# 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.

## Players
### First team squad

    As of 30 May 2019.
| Out for Injuries | Released – Retired |
| No. | Name | 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 35) | (Youth system) Saipa | 2019 | 57 | 0 |
| 12 | Mohammad Rashid Mazaheri | GK | 2014 | (1989-05-18) May 18, 1989 (age 35) | Foolad | 2019 | 176 | 0 |
| 13 | Meraj Esmaeili | GK | 2017 | (2000-01-13) January 13, 2000 (age 24) | (Youth system) | 2020 | 2 | 0 |
| Defenders ||||||||||
| 2 | Mohammad Nejad Mehdi | CB / RB | 2015 | (1992-10-20) October 20, 1992 (age 31) | Padideh | 2019 | 128 | 7 |
| 3 | Vahid Mohammadzadeh | CB / LB | 2016 | (1989-05-16) May 16, 1989 (age 35) | Saipa | 2020 | 105 | 5 |
| 4 | Hadi Mohammadi | CB | 2014 | (1991-03-08) March 8, 1991 (age 33) | Damash | 2019 | 93 | 5 |
| 5 | Aref Gholami | CB / RB | 2018 | (1997-04-19) April 19, 1997 (age 27) | Sepahan | 2019 | 7 | 0 |
| 24 | Mehran Derakhshan Mehr | LB / LM | 2015 | (1998-08-10) August 10, 1998 (age 26) | (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 35) | Sanat Naft | 2020 | 19 | 0 |
| 69 | Milad Fakhreddini | RB / RM | 2018 | (1990-05-26) May 26, 1990 (age 34) | 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 41) | (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 28) | (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 33) | Sepahan | 2020 | 56 | 17 |
| 14 | Eddie Hernández | CF | 2018 | (1991-02-27) February 27, 1991 (age 33) | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 33) | Moving to Esteghlal | Moving to Esteghlal | 180 | 53 |

## Transfers
### In

| No | P | Name | Age | Moving from | Ends | Transfer fee | Type | Transfer window |
| 4 | CB | Hadi Mohammadi | 27 | Tractor Sazi | 2019 | — | Loan return | Summer |
| 22 | GK | Mohammad Amin Bahrami | 21 | Tractor Sazi | 2019 | — | Loan return | Summer |
| 9 | FW | Masoud Hassanzadeh | 27 | Sepahan | 2020 | — | Transfer | Summer |
| 10 | MF | Mohsen Mosalman | 27 | Persepolis | 2020 | — | Transfer | Summer |
| 61 | DF | Masoud Ebrahimzadeh | 29 | Sanat Naft | 2020 | — | Transfer | Summer |
| 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 |
| 47 | MF | Mojtaba Haghdoust | 22 | Foolad | 2021 | — | Transfer | Summer |
| 99 | FW | Marion Silva Fernandes | 26 | CRB | 2020 | — | Transfer | Summer |
| 14 | FW | Eddie Hernández | 27 | Irtysh Pavlodar | 2019 | — | Transfer | Summer |
| 26 | CB | Mojtaba Moghtadaei | 22 | Sanat Naft | 2021 | — | Transfer | Summer |
| 5 | CB | Aref Gholami | 21 | Sepahan | 2019 | — | Transfer | Summer |
| 32 | LB | Hamid Maleki | 21 | Sepidrood | 2021 | — | Transfer | Summer |

### Out

| No | P | Name | Age | Moving to | Transfer fee | Transfer window |
| 9 | RW | Rabih Ataya | 28 | Al Ansar | Free | Summer |
| 99 | FW | Kiros Stanlley | 29 | Sepahan | Free | Summer |
| 66 | CB | Khaled Shafiei | 30 | Sepahan | Free | Summer |
| 33 | CB | Mohammad Sattari | 24 | Pars Jonoubi | Free | Summer |
| 4 | DM | Akbar Imani | 26 | Sanat Naft | Free | Summer |
| 21 | DM | Bakhtiar Rahmani | 26 | Sepahan | Free | Summer |
| 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 |
| 30 | AM | Mehdi Rajabzadeh | 40 | Retired | Free | Summer |

## Competitions
### Overview

| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record |
| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | 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 | Total | Total | Total | Total | 38 | 14 | 15 | 9 | 43 | 37 | +6 | 036.84 |
Last updated: 7 May 2019 Source: Competitions

### Iran Pro League
#### Standings

| Pos | Teamvte | 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 | |

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
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 |

#### Matches

Win  Draw  Loss

## AFC Champions League
### AFC Champions League 2019
#### Group stage

| Pos | Teamvte | 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 | Advance to knockout stage | 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 | — |

## Statistics
### Appearances

| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | Pro League | Pro League | AFC Champions League | AFC Champions League | Hazfi Cup | Hazfi Cup |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | 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
#### 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 | 2017–18 Iran Pro League | 2017–18 Iran Pro League | AFC Champions League | AFC Champions League | AFC Champions League | Hazfi Cup | Hazfi Cup | Hazfi Cup | Total | Total | 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 | TOTALS | TOTALS | 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

| 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: