor

Naft MIS

Fajr Sepasi

Nassaji

Esteghlal
Havadar
Paykan
Persepolis

Locations of clubs in 2021–22 Persian Gulf Pro League

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Aluminium Arak	Arak	Imam Khomeini	15,000
Esteghlal	Tehran	Azadi	78,116
Fajr Sepasi	Shiraz	Pars	50,000
Foolad	Ahvaz	Foolad Arena	30,655
Gol Gohar Sirjan	Sirjan	Shahid Qasem Soleimani	9,000[3]
Havadar	Karaj	Enghelab Stadium	8,250
Mes Rafsanjan	Rafsanjan	Shohadaye Mes	2,000[4][5]
Naft Masjed Soleyman	Masjed Soleyman	Behnam Mohammadi	8,000
Nassaji Mazandaran	Qaem Shahr	Vatani	15,000
Paykan	Shahr-e Qods	Shahr-e Qods	18,000
Persepolis	Tehran	Azadi	78,116
Sanat Naft	Abadan	Takhti Abadan	10,000[6]
Sepahan	Isfahan	Naghsh-e-Jahan	75,000
Shahr Khodro	Mashhad	Imam Reza	27,700
Tractor	Tabriz	Yadegar-e Emam	66,833
Zob Ahan	Fooladshahr	Fooladshahr	20,000

Number of teams by region

Region	Number of teams	Teams
Tehran	4	Esteghlal, Havadar, Paykan, Persepolis
Khuzestan	3	Foolad, Naft Masjed Soleyman, Sanat Naft
Isfahan	2	Sepahan, Zob Ahan
Kerman	2	Gol Gohar Sirjan, Mes Rafsanjan
East Azarbaijan	1	Tractor
Fars	1	Fajr Sepasi
Markazi	1	Aluminium Arak
Mazandaran	1	Nassaji
Razavi Khorasan	1	Shahr Khodro

Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer
Aluminium Arak	Mehdi Rahmati	Meysam Majidi	Start
Esteghlal	Farhad Majidi	Voria Ghafouri	Merooj
Fajr Sepasi	Ali Kalantari	Hamid Nemati
Foolad	Javad Nekounam	Ayoub Vali	Merooj
Gol Gohar	Amir Ghalenoei	Amin Pourali	Merooj
Havadar	Reza Enayati	Mohammad Ghazi
Mes Rafsanjan	Mohammad Rabiei	Mohsen Azarbad	Merooj
Naft MIS	Mahmoud Fekri	Abbas Asgari	Merooj
Nassaji	Esmaeil Esmaeili	Hamed Shiri	Merooj
Paykan	Mojtaba Hosseini	Ebrahim Salehi	Merooj
Persepolis	Yahya Golmohammadi	Jalal Hosseini	Uhlsport
Sanat Naft	Alireza Mansourian	Hossein Baghlani	Merooj
Sepahan	Moharram Navidkia	Jalaleddin Alimohammadi	Uhlsport
Shahr Khodro	Davoud Seyed Abbasi	Milad Farahani	Uhlsport
Tractor	Ertugrul Saglam	Mohammad Reza Akhbari	Start
Zob Ahan	Mehdi Tartar	Masoud Ebrahimzadeh	Start

Foreign players

The number of foreign players is restricted to four per Persian Gulf Pro League team, including a slot for a player from AFC countries. A team can use four foreign players on the field in each game, including at least one player from the AFC country.
In bold: Players that have been capped for their national team.

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Asian Player	Former Player
Aluminium Arak
Esteghlal	Rudy Gestede	Raphael Silva	Arthur Yamga	Azizbek Amonov
Fajr Sepasi
Foolad	Chimba	Moussa Coulibaly	Ayanda Patosi
Gol Gohar	Kiros Stanlley				Eric Bocoum
Havadar
Mes Rafsanjan	Godwin Mensha	Faiz Al-Rushaidi		Zahir Al-Aghbari
Naft MIS					Karrar Jassim
Nassaji
Paykan	Tito Okello
Persepolis	Vahdat Hanonov	Sherzod Temirov		Manuchehr Safarov	Božidar Radošević
Sanat Naft
Sepahan	Christopher Knett	Giorgi Gvelesiani
Shahr Khodro
Tractor	Tiago Ferreira
Zob Ahan

League table

Standings

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Esteghlal[a] (C)	30	19	11	0	39	10	+29	68
2	Persepolis[b]	30	18	9	3	44	21	+23	63
3	Sepahan[c]	30	16	8	6	43	21	+22	56
4	Gol Gohar	30	13	12	5	37	28	+9	51
5	Foolad	30	13	10	7	30	22	+8	49
6	Mes Rafsanjan	30	12	9	9	39	29	+10	45
7	Zob Ahan	30	10	7	13	21	25	−4	37[d]
8	Aluminium Arak	30	7	16	7	20	23	−3	37[d]
9	Paykan	30	7	15	8	26	27	−1	36[e]
10	Sanat Naft	30	9	9	12	26	30	−4	36[e]
11	Havadar	30	8	10	12	18	25	−7	34
12	Nassaji Mazandaran	30	6	15	9	24	34	−10	33
13	Tractor[f]	30	7	10	13	26	32	−6	31
14	Naft Masjed Soleyman	30	3	13	14	14	35	−21	22
15	Shahr Khodro (R)	30	2	11	17	17	43	−26	17[g]	Relegation to 2022–23 Azadegan League
16	Fajr Sepasi (R)	30	2	11	17	10	29	−19	17[g]

Updated to match(es) played on 2 June 2022. Source: Soccerway, IPL Table
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Goal difference; 6) Goals scored; 7) Play-off at neutral venue.
(Note: Head-to-head record is used only after all the matches between the teams in question have been played). ^[7]
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Esteghlal could not pay its debts on time and did not obtain an AFC license. Therefore, even if they earn the right to play in Asian competitions based on league position, they will not be able to participate. According to FFIRI special rules for ACL slots, the next best-ranked team of 2022–23 Persian Gulf Pro League will replace Esteghlal in ACL.
2. Persepolis qualified to AFC Champions League group stage directly by winning the 2022–23 Persian Gulf Pro League.
3. Sepahan qualified to AFC Champions League group stage directly by being the runner-up in 2022–23 Persian Gulf Pro League.
4. Head-to-head points: Zob Ahan 4, Aluminium Arak 1.
5. Head-to-head points: Paykan 2, Sanat Naft 2. Goal difference: Paykan −1, Sanat Naft −4.
6. Tractor qualified to AFC Champions League play-off round by the fourth place in 2022–23 Persian Gulf Pro League Because Esteghlal was on top three in that competition.
7. Head-to-head points: Shahr Khodro 4, Fajr Sepasi 1.

Results

Home \ Away	ALU	EST	FJR	FOL	GOL	HAV	MES	MIS	NSJ	PAY	PRS	SNA	SEP	SHK	TRC	ZOB
Aluminium Arak	—	1–1	1–0	3–0	0–0	0–1	0–1	2–1	0–0	1–1	1–0	2–1	0–0	2–2	1–0	0–0
Esteghlal	0–0	—	1–0	1–0	2–1	1–0	3–2	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–0
Fajr Sepasi	0–0	1–1	—	1–1	0–1	0–0	0–0	0–0	1–1	1–1	0–1	0–0	0–2	0–1	1–1	0–1
Foolad	1–0	1–2	1–0	—	1–1	1–0	2–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	1–3	0–0	3–0	2–0	0–0	1–2
Gol Gohar	2–0	0–3	2–0	0–1	—	1–0	2–2	2–0	1–1	0–0	1–1	2–1	0–3	3–3	4–1	3–2
Havadar	0–0	1–2	1–0	0–0	0–2	—	1–1	0–0	0–0	0–2	0–0	1–2	0–0	2–0	1–0	1–0
Mes Rafsanjan	0–0	0–2	2–1	1–1	1–2	1–0	—	0–0	1–2	0–0	1–1	3–0	3–1	3–0	3–2	0–1
Naft MIS	0–0	0–3	2–0	0–0	0–2	0–0	0–1	—	1–1	1–2	1–2	2–2	0–3	0–1	1–1	1–1
Nassaji	1–1	0–0	1–0	0–2	1–2	2–1	0–2	1–1	—	2–2	1–3	0–2	1–3	2–0	0–3	1–0
Paykan	1–1	0–3	0–1	1–2	3–0	1–2	1–1	0–0	0–1	—	1–3	0–0	0–1	1–1	0–0	1–0
Persepolis	2–0	1–1	1–0	1–0	1–1	2–2	3–1	1–0	2–1	2–0	—	1–0	1–2	2–1	2–1	2–0
Sanat Naft	3–1	1–1	0–2	0–1	0–0	3–0	0–2	2–0	1–1	0–0	2–0	—	2–4	1–0	1–0	0–1
Sepahan	1–1	1–1	2–0	2–1	0–0	1–0	2–0	4–1	2–0	1–2	0–1	1–0	—	3–0	0–0	0–0
Shahr Khodro	0–0	0–3	0–0	0–0	1–2	0–1	1–3	0–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	0–2	—	0–0	1–2
Tractor	0–2	0–1	2–1	1–2	0–0	3–2	1–0	2–0	1–1	1–2	0–3	3–0	2–2	1–0	—	0–1
Zob Ahan	4–0	0–2	2–0	0–1	0–0	0–1	0–3	0–1	0–0	0–2	1–1	0–1	1–0	2–1	0–0	—

Updated to match(es) played on 2 June 2022. Source: IPL Stats, Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Positions by round

Team ╲ 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
Esteghlal	4	4	2	1	2	1	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Persepolis	2	3	6	6	7	4	4	5	5	4	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Sepahan	3	1	1	3	3	2	1	1	1	1	2	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
Gol Gohar	1	2	3	4	5	7	9	11	8	8	9	9	8	7	8	7	7	6	6	5	5	5	6	6	6	6	5	5	5	4
Foolad	14	16	13	12	9	6	7	7	7	6	7	7	7	9	7	10	9	9	7	7	8	6	5	4	4	4	4	4	4	5
Mes Rafsanjan	15	7	9	9	10	9	6	6	4	5	5	5	4	5	5	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	5	5	5	6	6	6	6
Zob Ahan	5	10	12	7	6	8	8	8	9	11	12	10	9	10	11	11	11	12	12	12	12	9	9	9	10	9	10	7	7	7
Aluminium Arak	8	5	4	5	1	3	5	3	3	3	4	4	5	4	4	5	5	8	9	9	9	11	10	10	11	11	9	8	8	8
Paykan	10	6	5	2	4	5	3	4	6	7	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	5	5	6	6	7	7	7	7	7	7	9	9	9
Sanat Naft	12	15	16	15	14	15	13	13	15	14	15	12	12	11	10	8	8	7	8	8	7	8	8	8	8	8	11	11	11	10
Havadar	13	14	15	14	15	14	15	15	14	13	10	11	11	12	12	13	12	11	11	11	11	10	11	11	9	10	8	10	10	11
Nassaji	6	9	7	11	11	12	12	10	10	10	8	8	10	8	9	9	10	10	10	10	10	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12
Tractor	16	8	11	13	13	10	10	12	12	9	11	13	13	13	13	12	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13
Naft MIS	7	11	8	8	12	13	14	14	13	15	14	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	14	14	14	14	14	14	14
Shahr Khodro	9	12	14	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	15
Fajr Sepasi	11	13	10	10	8	11	11	9	11	12	13	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	15	15	15	15	15	15	16

	Leader
	Relegation to 2022-23 Azadegan League

Updated to match(es) played on 2 June 2022 (2022-06-02). Source: IPL Table

Statistics

Top scorers

Godwin Mensha scored 14 goals in the Persian Gulf Pro League.

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Godwin Mensha	Mes Rafsanjan	14
2	Arthur Yamga	Esteghlal	10
3	Luciano Pereira	Foolad	9
	Shahriyar Moghanlou	Sepahan
5	Mohammad Abbaszadeh	Tractor	8
	Amirhossein Hosseinzadeh	Esteghlal
7	Mehdi Abdi	Persepolis	7
	Karim Eslami	Nassaji
	Saeid Sadeghi	Gol Gohar
	Morteza Tabrizi	Gol Gohar

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date

Clean sheets

Hossein Hosseini won the Persian Gulf Pro League Golden Glove after keeping 18 clean sheets for Esteghlal.

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Hossein Hosseini[8]	Esteghlal	18
2	Hossein Pour Hamidi	Aluminium Arak	14
3	Mohsen Forouzan	Gol Gohar	13
4	Habib Far Abbasi	Zob Ahan	11
	Ali Mohsenzadeh	Naft Masjed Soleyman
6	Mohammad Reza Akhbari	Tractor	9
	Mehrdad Bashagerdi	Havadar
	Shahab Gordan	Foolad
	Alireza Haghighi	Nassaji
	Farhad Kermanshahi	Paykan
	Christopher Knett	Sepahan
	Hamed Lak	Persepolis

Attendances

Average home attendances

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Esteghlal	187,000	85,000	0	37,400	n/a†
2	Tractor	104,000	68,000	0	34,667	n/a†
3	Persepolis	20,000	20,000	0	20,000	n/a†
4	Sepahan	44,000	20,000	0	11,000	n/a†
5	Fajr Sepasi	12,000	8,000	0	6,000	n/a†
5	Foolad	6,000	6,000	0	6,000	n/a†
7	Gol Gohar	12,000	3,000	0	3,000	n/a†
7	Aluminium Arak	9,000	5,000	0	3,000	n/a†
7	Sanat Naft	3,000	3,000	0	3,000	n/a†
10	Naft MIS	5,500	3,000	0	2,750	n/a†
11	Zob Ahan	5,400	5,000	0	1,800	n/a†
12	Mes Rafsanjan	2,150	750	0	717	n/a†
13	Nassaji	1,200	1,000	0	600	n/a†
14	Shahr Khodro	500	500	0	500	n/a†
15	Havadar	450	200	0	150	n/a†
16	Paykan	100	100	0	100	n/a†
	League total	412,300	85,000	0	10,572	n/a†

Updated to games played on 30 May 2022
Source: Iranleague.ir
Notes:
Matches with spectator bans are not included in average attendances
Fajr Sepasi and Havadar played in the previous season in the Azadegan League

Attendances by round

Team/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	Average
Aluminium Arak	A	NC	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	NC	A	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	5,000[9]	A	2,000[10]	A	2,000[11]	A	3,000
Esteghlal	NC	A	NC	A	5,000[12]	A	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	NC	A	20,000[13]	A	40,000[14][15]	A	37,000[16]	A	85,000[1][2]	37,400
Fajr Sepasi	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	8,000[17]	A	4,000[18][19]	A	NC[20]	6,000
Foolad	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	6,000[21]	A	NC[22]	A	NC[23][24]	A	6,000
Gol Gohar	NC	A	NC	A	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	A	NC	A	NC	NC	A	NC	A	3,000[25]	A	3,000[26]	A	3,000[27]	A	3,000[28]	3,000
Havadar	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	150[29]	A	200[30]	A	100[31]	A	150
Naft MIS	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	NC	A	3,000[32]	A	NC[33]	A	2,500[34]	A	2,750
Nassaji	NC	A	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	A	NC	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	1,000[35]	A	200[36]	A	N/A[37]	600
Mes Rafsanjan	A	NC	A	NC	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	NC	A	NC	A	A	NC	A	NC	A	700[38]	A	700[39]	A	750[40][41]	A	717
Paykan	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	A	NC[42]	A	NC[43]	A	100[44]	100
Persepolis	A	NC	A	NC	A	5,000[45]	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	A	20,000[46]	A	17,000[47]	A	NC[48]	A	2,000[49][50]	A	11,000
Sanat Naft	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	A	NC	A	NC[51]	A	3,000[52][53]	A	N/A[54]	3,000
Sepahan	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	NC	A	NC	A	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	20,000[55]	A	A	NC[56]	A	NC[57]	20,000
Shahr Khodro	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	NC	A	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC[58]	A	500[59]	A	A	NC[60]	500
Tractor	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	A	NC	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	16,000[61]	A	20,000[62]	A	68,000[63]	NC[64]	A	34,667
Zob Ahan	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	A	NC	A	NC	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC	A	NC[65]	A	5,000[66]	150[67]	A	250[68]	A	1,800
Total	0	0	0	0	5,000	5,000	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	20,000	39,000	51,850	77,000	3,550	115,200	7,600	88,100	412,300
Average	0	0	0	0	5,000	5,000	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	20,000	13,000	7,407	12,833	710	19,200	1,267	29,367	10,572

Notes:
Updated to games played on 30 May 2022. Source: Iranleague.ir
Matches with spectator bans are not included in average attendances

Highest attendances

Rank	Home team	Score	Away team	Attendance	Date	Week	Stadium
1	Esteghlal	0–0	Naft MIS	85,000[1]	30 May 2022 (2022-05-30)	30	Azadi
2	Tractor	0–31	Persepolis	68,000[63]	19 May 2022 (2022-05-19)	28	Sahand
3	Esteghlal	1–0	Shahr Khodro	40,000[14]	9 May 2022 (2022-05-09)	26	Azadi
4	Esteghlal	0–0	Aluminium Arak	37,000[16]	19 May 2022 (2022-05-19)	28	Azadi
5	Persepolis	1–1	Esteghlal	20,000[46]	17 March 2022 (2022-03-17)	23	Azadi
	Esteghlal	0–0	Paykan	20,000[13]	5 April 2022 (2022-04-05)	24	Azadi
	Sepahan	1–1	Esteghlal	20,000[55]	4 May 2022 (2022-05-04)	25	Naghsh-e Jahan
	Tractor	3–2	Havadar	20,000[62]	9 May 2022 (2022-05-09)	26	Sahand
9	Persepolis	2–0	Paykan	17,000[47]	4 May 2022 (2022-05-04)	25	Azadi
10	Tractor	1–0	Mes Rafsanjan	16,000[61]	3 April 2022 (2022-04-03)	24	Sahand

Notes:
Updated to games played on 30 May 2022. Source: Iranleague.ir
¹The game was abandoned in the 70th minute after some home fans threw stones.^[69] Later the game was scored 0–3 for Persepolis by the disciplinary board.^[70]

See also

• 2021–22 Azadegan League
• 2021–22 2nd Division
• 2021–22 3rd Division
• 2021–22 Hazfi Cup
• 2021 Iranian Super Cup
• 2022 AFC Champions League