# Sepidrood Rasht S.C.

Sepidrood Rasht Sport Club (Persian: باشگاه ورزشی سپیدرود رشت, Bashgah-e Varzeshi-ye Sepidrod Resht) is an Iranian football club based in Rasht, Iran. They currently compete in League 2.
Sepidrood competes against Malavan in the El Gilano and also has a friendly rivalry with cross-city rival Damash Gilan. Sepidrood is now the only Iranian existing club that has won the Aga Khan Asian Gold Cup.

## History
### Establishment

Sepidrood Rasht Football Club is one of the oldest clubs in northern Iran founded in 1968 and is the first sports club to be based in Rasht. The team was named after the Sefīd-Rūd river which runs through the area. Sepidrood became champions of the Gilan Provincial League after the revolution three times, in 1983, 1986 and in 2003.

### Lower Leagues

On 15 May 2010, Sepidrood secured promotion and thus played in the Azadegan League in the 2010–11 season for the first time in eleven years, however, the club was relegated at the end of the season.
In 2014 Despite relegating to 3rd Division, Sepidrood bought Shahrdari Langarud license and remained in Second Division. After a good 2015–16 season in which Sepidrood made the last round of the 2nd Division, the team were promoted after finishing first in Group B.

### Promotion to the top flight

Sepidrood started the 2016–17 season in the Azadegan League excellently, and at the halfway point of the season they were leading the league. On the second last match day of the season, Sepidrood lost to third place team Gol Gohar Sirjan 3–2 and their promotion to the top flight came into serious danger. However, on 1 May 2017 Sepidrood defeated Nassaji Mazandaran 3–2 and were promoted to the Persian Gulf Pro League and the top flight of Iranian football for the first time in their 49 year history.

## Colours and badge

Since its founding, the club colors have been red and white. Sepidrood is known by its fans as the Red Army.

## Owner

The owner of the club is Javad Tanzadeh (an Iranian businessman).

## Honours

* Azadegan League (Persian Gulf Pro League promotion)
** Runners-up (1): 2016–17
* Aga Khan Gold Cup
** Winners (1): 1977

## El Gilano

The match between Sepidrood or Damash and Malavan is known as The Derby Of Gilan or El Gilano. This derby is one of Iran's most important and heated derbies.

## Players
### First-team squad

As of 31 July 2020
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 | Iman Sadeghi |
| 2 | DF | GEO | Luka Nozadze |
| 4 | MF | IRN | Meysam Tohidast |
| 5 | DF | IRN | Milad Sheikh Soleimani |
| 7 | MF | IRN | Meysam Ferdousi |
| 8 | MF | IRN | Hossein Ebrahimi |
| 10 | FW | IRN | Pouya Nozhati |
| 11 | MF | IRN | Mohammad Reza Mahdavi ((association football)) |
| 17 | DF | IRN | Amin Javadi Moghadam $^{U23}$ |
| 18 | FW | IRN | Javad Aghaeipour $^{U19}$ |
| 19 | DF | IRN | Mahyar noori /Captain |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 23 | MF | IRN | Ali Abbasi $^{U23}$ |
| 27 | DF | IRN | Ebrahim Lotfi $^{U19}$ |
| 28 | FW | IRN | Mehdi Mohammad Yari $^{U23}$ |
| 36 | MF | IRN | Amirhossein Eskandari $^{U21}$ |
| 40 | DF | GEO | Roman Chachua |
| 70 | DF | IRN | SINA JAFARINEJAD $^{U19}$ |
| 77 | GK | IRN | Maziar Nouri |

### Reserves

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 |
| 3 | DF | IRN | Mohammad Amin Pournaghi $^{U19}$ |
| 17 | MF | IRN | Amir Hossein Eskandari $^{U21}$ |
| 18 | MF | IRN | Javad Aghaeipour $^{U19}$ |
| 28 | FW | IRN | Mehdi Mohammad Yari $^{U19}$ |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 35 | MF | IRN | Hadi Dadres $^{U19}$ |
| 39 | MF | IRN | Reza Ashouri $^{U21}$ |
| 50 | GK | IRN | Arian Sohrabi $^{U21}$ |
| 70 | DF | IRN | SINA JAFARINEJAD $^{U19}$ |

## Season-by-season

For details on seasons, see List of Sepidrood Rasht F.C. seasons
    Season League Position Iranian Hazfi Cup Notes 2004–05 League 2 6th (Group 1) did not participate 2005–06 5th (Group A) 2006–07 13th (Group 2) Relegated 2007–08 3rd (Group B) Second round 2008–09 4th (1st round - Group D) Second round 2009–10 1st First stage Promoted 2010–11 Azadegan League 14th Round of 32 Relegated 2011–12 League 2 10th (Group A) did not participate 2012–13 4th (Group B) 2013–14 12th (Group B) First stage Relegated 2014–15 3rd (2nd round - Group B) First stage 2015–16 1st (2nd round - Group B) did not participate Promoted 2016–17 Azadegan League 2nd Promoted 2017–18 Persian Gulf Pro League 13th Round of 32 2018–19 15th Round of 16 Relegated 2019–20 Azadegan League 17th did not participate Relegated 2020–21 League 2 7th (Group A)

## Famous players

* Mohammad Reza Mahdavi
* Reza Niknazar
* Soheil Haghshenas
* Hossein Kaebi