باشگاه فوتبال استقلال تهران

Full name	Esteghlal Tehran Football Club
Nickname(s)	(The Blues) (Crown) (SS)
Founded	26 September 1945; 67 years ago) (as Docharkheh Savaran)
Ground	Azadi Stadium Tehran, Iran (capacity: 100,000)
Owner	Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports
Chairman	Ali Fathollahzadeh
Head Coach	Amir Ghalenoei
League	Iran Pro League
2012–13	Iran Pro League, 1st
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

Esteghlal Tehran Football Club (باشگاه فوتبال استقلال تهران, meaniing independence in Persian) is an Iranian professional Football Club Based in Tehran that plays in The Iran Pro League. Founded in 1945 initially as Docharkhe savaran (دوچرخه سواران) meaning 'The Cyclists' in Persian and later in 1949, the name of the club was first changed to Taj (تاج), that means 'Crown' in Persian; a name that was quickly transformed into a football powerhouse in Iranian soccer competitions. The name of the club was finally modified into Esteghlal (Persian: Esteghlal‎) that is the current name of the club, meaning 'Independence', subsequent to the Islamic Revolution in 1979. In 1970, under the management of Zdravko Rajkov, Esteghlal Tehran became the first Iranian football club to win the Asian Cup. They have won several official titles in the national and international stage since 1970, including eight Iranian League (1st tier) titles^[1] and a record 6 Hazfi Cups,^[2][3] with two titles in Asian Cup (in 1970 and 1991), so there are two golden stars printed on the badge of the team official kit.

Esteghlal is one of the most popular football clubs in Asian football in both domestic and continental competitions. Furthermore, they are the most successful Iranian football club in Asian football competitions with two AFC Champions League titles.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Establishment 1.2 Emerging success 1.3 1979 Revolution 1.4 Tehran Derby 1.5 AFC Champions League 2 Supporters and Fans 2.1 Famous Fans 3 Stadium 4 Players 4.1 Current Squad 4.2 Reserves and Academy 5 Notable Players 5.1 Players with Dual Nationality 5.2 World Cup players 5.3 Olympic Players 5.4 Club Captains 6 Club Managers 6.1 Notable Managers 6.2 IPL managers 6.3 Current Management Team 7 Chairmen 8 Achievements 8.1 Domestic 8.1.1 League 8.1.2 Cups 8.2 Continental 8.3 Unofficial titles 9 Statistics and records 9.1 Statistics in IPL 9.2 Statistics in ACL 9.3 Statistics in Hazfi Cup 9.4 General statistics 9.5 Season-by-season 10 Sponsorship 10.1 IPL shirt sponsors and manufacturers 11 See also 12 References 12.1 Official Website 12.2 Esteghlal Fans 12.3 News

History

Establishment

On 20 September 1945, three Iranian military officers—Mirzani, Jananpour and Navab—started a sports club on Ferdowsi Street, Tehran. Since the founders of the club were mostly interested in cycling, the club's original name was Docharkhe Savaran (Persian: دوچرخه سواران‎), meaning 'The Cyclists' in Persian. Esteghlal football club played its first official match in 1946.

Emerging success

In 1949, the club officially changed its name to Taj. The club became the most beloved team in Iran after some years, and won numerous league AFC ChampionsLeague, Hazfi Cups and IPL.

The club has been successful in recent years and is always a contender for the league championship. In the past few years it has finished 2nd or 3rd in the league, and Amir Ghalenoei was able to get the team its first championship in the IPL in the 2005–06 season after his third and final year as the manager.

1979 Revolution

After the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, the club was confiscated by the newly established Islamic government and put under the control of the Physical Education Organization of Islamic Republic of Iran (Persian: سازمان تربیت بدنی جمهوری اسلامی ايران‎), a governmental organization, and change its name to Esteghlal(Persian: استقلال‎), 'Independence' in Persian. Taj (Persian: استقلال قهرمان ‎) means 'Crown' in Persian; after the revolution, any sign of the previous monarchist regime was not tolerated.

Tehran Derby

The club's main rival and its opponent in the Tehran Derby is Persepolis F.C. The first derby match between the clubs took place on April 5, 1968 at Amjadieh Stadium. Today, all derbies and home matches occur at the 84.412 capacity Azadi Stadium which is invariably sold out for the derby.

In 1995, IRIFF began to invite foreign referees to officiate the derby to ease fan and player suspicions of referee bias. This occurred after the events of the 38th derby. In the 38th derby (January 11, 1995), Persepolis was leading in the match by a score of 2–0 until the last 10 minutes of the match. Esteghlal scored two goals in quick succession, including one which was a penalty. This angered the Persepolis fans and players who felt the referee was biased towards Esteghlal (there was speculation about Esteghlal bribing the referee and the officials). Persepolis fans stormed the field, and fights broke out on the pitch between fans and players. Following this match it was decided that Iranian referees would no longer be used for the derby. After 13 years of foreign referees, the second leg of the 2008–09 season Derby saw an Iranian once again refereeing the game. The game ended a draw with goals coming from Mojtaba Jabari and Maziar Zare.

AFC Champions League

Esteghlal is one of the most successful clubs in Asian Champion's League with 2 champions titles in 1970, 1991, in 1970 victory against Hapoel Tel Aviv.

Supporters and Fans

Esteghlal is one of the highest supported teams in Iranian football. It is said in unofficial counts that the club has over 30 million fans.The club is based in Tehran and is popular in all parts of country. Esteghlal also has a fan base in Afghanistan And Persian Gulf countries.^[4]

Famous Fans

• Mohammad Reza Pahlavi,^[5] (The Last Shah of Iran)

• Hassan Khomeini,^[6][7] (Grandson of Ayatollah Khomeini)

Hamed Haddadi,[8] (Basketball Player) Samad Nikkhah Bahrami,[9] (Basketball Player) Alireza Nadi,[10] (Volleyball Player) Azadeh Namdari,[11] (TV Host) Niki Karimi,[12][13] (Actress) Shabnam Gholikhani,[14] (Actress) Mahnaz Afshar,[15] (Actress) Narges Mohammadi,[16] (Actress) Pantea Bahram,[17] (Actress) Parastoo Salehi,[18] (Actress) Sahar Ghoreishi,[19][20] (Actress) Sharareh Rokham,[21] (Actress) Laleh Eskandari,[22] (Actress) Mina Lakani,[23] (Actress) Rima Raminfar,[24] (Actress) Leyla Bolokat,[25] (Actress) Anahita Hemati,[26] (Actress)	Amir Jafari,[27][28] (Actor) Shahnam Shahabi,[29] (Actor) Jamshid Mashayekhi,[30] (Actor) Ali Reza Khamseh,[31] (Actor) Behzad Farahani,[32] (Actor) Homayoun Ershadi,[33] (Actor) Mohammad Reza Golzar,[34][35] (Actor) Bahram Radan,[36][37] (Actor) Dariush Arjmand,[38] (Actor) Amin Zendegani,[39] (Actor) Nima Shahrokhshahi,[40] (Actor) Poya Amini,[41] (Actor) Danial Hakimi,[42] (Actor) Shahram Abdoli,[43] (Actor) Saman Goran,[44] (Actor) Saeed Aghakhani,[45][46] (Actor) Reza Davoudnejad,[47] (Actor)	Googoosh,[48][49] (Singer) Siavash Ghomayshi,[50][51] (Singer) Andranik Madadian,[52] (Singer) Reza Yazdani,[53][54] (Singer) Mohsen Yeganeh,[55] (Singer) Ehsan Khajeh Amiri,[56] (Singer) Babak Jahanbakhsh,[57] (Singer) Behnam Safavi,[58][59] (Singer) Hamid Asgari,[60] (Singer) Mojtaba Kabiri,[61] (Singer) Mani Rahnama,[62] (Singer) Khashayar Etemadi,[63] (Singer) Morteza Pashaei,[64] (Singer) Sasy Mankan,[65] (Singer) Ali Danial,[66] (Singer) Ali Abdolmaleki, (Signer) Mehdi Yazdani Khoram,[67] (Journalist)

Stadium

The Azadi Stadium is Iran's national stadium and the largest in the country. The Azadi Stadium officially had a capacity of 100,000 people at the beginning^[68][69] and was built to host the 1974 Asian Games. The stadium is part of the much larger Azadi Sports Complex, and is surrounded by a rowing river, football training pitches, a weightlifting complex, swimming facilities and indoor volleyball and futsal courts, among many other amenities. Today Azadi Stadium - with a capacitiy of 84.412 after renovations in 2002^[70] - is the fifth biggest association football stadium in the world, fourth in Asia and first in West Asia.^[68][71]

Esteghlal's home stadium is the Azadi (Persian: ورزشگاه آزادی‎), a football stadium in Tehran, Iran. The Stadium's former name was Aryamehr Stadium but was changed after the Iranian Revolution. The stadium has been filled over capacity on numerous occasions, for example when it faces rivals Persepolis F.C. in the Tehran Derby or in several AFC Champions League matches. Prior to the construction of Azadi, Esteghlal used to play their games at Amjadieh Stadium.

Players

Current Squad

See also: 2012–13 Esteghlal F.C. season

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Mehdi Rahmati (3rd Captain) 2 DF Khosro Heydari 3 DF Jlloyd Samuel 4 DF Amir Hossein Sadeghi 5 DF Hanif Omranzadeh 6 MF Javad Nekounam 7 FW Farhad Majidi (Captain) 8 MF Mojtaba Jabbari (Vice Captain) 9 FW Arash Borhani 10 FW Siavash Akbarpour 12 DF Hassan Ashjari

No. Position Player 14 MF Kianoush Rahmati 17 MF Maysam Baou 18 DF Hashem Beikzadeh 19 MF Abbas Mohammad-Rezaei 24 FW Farzad Hatemi 25 MF Mehran Ghasemi 33 DF Pejman Montazeri (4th Captain) 36 FW Iman Mousavi 38 MF Vicente Arze 40 DF Ali Hamoudi 44 FW Hojjat Chaharmahali

For recent transfers, see List of Iranian football transfers winter 2012–13.

Reserves and Academy

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

No. Position Player 21 DF Armen Tahmasian 22 GK Hossein Hosseini 26 MF Farid Lamali 27 FW Babak Jabari 34 DF Mahdi Eslami 35 GK Hadi Rishi Esfahani

Notable Players

Nasrollah Abdollahi Mohammad Reza Adelkhani Reza Ahadi Alireza Akbarpour Sohrab Bakhtiarizadeh Shahin Bayani Shahrokh Bayani Arash Borhani Parviz Boroumand Iraj Danaeifard Sirous Dinmohammadi Reza Enayati

Andranik Eskandarian Behtash Fariba Mahmoud Fekri Amir Ghalenoei Hassan Habibi Asghar Hajiloo Sattar Hamedani Mehdi Hasheminasab Nasser Hejazi Khosro Heydari Ali Jabbari Mojtaba Jabbari

Mojahed Khaziravi Farhad Majidi Alireza Mansourian Samad Marfavi Gholam Hossein Mazloumi Parviz Mazloomi Iman Mobali Heshmat Mohajerani Ali Mousavi Majid Namjoo-Motlagh Hassan Nazari Mehdi Pashazadeh

Mansour Pourheidari Mehdi Rahmati Hassan Rowshan Ali Samereh Hadi Tabatabaei Jalal Talebi Vahid Talebloo Andranik Teymourian Dariush Yazdani Ferydoon Zandi Javad Zarincheh Javad Nekounam

Asia Karrar Jassim Hawar Mulla Africa Léonard Kweuke America Januário Rinaldo Cruzado Jlloyd Samuel Vicente Arze Europe Goran Jerković

Players with Dual Nationality

• Rodrigo Tosi
• Pierre Karol
• Ferydoon Zandi
• Goran Jerković
• Jlloyd Samuel

• For all former Esteghlal players with a Wikipedia article see Category:Esteghlal F.C. players.

World Cup players

1978 FIFA World Cup Iraj Danaeifard Andranik Eskandarian Hassan Nazari Hassan Rowshan

1998 FIFA World Cup Parviz Broumand Sirous Dinmohammadi Alireza Mansourian Mehdi Pashazadeh Javad Zarincheh

2006 FIFA World Cup Reza Enayati Amir Hossein Sadeghi Vahid Talebloo

Olympic Players

1964 Olympics Mohammad Bayati Fariborz Esmaeili Hassan Habibi Kambozia Jamali Karam Nayyerloo Jalal Talebi

1972 Olympics Javad Allahverdi Javad Ghorab Ali Jabbari Akbar Kargarjam Mansour Rashidi

1976 Olympics Andranik Eskandarian Nasser Hejazi Hassan Nazari Mansour Rashidi Hassan Rowshan

Club Captains

#	Name	Nat	Career in Esteghlal	Captaincy	Shirt Num
1	Reza Adelkhani		1972–75	1973–75	-
2	Hassan Rowshan		1969–78 1984–88	1975–78	10
3	Nasser Hejazi		1967–77 1980–86	1980–86	1
4	Shahin Bayani		1979–92	1986–92	5
5	Amir Ghalenoei		1989–97	1992–97	8
6	Javad Zarincheh		1986–01	1997–01	2
7	Mehdi Pashazadeh		1997–98 2000–03	2001–03	10
8	Mahmoud Fekri		1992–93 1995–07	2003–07	6
9	Alireza Mansourian		1995–97 2003–08	2007–08	10
10	Farhad Majidi		1997–99 2000–01 2007–	2008–	7

Club Managers

Notable Managers

Only managers who have won at least one trophy are mentioned.

Name	Period	Trophies
		Domestic			International
		IPL	HC	AL	ACL
Zdravko Rajkov	1969–76	0	1	2	1
Mansour Pourheidari	1979–83 1995–96 2000–02	0	2	2	1
Nasser Hejazi	1996–99	0	0	1	0
Amir Ghalenoie	2003–06 2008–09 2012–	3	2	0	0
Parviz Mazloumi	2010–12	0	1	0	0

IPL managers

Name	Nat	From	To	Record
				P	W	D	L	%
Mansour Pourheidari		February 2000	July 2002	26	13	9	4	50%
Roland Koch[72]		July 2002	July 2003	26	8	8	10	31%
Amir Ghalenoie[73][74][75]		July 2003	July 2006	86	46	30	10	53%
Samad Marfavi[76]		July 2006	Aug 2007	30	14	10	6	47%
Nasser Hejazi		Aug 2007	Nov 2007	14	5	5	4	36%
Firooz Karimi		Nov 2007	May 2008	20	6	5	9	30%
Amir Ghalenoie[77]		May 2008	May 2009	34	19	9	6	56%
Samad Marfavi[78]		May 2009	May 2010	34	16	11	7	47%
Parviz Mazloomi		June 2010	June 2012	68	37	20	11	55%
Amir Ghalenoie		June 2012	Present	33	19	10	5	55%

Current Management Team

Position	Name
Head coach	Amir Ghalenoei
Assistant coach	Majid Saleh
First team coach	Sattar Hamedani
Second team coach	Karim Boostani
Goalkeeper coach	Hamid Babazadeh
Football academy president	Asghar Hajiloo[79]
Technical adviser	Morteza Mohasses
Doctor	Kaveh Sotoudeh
Physiotherapist	Amin Noroozi
Psychologist	Abbas Montazeri
Analyzer	Iman Alami
Analyzer	Nima Rasouli
Technical manager	Mansour Pourheidari
Team Manager	Mirshad Majedi

Chairmen

Chairman	Tenure
Parviz Khosravani	September 1945 – June 1960
Parviz Sheikhan	June 1960 – February 1979
Ali Abdullahi Nourozi	May 1979 – May 1983
Kazem Oliaei	January 1988 – May 1996
Ali Fathollahzadeh	May 1996 – May 2003
Hossein Gharib	June 2003 – July 2005
Kazem Oliaei	July 2005 – December 2005
Hossein Gharib	December 2005 – September 2006
Meghdad Najafnejad	September 2006 – May 2007
Ali Fathollahzadeh	May 2007 – September 2008
Amir Reza Vaezi Ashtiani	September 2008 – May 2010
Ali Nazari Juybari	May 2010 – June 2010
Ali Fathollahzadeh	June 2010–present

Achievements

Domestic

League

• Iranian Football League (Iran Pro League since 2001):
  • Winners (8): 1970–71, 1974–75, 1989–90, 1997–98, 2000–01, 2005–06, 2008–09, 2012–13
  • Runners-up (8): 1973–74, 1991–92, 1994–95, 1998–99, 1999-00, 2001–02, 2003–04, 2010–11
• Iran Football's 3rd Division:
  • Winner (1): 1993–94
• Tehran Football Competitions:
  • Winners (3): 1983, 1985, 1991
  • Runners-Up (3): 1982, 1989, 1990

Cups

• Hazfi Cup:
  • Winners (6): , 1976–77, 1995–96, 1999–00, 2001–02, 2007–08, 2011–12
  • Runners-Up (3): 1989–90, 1998–99, 2003–04

Continental

• AFC Champions League:
  • Winners (2): 1970, 1991
  • Runner Up (2): 1992, 1999
  • Third Place (2): 1971, 2002

Unofficial titles

• Caspian Cup:
  • Winners (1): 1996
• Kish Quartet Competition Cup:
  • Winners (1): 1996
• Ettehad Cup:
  • Winners (1): 1973
• Turkmenistan President's Cup:
  • Winners (1): 1998
• Bordoloi Trophy:
  • Winners (1): 1989
• Milz Cup:
  • Winners (4): 1969 , 1970 , 1971, 1989
  • Runners-Up (1): 1972
• Qatar Independence Cup:
  • Winners (1): 1991
• Emirates Quartet Competition Cup:
  • Runners-Up (1): 1996

Statistics and records

Statistics in IPL

• Seasons in IPL: 12 (all)
• Best position in IPL: First (2005–06, 2008–2009, 2012–13)
• Worst position in IPL: 13 (2007–08)
• Most goals scored in a season: 70 (2008–09)
• Most goals scored in a match: 6 – 0 (1 time)
• Most goals conceded in a match: 4 – 1 (3 times)

Statistics in ACL

• Most goals scored in a match: 8 – 0 (1 time)
• Most goals conceded in a match: 4 – 0 (1 time)
• Player with the most goals in a single match: Ali Jabari with 3 goals

Statistics in Hazfi Cup

• Most goals scored in a match: 13 – 0 (1 time)
• Most goals conceded in a match: 0 – 3 (1 time)
• Player with the most goals in a single match: Arash Borhani with 5 goals

General statistics

• All-time top scorer: Arash Borhani with 95 goals (All Competitions)
• All-time Most Appearances: Arash Borhani, 216 (All Competitions)
• Player who has won most titles: Farhad Majidi with 5 titles

Esteghlal have been the most successful Iranian club in Asia and one of the most successful football clubs in Iran.

• Table Shows The Iran Premier League Ranking For The Successful Clubs in These All 12 Seasons.

Pos.	Club	Seasons	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Best Rank
1	Esteghlal	12	372	183	117	72	568	360	+208	666	Champions
2	Sepahan	12	372	174	111	87	561	369	+192	628	Champions
3	Persepolis	12	372	158	127	87	531	408	+123	595	Champions
4	Zob Ahan	12	372	152	121	99	461	376	+85	577	2nd

• And The Following Table Lists Clubs By Number of Winners And Runner-up In AFC Champions League (Asian Club Championship Also Included).

Team	Winners	Runners-Up	Years Won	Years Lost
Pohang Steelers	3	0	1996–97, 1997–98, 2009	-
Esteghlal FC	2	2	1970, 1990–91	1991–92, 1998–99
Al-Hilal FC	2	2	1991–92, 1999–2000	1986–87, 1987–88
Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma	2	2	1995–96, 2010	1996–97, 2004
Al-Ittihad FC	2	1	2004, 2005	2009

Season-by-season

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

Season	Div.	Pos.	Hazfi Cup	Asia
2001–02	IPL	2nd	Champion	CL	3rd
2002–03	IPL	9th	1/8-Final	CL	Group Stage
2003–04	IPL	2nd	Final	-	-
2004–05	IPL	3rd	1/8-Final	-	-
2005–06	IPL	1st	1/8-Final	-	-
2006–07	IPL	4th	1/16-Final	CL	Disqualified
2007–08	IPL	13th	Champion	-	-
2008–09	IPL	1st	1/16-Final	CL	Group stage
2009–10	IPL	3rd	1/8-Final	CL	Round of 16
2010–11	IPL	2nd	1/2-Final	CL	Group stage
2011–12	IPL	3rd	Champion	CL	Round of 16
2012–13	IPL	1st	1/2-Final	CL

Sponsorship

• Official shirt sponsors – Refah Bank
• Official shirt sponsors in AFC Champions League – Tat Bank
• Official shirt manufacturer – Uhlsport
• Official water – Damavand Mineral Water

IPL shirt sponsors and manufacturers

Period	Kit Manufacturer	Shirt Sponsor
2001-02	Daei SWE	LG
2002-03
2003-04	Jouraban	Aiwa
2004-05	Aghili	Sharp
2005-06	Abi Pooshan	SAGEM
2006-07	Merooj	MTN Irancell
2007-08		CCC
	Aghili	Shahrvand Chain Stores
2008-09	Uhlsport	Iran Mobile Market
2009-10
2010-11		City Bank
2011-12
2012–13		Refah Bank

See also

• Esteghlal Tehran Futsall Club

References

"استقلال پرطرفدارترین تیم ایران".

---

Official Website

• Official Website

Esteghlal Fans

• Esteghlali
• Facebook Fan
• Esteghlal Fans Club
• Esteghlal Fans Abieteh

News

• (English) FIFA Page
• (English) Goal Page
• (English) Futbol24 Page
• (Persian) Esteghlal-News
• (English) Soccerway Page
• (Persian) Parsfootball Page
• (English) Worldfootball Page
• (English) Footballdatabase Page

Achievements
Preceded by Maccabi Tel Aviv	Champions of Asia 1970	Succeeded by Maccabi Tel Aviv
Preceded by Liaoning FC	Champions of Asia 1990–91	Succeeded by Al-Hilal