# Sanat Naft Abadan F.C.

Sanat Naft Abadan Football Club (Persian: مؤسسه فرهنگى ورزشى صنعت نفت آبادان, Bāshgāh-e Futbāl-e San'at Naft-e Ābādān) is an Iranian football club based in Abadan, Iran. They currently play in the Azadegan League after being relegated from the Persian Gulf Pro League in the 2023–2024 season. The team is sponsored by Iran's national petroleum industry and is part of the sports club Sanat Naft Athletic Club. Sanat Naft has a reserve team, Sanat Naft Novin who currently compete in the 2nd Division.
Despite their lack of success in past years, they are supported by the people of Abadan.

## Club history
### Establishment and early years

Prior to the establishment of the Takhte Jamshid League in 1972, the people of Abadan mostly followed two clubs, Kargar FC and Jam FC. Kargar had been established by workers from Abadan's oil refinery. Ten years later, Parviz Dehdari along with some of his classmates at Razi School established Jam FC. When the Takhte Jamshid League was established, the city of Abadan was given one spot. The club was to be managed by Iran's oil industry. The club's original kit colors were white, blue and black.

### Post revolution

Football was popular in Abadan, but everything stopped when the Iranian Revolution took place in 1978. Football was no longer a priority, and it was shoved even farther out of the limelight when the Iran–Iraq War began in 1980. Abadan and Khuzestan were heavily hit during the war. Abadan's refinery was shut down, and hundreds of thousands left the city. From 1980 to 1988 the club was based in Shiraz. Once in Shiraz, the club had to start from Iran's third division, but was able to make it back to the top flight.
After the war the club went back to Abadan, but due to the war's negative effects on the city and poor management in the football club, Sanat Naft has not been able to have any major success.

### Iran Pro League

Sanat Naft were present in Iran's Azadegan League until the 2001–02 season when they were relegated. They made it back to the Iran Pro League in 2002, but the club was relegated the same season.
Portuguese coach Acácio Casimiro signed a one–year deal as head coach of Sanat Naft on 18 June 2006 but was later replaced by Ebrahim Ghasempour. After Sanat Naft was promoted to the Iran Pro League they were immediately relegated the same season under head coach Ahmad Tousi. Tousi took over for Ghasempour as he was sacked after 20 games. The club was in last place with only 16 point to show under Ghasempour with a record of 4 wins 4 ties and 12 losses.

#### 2005 promotion controversy

Sanat Naft made it to the promotion playoffs in the 2004–05 season. Until the final game of the promotion playoffs, Sanat Naft was in second place and head of Rah Ahan on goal difference. On the last day despite Sanat Naft's win against Payam Mashhad, Rah Ahan defeated Shahid Ghandi by a score of 6–1 to finish second, ahead of Sanat Naft on goal difference. Sanat Naft officials immediately suggested that Shahid Ghandi had allowed Rah Ahan to win by such a huge score. Sanat Naft was not able to prove this allegation with evidence. Later Sanat Naft claimed that Rah Ahan had used an ineligible player; this went through several courts and Rah Ahan was found guilty.
Two seasons later Sanat Naft was automatically awarded a promotion spot to the Persian Gulf Pro League starting in the 2007–08 season. They could not stay in league and were relegated at the end of the season.

### Return to the Persian Gulf Pro League

After spending two years in the Azadegan League the club was again promoted to the Iran Pro League in 2010. In their first year Sanat Naft finished a ninth place. The following year the club again finished in 10th place. Before the 2012–13 Iran Pro League season there were high expectations for Sanat Naft. The club was a major disappointment and finished 16th and was relegated back to the Azadegan League.
After a few seasons in the lower division, in the 2015–16 season after a last day 2–1 win against third place team Fajr Sepasi, Sanat Naft returned to the top flight after a three-year absence.

## Players
### First-team squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | IRN | Abolfazl Hashemi |
| 2 | DF | IRN | Hossein Sangar Gir |
| 3 | DF | IRN | Mostafa Naeij Pour |
| 4 | DF | IRN | Erfan Ghahremani |
| 5 | DF | IRN | Ali Abdollahzadeh |
| 6 | DF | IRN | Reza Aliyari |
| 7 | FW | IRN | Morteza Khorasani |
| 8 | MF | IRN | Mehran Amiri |
| 9 | FW | IRN | Mehrdad Hedayatiyan |
| 10 | MF | IRN | Hossein Shanani (Captain) |
| 11 | FW | IRN | Abolfazl Akashe |
| 14 | FW | IRN | Abolfazl Bechari |
| 15 | DF | IRN | Hossein Baghlani |
| 16 | MF | IRN | Amin Moebd |
| 18 | DF | IRN | Mojtaba Lotfi |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 21 | MF | IRN | Milad Kamandani |
| 22 | GK | IRN | Kourosh Maleki |
| 23 | FW | IRN | Babak Moradi |
| 27 | FW | IRN | Mohammad Fazel Davoudi |
| 30 | MF | IRN | Reza Moghanlou |
| 66 | MF | IRN | Hossein Ahmadi |
| 70 | FW | IRN | Mohsen Seifi |
| 72 | FW | IRN | Bahman Salari |
| 77 | DF | IRN | Farzin Moamelegari |
| 78 | DF | IRN | Matin Karimzadeh |
| 88 | FW | IRN | Amir Abbas Bayat |
| 90 | FW | IRN | Alireza Monazami |
For recent transfers, see List of Iranian football transfers summer 2022.

## Managers

| Name | From | To |
| Harry Game | February 1972 | December 1974 |
| Gholam Hossein Vaghef | January 1975 | December 1976 |
| Manouchehr Salia | February 1977 | June 1991 |
| Jassem Ahleiorf | June 1991 | June 1992 |
| Ali Firouzi | June 1992 | June 1994 |
| Abdolvahed Bazme | June 1994 | June 1995 |
| Ali Firouzi | June 1995 | June 1999 |
| Gevorg Papiyan | June 1999 | December 1999 |
| Fereydoun Moeeni | December 1999 | June 2000 |
| Ebrahim Ghasempour | June 2000 | June 2002 |
| Mansour Pourheidari | June 2002 | November 2002 |
| Ebrahim Ghasempour | November 2002 | June 2003 |
| Abdolreza Barzegari | June 2003 | October 2003 |
| Hassan Dashti | October 2003 | June 2004 |
| Baýram Durdyýew | July 2004 | January 2005 |
| Parviz Mazloomi | January 2005 | June 2006 |
| Acácio Casimiro | June 2006 | June 2007 |
| Ebrahim Ghasempour | June 2007 | February 2008 |
| Ahmad Tousi | February 2008 | June 2008 |
| Mojtaba Taghavi | July 2008 | February 2009 |
| Bijan Zolfagharnasab | February 2009 | February 2010 |
| Acácio Casimiro | February 2010 | February 2011 |
| Name | From | To |
| Gholam Hossein Peyrovani | February 2011 | November 2011 |
| José Costa | November 2011 | September 2012 |
| Acácio Casimiro | September 2012 | May 2013 |
| Saeed Salamaat | May 2013 | June 2013 |
| Ebrahim Ghasempour | June 2013 | March 2014 |
| Behnam Seraj | March 2014 | August 2014 |
| Carlos Manuel | August 2014 | December 2015 |
| Nader Dastneshan | December 2015 | January 2017 |
| Firouz Karimi | January 2017 | May 2017 |
| Faraz Kamalvand | May 2017 | June 2018 |
| Paulo Sérgio | June 2018 | May 2019 |
| Dragan Skočić | July 2019 | February 2020 |
| Behnam Seraj | February 2020 | August 2020 |
| Sirous Pourmousavi | September 2020 | September 2021 |
| Alireza Mansourian | September 2021 | June 2022 |
| Reza Parkas | July 2022 | September 2022 |
| Firouz Karimi | September 2022 | November 2022 |
| Edson Tavares | November 2022 | March 2023 |
| Abdollah Veisi | March 2023 | January 2024 |
| Sohrab Bakhtiarizadeh | January 2024 | March 2024 |
| Faraz Kamalvand | March 2024 | current |

### Club management

| Position | Nation |
| CEO | Ali Issazadeh |
| Economic Deputy | Meysam Rasti |
| Sport Deputy | Masoud Rezaeiyan |
| Technical Director | Ali Firouzi |
| Team Manager | Morteza Dehdaripour |
| Manager and Head Coach | Faraz Kamalvand |
| Assistant coaches | |
| Goalkeeping coach | |

## Honours

* Azadegan League
** Runners–up (2): 2001–02, 2009–10