# 2017–18 Esteghlal F.C. season

The 2017–18 season is Esteghlal Football Club's 72nd season in existence and the club's 17th consecutive season in the top division of Iranian football. It covers a period from 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018.

## Players
### Squad information

Players and squad numbers last updated on 8 July 2017.
| No. | Name | Position(s) | Date of Birth (Age) | Signed in | Contract until | Signed from | Notes |
| Goalkeepers |||||||||
| 1 | Mehdi Rahmati | GK | (1983-02-02)2 February 1983 (aged 34) | 2015 | 2019 | Paykan | Captain |
| 19 | Arshia Babazadeh $^{U23}$ | GK | (1995-11-05)5 November 1995 (aged 22) | 2016 | 2022 | De Anza Force | |
| 22 | Hossein Hosseini | GK | (1992-06-30)30 June 1992 (aged 25) | 2012 | 2019 | Youth system | |
| Defenders |||||||||
| 2 | Khosro Heydari | RB / RM / RW | (1983-09-14)14 September 1983 (aged 34) | 2011 | 2019 | Sepahan | Vice-captain |
| 4 | Roozbeh Cheshmi | DM / CB / CM | (1993-07-24)24 July 1993 (aged 24) | 2015 | 2019 | Saba Qom | |
| 5 | Majid Hosseini $^{U23}$ | CB / DM | (1996-06-20)20 June 1996 (aged 21) | 2014 | 2019 | Youth system | |
| 13 | Armin Sohrabian $^{U23}$ | LB / CB | (1995-07-26)26 July 1995 (aged 22) | 2017 | 2019 | Sepahan | |
| 18 | Milad Zakipour $^{U23}$ | LB / LM | (1995-11-23)23 November 1995 (aged 22) | 2016 | 2021 | Naft Tehran | |
| 21 | Vouria Ghafouri | RB / RM | (1987-09-20)20 September 1987 (aged 30) | 2016 | 2018 | Sepahan | |
| 33 | Pejman Montazeri | CB / RB | (1983-09-06)6 September 1983 (aged 34) | 2017 | 2019 | Al Ahli | |
| 90 | Leandro Padovani Celin | CB | (1983-12-21)21 December 1983 (aged 34) | 2016 | 2018 | Sepahan | |
| Midfielders |||||||||
| 6 | Omid Ebrahimi | DM / CM | (1987-09-15)15 September 1987 (aged 30) | 2014 | 2018 | Sepahan | |
| 14 | Farshid Bagheri | DM / CB / CM | (1992-06-05)5 June 1992 (aged 25) | 2016 | 2018 | Saba Qom | |
| 16 | Mehdi Ghaedi $^{U21}$ | LW / RW | (1998-12-05)5 December 1998 (aged 19) | 2017 | 2020 | Iranjavan | |
| 20 | Server Djeparov | AM / CM / LM | (1982-10-03)3 October 1982 (aged 35) | 2017 | 2018 | Lokomotiv Tashkent | |
| 23 | Dariush Shojaeian | RW / LW / AM | (1992-04-07)7 April 1992 (aged 25) | 2017 | 2020 | Gostaresh Foulad | |
| 24 | Omid Noorafkan $^{U21}$ | DM / LB / LW | (1997-04-09)9 April 1997 (aged 20) | 2015 | 2019 | Youth system | |
| 28 | Mohsen Karimi | LW / RW | (1994-09-20)20 September 1994 (aged 23) | 2014 | 2020 | Youth system | |
| 77 | Behnam Barzay | RW / LW | (1993-02-11)11 February 1993 (aged 24) | 2015 | 2020 | Rah Ahan | |
| 80 | Bojan Najdenov | CM | (1991-08-27)27 August 1991 (aged 26) | 2018 | 2019 | Smouha | |
| 88 | Farshid Esmaeili | AM / LW / SS | (1994-02-23)23 February 1994 (aged 23) | 2015 | 2020 | Fajr Sepasi | |
| Forwards |||||||||
| 9 | Ali Ghorbani | CF / LW / RW | (1990-09-18)18 September 1990 (aged 27) | 2016 | 2018 | Naft Tehran | |
| 11 | Jaber Ansari | SS / LW | (1987-01-10)10 January 1987 (aged 30) | 2015 | 2019 | Gostaresh Foulad | |
| 25 | Mame Baba Thiam | CF | (1992-10-09)9 October 1992 (aged 25) | 2018 | 2019 | Juventus | |
| Players transferred during the season |||||||||
| 30 | Azim Gök $^{U23}$ | CB | (1996-01-25)25 January 1996 (aged 21) | 2016 | 2019 | Youth system | |
| 17 | Yaghoub Karimi | LB / LM | (1991-08-31)31 August 1991 (aged 26) | 2014 | 2018 | Sepahan | |
| 8 | Mojtaba Jabbari | AM | (1983-06-16)16 June 1983 (aged 34) | 2017 | 2019 | Al Ahli | |
| 7 | Hassan Beyt Saeed | LW / CF / RW | (1990-04-01)1 April 1990 (aged 27) | 2017 | 2019 | Esteghlal Khuzestan | |
| 10 | Sajjad Shahbazzadeh | CF | (1990-01-23)23 January 1990 (aged 27) | 2017 | 2018 | Naft Tehran | |

### Persian Gulf League 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 | Mehdi Rahmati (Captain) |
| 2 | DF | IRN | Khosro Heydari (Vice-captain) |
| 4 | MF | IRN | Roozbeh Cheshmi |
| 5 | DF | IRN | Majid Hosseini |
| 6 | MF | IRN | Omid Ebrahimi (3rd-captain) |
| 9 | FW | IRN | Ali Ghorbani |
| 11 | FW | IRN | Jaber Ansari |
| 13 | DF | IRN | Armin Sohrabian |
| 14 | MF | IRN | Farshid Bagheri |
| 16 | MF | IRN | Mehdi Ghaedi |
| 18 | DF | IRN | Milad Zakipour |
| 19 | GK | IRN | Arshia Babazadeh |
| 20 | MF | UZB | Server Djeparov |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 21 | DF | IRN | Vouria Ghafouri |
| 22 | GK | IRN | Hossein Hosseini |
| 23 | MF | IRN | Dariush Shojaeian |
| 24 | MF | IRN | Omid Noorafkan |
| 25 | FW | SEN | Mame Thiam |
| 28 | MF | IRN | Mohsen Karimi |
| 33 | DF | IRN | Pejman Montazeri |
| 70 | FW | IRN | Mohammad Javad Mohammadi |
| 77 | MF | IRN | Behnam Barzay |
| 80 | MF | MKD | Bojan Najdenov |
| 88 | MF | IRN | Farshid Esmaeili |
| 90 | DF | BRA | Padovani |

### AFC Champions League 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 | Mehdi Rahmati (Captain) |
| 2 | DF | IRN | Khosro Heydari (Vice-captain) |
| 4 | MF | IRN | Roozbeh Cheshmi |
| 5 | DF | IRN | Majid Hosseini |
| 6 | MF | IRN | Omid Ebrahimi (3rd-captain) |
| 7 | FW | SEN | Mame Thiam |
| 8 | MF | IRN | Farshid Esmaeili |
| 9 | FW | IRN | Ali Ghorbani |
| 10 | MF | MKD | Bojan Najdenov |
| 11 | FW | IRN | Jaber Ansari |
| 13 | DF | IRN | Armin Sohrabian |
| 14 | MF | IRN | Farshid Bagheri |
| 16 | MF | IRN | Mehdi Ghaedi |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 18 | DF | IRN | Milad Zakipour |
| 19 | GK | IRN | Arshia Babazadeh |
| 20 | MF | UZB | Server Djeparov |
| 21 | DF | IRN | Vouria Ghafouri |
| 22 | GK | IRN | Hossein Hosseini |
| 23 | MF | IRN | Dariush Shojaeian |
| 24 | MF | IRN | Omid Noorafkan |
| 28 | MF | IRN | Mohsen Karimi |
| 33 | DF | IRN | Pejman Montazeri |
| 70 | FW | IRN | Mohammad Javad Mohammadi |
| 77 | MF | IRN | Behnam Barzay |
| 90 | DF | BRA | Padovani |

## Transfers
### In

| No. | Pos. | Name | Age | Moving from | Type | Transfer window | Ends |
| 16 | LM | Mehdi Ghaedi | 18 | Iranjavan | Transfer | Summer | 2020 |
| 26 | CF | Fardin Najafi | 19 | Esteghlal Academy | Promotion | Summer | 2020 |
| 27 | AM | Hossein Heydari | 18 | Esteghlal Academy | Promotion | Summer | 2022 |
| 7 | LW | Hassan Beyt Saeed | 27 | Esteghlal Khuzestan | Transfer | Summer | 2019 |
| 10 | CF | Sajjad Shahbazzadeh | 27 | Naft Tehran | Transfer | Summer | 2018 |
| 23 | AM | Dariush Shojaeian | 25 | Gostaresh Foulad | Transfer | Summer | 2020 |
| 32 | DM | Sina Khadempour | 20 | Naft Tehran | Transfer | Summer | 2022 |
| 33 | CB | Pejman Montazeri | 33 | Al Ahli | Transfer | Summer | 2019 |
| 70 | RW | Mohammad Javad Mohammadi | 21 | Haf Semnan | Transfer | Summer | 2022 |
| 13 | LB | Armin Sohrabian | 21 | Sepahan | Transfer | Summer | 2019 |
| 8 | AM | Mojtaba Jabari | 34 | Al Ahli | Transfer | Summer | 2019 |
| 77 | LW | Sajjad Aghaei | 18 | Persepolis Academy | Transfer | Summer | 2022 |
| 20 | AM | Server Djeparov | 34 | Sepahan | End of loan | Summer | 2018 |
| 77 | RW | Behnam Barzay | 24 | Unattached | Transfer | Winter | 2020 |
| 80 | CM | Bojan Najdenov | 26 | Smouha | Transfer | Winter | 2019 |
| 25 | CF | Mame Thiam | 26 | Juventus | Transfer | Winter | 2019 |

### Out

| No. | Pos. | Name | Age | Moving to | Type | Transfer window |
| 5 | CB | Hossein Kanaanizadegan | 23 | Saipa | Released | Summer |
| 20 | CB | Taha Shariati | 17 | Saipa | Transfer | Summer |
| 31 | CB | Alireza Sayyar | 23 | Unattached | Released | Summer |
| 27 | DM | Hossein Abarghouei | 20 | Gostaresh Foulad | Transfer | Summer |
| 13 | LW | Miad Yazdani | 24 | Sepidrood Rasht | Loan | Summer |
| 9 | CF | Kaveh Rezaei | 25 | Charleroi | End of contract | Summer |
| 74 | AM | Mojtaba Haghdoust | 21 | Naft Tehran | End of loan | Summer |
| 3 | CB | Róbson Januário de Paula | 23 | Bahia | End of loan | Summer |
| 77 | RW | Behnam Barzay | 24 | Sanat Naft Abadan | End of contract | Summer |
| 12 | LB | Mohammad Reza Hashemi | 20 | Shemushack | Transfer | Summer |
| | GK | Mehrdad Lashni | 19 | Mes Rafsanjan | Transfer | Summer |
| 32 | DM | Sina Khadempour | 20 | Naft Tehran | Loan | Summer |
| 77 | LW | Sajjad Aghaei | 18 | Aluminium Arak | Loan | Summer |
| 7 | LW | Hassan Beyt Saeed | 27 | Foolad | Transfer | Winter |
| 30 | CB | Azim Gök | 21 | Malavan | Loan | Winter |
| 17 | LM | Yaghoub Karimi | 26 | Esteghlal Khuzestan | Transfer | Winter |
| 8 | AM | Mojtaba Jabari | 34 | Unattached | Released | Winter |
| 10 | CF | Sajjad Shahbazzadeh | 27 | Qatar | Transfer | Winter |
| 15 | CB | Hrayr Mkoyan | 31 | Shirak | Transfer | Winter |

## 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 % |
| Pro League | 28 July 2017 | 27 April 2018 | — | 3rd | 30 | 15 | 9 | 6 | 43 | 18 | +25 | 050.00 |
| Hazfi Cup | 8 September 2017 | 3 May 2018 | Round of 32 | Winners | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 3 | +7 | 100.00 |
| AFC Champions League | 30 January 2018 | 15 May 2018 | Group stage | Round of 16 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 12 | 7 | +5 | 050.00 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 43 | 24 | 12 | 7 | 65 | 28 | +37 | 055.81 |
Last updated: 16 May 2018 (2018-05-16). Source: Competitions

### Iran Pro League
#### Standings

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Persepolis (C) | 30 | 19 | 7 | 4 | 48 | 15 | +33 | 64 | Qualification for the 2019 AFC Champions League group stage |
| 2 | Zob Ahan | 30 | 15 | 10 | 5 | 46 | 30 | +16 | 55 | Qualification for the 2019 AFC Champions League qualifying play-offs |
| 3 | Esteghlal | 30 | 15 | 9 | 6 | 43 | 18 | +25 | 54 | Qualification for 2019 AFC Champions League group stage |
| 4 | Saipa | 30 | 15 | 9 | 6 | 40 | 34 | +6 | 54 | Qualification for the 2019 AFC Champions League qualifying play-offs |
| 5 | Pars Jonoubi Jam | 30 | 11 | 14 | 5 | 34 | 24 | +10 | 47 | |
* ↑ Esteghlal qualified to AFC Champions League group stage directly by winning the Hazfi Cup

#### 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 2018. 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 | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A |
| Result | L | D | W | L | L | L | D | W | D | L | W | D | W | D | W | W | W | D | D | D | W | L | W | W | W | W | W | D | W | W |
| Position | 13 | 11 | 9 | 11 | 15 | 15 | 16 | 10 | 12 | 13 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |

#### Matches

Win  Draw  Loss  Postponed

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

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Esteghlal | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 5 | +4 | 12 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Al-Ain | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 10 | 6 | +4 | 10 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | Al-Rayyan | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 11 | −4 | 6 | |
| 4 | Al-Hilal | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 2 | |

#### Round of 16
## Statistics
### Appearances and goals

| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | Iran Pro League | Iran Pro League | Hazfi Cup | Hazfi Cup | Champions League | Champions League |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 1 | GK | IRN | Mehdi Rahmati | 18 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 2 | DF | IRN | Khosro Heydari | 25 | 1 | 15 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| 4 | MF | IRN | Roozbeh Cheshmi | 38 | 3 | 26 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | IRN | Majid Hosseini | 33 | 1 | 24 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| 6 | MF | IRN | Omid Ebrahimi | 33 | 2 | 23 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 9 | FW | IRN | Ali Ghorbani | 40 | 9 | 27 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 8 | 1 |
| 11 | FW | IRN | Jaber Ansari | 26 | 4 | 22 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 13 | DF | IRN | Armin Sohrabian | 13 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 14 | MF | IRN | Farshid Bagheri | 30 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| 16 | MF | IRN | Mehdi Ghaedi | 14 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 18 | DF | IRN | Milad Zakipour | 25 | 0 | 21 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 20 | MF | UZB | Server Djeparov | 39 | 6 | 26 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 8 | 1 |
| 21 | DF | IRN | Vouria Ghafouri | 36 | 6 | 24 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 2 |
| 22 | GK | IRN | Hossein Hosseini | 25 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 23 | MF | IRN | Dariush Shojaeian | 33 | 5 | 24 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| 24 | MF | IRN | Omid Noorafkan | 34 | 2 | 24 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| 25 | FW | SEN | Mame Baba Thiam | 13 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 7 |
| 27 | MF | IRN | Hossein Heydari | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | MF | IRN | Mohsen Karimi | 6 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 | DF | IRN | Pejman Montazeri | 25 | 1 | 15 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 0 |
| 70 | MF | IRN | Mohammad Javad Mohammadi | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 77 | MF | IRN | Behnam Barzay | 8 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 80 | DF | MKD | Bojan Najdenov | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 88 | MF | IRN | Farshid Esmaeili | 34 | 6 | 23 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 0 |
| 90 | DF | BRA | Leandro Padovani | 8 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Players transferred out during the season ||||||||||||
| 7 | FW | IRN | Hassan Beyt Saeed | 10 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | IRN | Mojtaba Jabbari | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | FW | IRN | Sajjad Shahbazzadeh | 9 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | DF | IRN | Yaghoub Karimi | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 30 | DF | IRN | Azim Gök | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Last updated: 27 April 2018 (2018-04-27) Source: Competitions

### Goalscorers

| Rank | No. | Pos. | Nat. | Name | Pro League | Hazfi Cup | AFC CL | Total |
| 1 | 25 | FW | | Mame Baba Thiam | 4 | 1 | 7 | 12 |
| 2 | 9 | FW | | Ali Ghorbani | 7 | 2 | 1 | 10 |
| 3 | 88 | CM | | Farshid Esmaeili | 5 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| 3 | 20 | CM | | Server Djeparov | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 3 | 21 | DF | | Vouria Ghafouri | 4 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 4 | 23 | CM | | Dariush Shojaeian | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| 5 | 11 | FW | | Jaber Ansari | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 6 | 28 | FW | | Mohsen Karimi | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 6 | 4 | MF | | Roozbeh Cheshmi | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 7 | 6 | MF | | Omid Ebrahimi | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 | 24 | MF | | Omid Noorafkan | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 8 | 77 | FW | | Behnam Barzay | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | 2 | DF | | Khosro Heydari | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | 5 | DF | | Majid Hosseini | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | 33 | DF | | Pejman Montazeri | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | 42 | 10 | 11 | 63 |
Last updated: 16 May 2018 (2018-05-16)

### Clean sheets

| Rank | Name | Pro League | Hazfi Cup | AFC CL | Total |
| 1 | Hossein Hosseini | 10 | 0 | 1 | 11 |
| 2 | Mehdi Rahmati | 6 | 2 | 2 | 10 |
| Total | Total | 16 | 2 | 3 | 21 |

### Disciplinary record

Includes all competitive matches. Players with 1 card or more are included only.
| N | P | Name | Pro League | Pro League | Hazfi Cup | AFC CL | Total | Total |
| 1 | GK | Mehdi Rahmati | 1 | | 1 | 1 | 3 | |
| 4 | MF | Roozbeh Cheshmi | 8 | | | 2 | 10 | |
| 14 | MF | Farshid Bagheri | 4 | | 1 | | 5 | |
| 16 | FW | Mehdi Ghaedi | | | 1 | | 1 | |
| 18 | DF | Milad Zakipour | 3 | | 2 | | 5 | |
| 23 | MF | Dariush Shojaeian | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 1 |
| 88 | MF | Farshid Esmaeili | | | | 1 | 1 | |
Last updated: 7 August 2017 (2017-08-07) Source: Matches Only competitive matches = Number of bookings; = Number of sending offs after a second yellow card; = Number of sending offs by a direct red card.