# 2012–13 Azadegan League

The 2012–13 Azadegan League was the 22nd season of the Azadegan League and 12th as the second highest division since its establishment in 1991. The season featured 19 teams from the 2011–12 Azadegan League, three new teams relegated from the 2011–12 Persian Gulf Cup (Shahin Bushehr, Shahrdari Tabriz and Mes Sarcheshmeh) and four new teams promoted from the 2011–12 2nd Division (Esteghlal Ahvaz as champions, Gostaresh Foulad and Hafari Ahvaz). Alvand Hamedan replaced PAS Novin Hamedan, Bargh Shiraz replaced Steel Azin and Sang Ahan replaced Tarbiat Yazd. The league started on 13 September 2012 and ended on 16 April 2013. Gostaresh Foulad and Esteghlal Khuzestan won the Azadegan League title for the first time in their history. Gostaresh Foulad and Esteghlal Khuzestan were promoted to the Persian Gulf Cup.

## Changes

* Sang Ahan
* Foolad
* Iranjavan
* Shahin
* Pas
* Alvand
* Nassaji
* Saipa
* N. Zamini
* Parseh
* Gol Gohar
* Mes Rafsanjan
* Mes Sarcheshmeh
* MachineSazi
* Gostaresh
* Es. Meli
* Hafari
* Yadavaran
* At the end of 2011–12 Azadegan League season, Sanat Sari, Payam Mokhaberat, Kaveh, Bargh Shiraz were relegated to 2012–13 Iran Football's 2nd Division.
* The four relegated teams were replaced by four 2011–12 Iran Football's 2nd Division winners. Esteghlal Ahvaz made an immediate return to Azadegan League. Hafari Ahvaz also promoted to Azadegan League. The two other promoted teams, Pas Novin and Gostaresh Foolad Sahand, were reserve teams of PAS Hamedan, and Gostaresh Foolad.
* Kaveh Tehran bought Gostaresh Foolad Sahand and returned to the Azadegan League.
* Pas Novin have changed their name and sponsorship to Alvand Hamedan, so they can remain in Azadegan League.
* Steel Azin come back from Semnan to Tehran.
* Sang Ahan Company bought Tarbiat Yazd and changed the name to Sang Ahan Bafq.
* Bargh Shiraz bought Steel Azin and return to Azadegan League.
* Yadavaran Shalamcheh bought Kaveh Tehran and came to the Azadegan League.

## Match fixing scandal

After Shahrdari Tabriz promoted to the Iran Pro League, the former chairman of Niroye Zamini was announced that he was offered 100,000,000 tomans to fixing the match between two teams, a bid that he rejected. Two days later, one of the players of the Shahrdari Bandar Abbas was charged that he was purchased to score an own goal in match with Shahrdari Tabriz. IRIFF opened a case for the match-fixing scandal and excluded coaching staff and management of Shahrdari Tabriz temporarily. The play-off and championship matches was also postponed to another time until the final judgment. The final was announced on 13 May 2013. Shahrdari Tabriz's promotion was canceled and they will not be playing at Azadegan League next season too, Faraz Kamalvand (head coach of Shahrdari Tabriz) and his assistants were banned for two years from football careers. The team manager of Shahrdari Tabriz and chairman of the club were also banned for one year and six months. Yadavaran Shalamcheh (which relegated to the 2nd Division) was relegated to the 3rd Division. Nader Dastneshan (head coach of Saipa Shomal), Majid Bagherinia (head coach of Esteghlal Khuzestan) and chairman of the club.

## Teams

| Team | City | Venue | Capacity | Head coach |
| Aboomoslem | Mashhad | Samen Stadium | 35,000 | Hadi Bargizar |
| Alvand Hamedan | Hamedan | Qods Stadium | 10,000 | Reza Talaeimanesh |
| Bargh Shiraz | Shiraz | Dastgheib | 5,000 | Mohammad Abbassi |
| Esteghlal Ahvaz | Ahvaz | Takhti Ahvaz | 30,000 | Adel Hardani |
| Esteghlal Khuzestan | Ahvaz | Takhti Ahvaz | 30,000 | Majid Bagherinia |
| Etka | Gorgan | Karim Abad | 15,000 | Saket Elhami |
| Foolad Yazd | Yazd | Nassiri | 6,000 | Ali Kalantari |
| Gol Gohar | Sirjan | Imam Ali | 2,000 | Ghasem Shahba |
| Gostaresh Foolad | Tabriz | Bagh Shomal | 20,000 | Rasoul Khatibi |
| Hafari Ahvaz | Ahvaz | Takhti Ahvaz | 30,000 | Nasser Motlagh |
| Iranjavan | Bushehr | Shahid Beheshti | 15,000 | Ahmad Sanjari |
| Machine Sazi | Tabriz | Bagh Shomal | 20,000 | Asghar E'tebari |
| Mes Rafsanjan | Rafsanjan | Shohadaye Noushabad | 10,000 | Bahman Foroutan |
| Mes Sarcheshmeh | Sarcheshmeh | Shahid Bahonar | 12,000 | Davoud Mahabadi |
| Naft Masjed Soleyman | Masjed Soleyman | Takhti Ahvaz | 30,000 | Zoran Smilevski |
| Nassaji | Qa'em Shahr | Vatani | 15,000 | Esmaeil Esmaeili |
| Niroye Zamini | Tehran | Takhti Tehran | 30,000 | Bahman Khoda Karam |
| PAS Hamedan | Hamedan | Qods Stadium | 80,000 | Omid Tayyeri |
| Parseh Tehran | Tehran | Kargaran Stadium | 5,000 | Alireza Emamifar |
| Saipa Shomal | Qa'em Shahr | Shahid Vatani | 10,000 | Nader Dastneshan |
| Sang Ahan Bafq | Bafq | Shohada | 6,000 | Afshin Peyrovani |
| Shahin Bushehr | Bushehr | Shahid Beheshti | 14,000 | Ali Hanteh |
| Shahrdari Arak | Arak | Imam Khomeini | 15,000 | Mohammad Navazi |
| Shahrdari Bandar Abbas | Bandar Abbas | Takhti | 10,000 | Abdolrahim Khorramzi |
| Shahrdari Tabriz | Tabriz | Yadegar Emam Tabriz | 50,000 | Faraz Kamalvand |
| Shahrdari Yasuj | Yasuj | Takhti | 5,000 | Abbas Chamanyan |
| Rahian Kermanshah | Kermanshah | Azadi | 7,000 | Javad Zarincheh |
| Yadavaran Shalamcheh | Khorramshahr | Jahan Ara | 2,000 | Human Afazeli |

## Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Replaced by | Date of appointment |
| Machine Sazi | Alireza Akbarpour | | November 2012 | Asghar Etebari | November 2012 |
| Pas Hamedan | Vingo Begovic | | January 2013 | Omid Teyri | January 2013 |

## Standings
### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 1 | Gostaresh (P) | 26 | 14 | 8 | 4 | 44 | 25 | +19 | 50 | Promotion to 2013–14 Iran Pro League |
| 2 | Mes Sarcheshmeh (Q) | 26 | 12 | 11 | 3 | 29 | 15 | +14 | 47 | Azadegan League 2012–13 play-off |
| 3 | Naft Masjed Soleyman | 26 | 13 | 6 | 7 | 41 | 31 | +10 | 45 | |
| 4 | Alvand Hamedan | 26 | 12 | 7 | 7 | 33 | 23 | +10 | 43 | |
| 5 | Gol Gohar | 26 | 11 | 8 | 7 | 29 | 25 | +4 | 41 | |
| 6 | Aboumoslem | 26 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 39 | 34 | +5 | 38 | |
| 7 | Sang Ahan Bafgh | 26 | 9 | 7 | 10 | 37 | 32 | +5 | 34 | |
| 8 | Nassaji Mazandaran | 26 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 33 | 27 | +6 | 33 | |
| 9 | Parseh Tehran | 26 | 6 | 13 | 7 | 30 | 30 | 0 | 31 | |
| 10 | Est. Ahvaz | 26 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 25 | 34 | −9 | 30 | |
| 11 | Etka Gorgan (R) | 26 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 15 | 24 | −9 | 30 | Relegation to 2013–14 Iran Football's 2nd Division |
| 12 | Shahin Bushehr (R) | 26 | 6 | 8 | 12 | 18 | 30 | −12 | 26 | Relegation to 2013–14 Iran Football's 2nd Division |
| 13 | Sh. Arak (R) | 26 | 6 | 7 | 13 | 16 | 30 | −14 | 25 | Relegation to 2013–14 Iran Football's 2nd Division |
| 14 | Machine Sazi (R) | 26 | 3 | 4 | 19 | 18 | 47 | −29 | 13 | Relegation to 2013–14 Iran Football's 2nd Division |
* ↑ Nassaji Mazandaran was docked 3 points.

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 1 | Sh. Tabriz (R) | 26 | 13 | 8 | 5 | 33 | 20 | +13 | 47 | Relegation to 2nd Division |
| 2 | Est. Khuzestan (P) | 26 | 13 | 7 | 6 | 24 | 18 | +6 | 46 | Promotion to 2013–14 Iran Pro League |
| 3 | PAS Hamedan (Q) | 26 | 14 | 3 | 9 | 25 | 18 | +7 | 45 | Azadegan League 2012–13 play-off |
| 4 | Sh. Yasouj | 26 | 12 | 6 | 8 | 31 | 20 | +11 | 42 | |
| 5 | Rahian Kermanshah | 26 | 10 | 11 | 5 | 27 | 19 | +8 | 41 | |
| 6 | Niroye Zamini | 26 | 12 | 4 | 10 | 29 | 27 | +2 | 40 | |
| 7 | Iranjavan | 26 | 8 | 13 | 5 | 27 | 20 | +7 | 37 | |
| 8 | Sh. Bandar Abbas | 26 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 29 | 25 | +4 | 37 | |
| 9 | Saipa Shomal | 26 | 11 | 4 | 11 | 22 | 28 | −6 | 37 | |
| 10 | Foolad Yazd | 26 | 8 | 7 | 11 | 28 | 26 | +2 | 31 | |
| 11 | Mes Rafsanjan | 26 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 14 | 21 | −7 | 30 | |
| 12 | Hafari Ahvaz (R) | 26 | 6 | 8 | 12 | 40 | 42 | −2 | 26 | Relegation to 2nd Division |
| 13 | Bargh Shiraz (R) | 26 | 4 | 7 | 15 | 22 | 44 | −22 | 19 | Relegation to 2nd Division |
| 14 | Yadavaran Shalamcheh (R) | 26 | 3 | 7 | 16 | 12 | 35 | −23 | 16 | Relegation to 3rd Division |
* ↑ Shahrdari Tabriz was relegated to the 2nd Division due to match-fixing scandal.
* ↑ Yadavaran Shalamcheh was relegated to the 3rd Division due to match-fixing scandal.

## Play-off

    First leg was played on 28 May 2013; return leg on 30 May 2013
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Pas Hamedan | 3–2 | Mes Sarcheshmeh | 2–1 | 1–1 |
Pas Hamedan advanced to the Iran Pro League play-off against Zob Ahan.

## Final

    The match was played on 31 May 2013
| Team 1 | Score | Team 2 | Notes |
| Gostaresh | Cancelled | Esteghlal Khuzestan | |

## Iran Pro League Playoff

The promotion/relegation playoff for 2013–14 Iran Pro League was held between Zob Ahan and Pas Hamedan.
    The matches were played on 21 June 2013 and 26 June 2013
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Zob Ahan | 5–3 | Pas Hamedan | 4–2 | 1–1 |
Zob Ahan remained in Iran Pro League.