Esteghlal Tehran

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**Esteghlal Tehran** - is an Iranian professional football club based in Tehran and founded on 26 September 1945. Esteghlal currently competes in Iran's top flight Persian Gulf Pro League and Iranian FA cup Hazfi Cup. Esteghlal F.C. is the football club of the multisport Esteghlal of Iran Athletic and Cultural Company (Persian: شرکت فرهنگی ورزشی استقلال ایران).

Esteghlal's home games are played at Azadi Stadium in western Tehran, the stadium which is shared with city rivals Persepolis F.C. and Iran National Football Team has a total capacity of 100,000 making it the biggest football stadium in Iran.

Esteghlal has won 35 official and regional trophies making them
Iran's most decorated and most successful football club. The club has
won 15 national titles which are 8 Iranian leagues and a record of 7 Hazfi cup. Esteghlal has won 12 Tehran league
 (previously known as Tehran clubs championship) and 4 Tehran Hazfi cup
and 1 Tehran Super cup making them most successful club in Tehran
football history. Esteghlal's international titles are 2 championship in
 AFC Champions League
 (previously known as Asian clubs championship) making them Iran's most
successful club in Asian football and third in AFC champions league.

## History

### Early years, the Crown of Tehran (1945–1969)

Docharkheh Savaran (Esteghlal) first squad in 1947 From right to left: Danaeifard, Babajaan, Samadiaan, Haraajchi, Mohandes Jaavdani, Vaali, Sharghi, Aashout, Tafreshi, Nouri, Karlów

Parviz Khosravani, the founder and the first president of the club

On 20 September 1945, some young athletes and students including a 23
 year old military officer Parviz Khosravaani (first manager of the
club), Asghar Navaab (Bicycle Mechanic), Enayat Jananpour (National
Sports Organisation staff member), Mirzaee (carpenter) and Khashaaei
(bank guard) established a sports club on Ferdowsi Street, Tehran. Since the founders of the club were mostly interested in cycling, the club's original name was **Docharkhe Savaran** (Persian: دوچرخه سواران‎), meaning 'The Cyclists' in Persian. Ali Danaeifard
 coach and player of tour joined to them and became the first coach and
Captain of Esteghlal. Esteghlal football club played its first official
match in 1946.

In the first year, the 1946 season, they stood in second place of Tehran Football League and Tehran Hazfi Cup. They played against strong teams like Daraei, Sarbaaz and Shahin.

The 1947 season ended with the first ever Esteghlal's cup, after victories against Daraei, Shahin and Oghaab to reach the Tehran Hazfi Cup.

Docharkhe Savaran founders and players consisted of Ali
Danaeifard, Parviz Khosravani, Amou Oghli, Graeeli and Seyyed Ali Agha
agreed with the rename of the club to *TAJ* in 1949.

From the beginning Taj or Docharkeh Savaran competed in the
Tehran Local League, which at the time was the highest ranked league in
Iran. On March 6, 1950, Taj played its first official game in front of
over 20,000 spectators in Amjadieh Stadium against Shahin; Taj managed a close 1–0 win.

Taj won seven first titles in 50's and 60's; 1949-1950,
1951-1952, 1957-1958 and the three consecutive championships in
1959-1960, 1960-1961 and 1961-1962 (in this following years Taj add two
first title of Tehran Provincial League and Tehran Hazfi Cup both!) and again in 1963-1964 season (Persepolis established in this year at Tehran's 3rd Division).

Taj also won four Tehran Hazfi Cup in 1947, 1951, 1958 and 1959. The most successful club in Iran between that years, so far than other great teams like Daraei with three first titles and Shahin with two first titles and four second place.[2]

The first national cup was obtained in 1957 National Football League
after victory against Tabriz team by three goals.Taj represented
tehrans's football in those games which played in Bagh-e-Homayun ground.

Ali Danaeifard, club player and manager from 1946 until 1969

Ali Danaeifard managed Esteghlal for about twenty years, first as midfielder and coach and later in 1950 until 1967 as Coach of Taj. His son Iraj Danaeifard became the star of Taj and National team in the 70s and his daughter is a football coach. Fans call him Father of Esteghlal. Iraj scored the First ever Iranian goal during a World Cup Finals in 1978, with the equalizer against Scotland.

Some of the best players of those years as follows: Boyuk Jeddikar, Aref Gholizadeh, Parviz Koozehkanani, Mahmoud Bayati, Mohammad Ranjbar, Mohammad Amir Khatami, Nader Afshar Alavinejad, George Markarian, Kambozia Jamali, Karam Nayyerloo, Hassan Habibi, Heshmat Mohajerani, Fariborz Esmaeili, Parviz Aboutaleb, Mohammad Reza Adelkhani and Ali Jabbari.

Büyük Jeddikar
 known for being the first footballer in Iranian football history to be
transferred from an Iranian club TAJ (Esteghlal) to a foreign club in

Tehran old derby was a sensitive match which played between TAJ and Shahin
 in mid century, until 1967. After desolation of Shahin. Other teams
Added Shahin's players to their teams including Newborn team Persepolis.
Shahin returned at 1974 as Shahbaz and in 80's as Shahin and was not related to Persepolis.
Boyuk Jeddikar is best scorer of that rival matches for Taj.

### First Asian and Iranian championships (1970–1978)

The **1970 Asian Club Championship** was the 3rd edition of the annual Asian club football competition hosted by Asian Football Confederation.
 Seven clubs from seven countries competed in the tournament. The
tournament was held in Tehran, Iran in April. The clubs were split in
two groups and the group winners and runners-up advanced to semifinals.
Taj defeated Hapoel Tel Aviv of Israel 2–1 in the final to win its first ever Asian Club Championship and started new era in Iranian football with announced of professionalization of football in Iran.

This year had another Honor for TAJ, The first Iranian national league title: 1970–71 Local League under management of legendary Rajkov. TAJ defeated PAS 2-1 in final match. Captain Ali Jabbari introduced as best player of the league. TAJ have reached to third place of 1971 Asian Club Championship, a year after the first Asian Cup of club. They were defeated ROK Army of Korea 3-2 in Third place match.

TAJ squad in 1970 as national and continental champions

Esteghlal stood at second place in the 1973-74 league, with only two points less than Persepolis. Gholam Hossein Mazloumi was the top scorer of the league, with 15 goals. TAJ reached the 1974-75 Takht Jamshid Cup the next year, the second official Iranian Football League
 for Club. Mazloumi was still the best scorer. After the championship,
Taj stars who had some problems with the manager left the club and went
to Shahbaz FC (new name of Shahin FC); Mazloumi, Mohammad Reza Adelkhani and Naser Hejazi. Some old players like Captain Ali Jabbari, Mansour Pourheidari, Akbar Kargarjam, Abbas Mojdehi, Ezzat Jaanmaleki (Barbed Wire), Karo Haghverdian
 preferred to leave football. Social tensions came to the club, a
rebellion against the system which named revolution in next years.

### 1979 Revolution and post-revolution

After the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, the club was taken over by the newly established Islamic government and put under the control of the Physical Education Organization of the Islamic republic of Iran (Persian: سازمان تربیت بدنی جمهوری اسلامی ايران‎), a governmental organization, and changed its name to Esteghlal (Persian: استقلال‎), 'Independence' in Persian; Taj (Persian: تاج‎) means 'Crown' in Persian. After the revolution, any sign of the previous monarchist regime was not tolerated.

During the 1980s, Esteghlal won the Tehran Football League twice. The 1989–90
 season was a memorable one for Esteghlal. The club finished 1st in
Group B of the Qods League and advanced to the semi-finals. Esteghlal
defeated Malavan 4–0 on aggregate to advance to the final against the hated rival: Persepolis. Esteghlal defeated Persepolis 2–1 with a 74th-minute goal by Samad Marfavi
 to win the Qods League; this proved to be one of the most memorable
derbies for Esteghlal. In the following season, Esteghlal made it to the
 final of the Hazfi Cup only to lose to Malavan on penalties.

Nasser Hejazi was Esteghlal's legendary goalkeeper from 1967 to 1986.

1990-91 proved to be one of Esteghlal's most memorable years as they
won the Asian Club Championship for the 2nd time defeating Chinese club Liaoning 2–1. Mansour Pourheidari
 added another Asian Cup for Esteghlal as head coach, he played as
defender in 1970 championships. In next year Esteghlal reached to 1991 Asian Club Championship final match again and they're lose the match in penalties to Al-Hilal FC. Esteghlal once again reached the final of the Asian Club Championship in 1999, this time losing to Japanese club Júbilo Iwata 1–2 in Tehran. It was an emotional match under coaching of Naser Hejazi.

### Iran Pro League (2001–present)

2001 marked the first year of the newly founded Iran Pro League.
 Going into the final day, Esteghlal was on top of the league's table;
however, with an Esteghlal loss and a Persepolis win, Persepolis was
crowned as the league's inaugural champion. However, the 2001–02 Hazfi Cup provided some consolation for Esteghlal as they beat Fajr Sepasi 4–3 on aggregate to win the cup. The 2002–03 season was one of the worst years in club history, as they finished 9th under the management of Roland Koch and were eliminated in the group stage of the AFC Champions League.

In July 2003, Amir Ghalenoi
 was appointed manager of Esteghlal. In his first year, Esteghlal
finished runner-up in the league, finishing two points behind the
champion Pas Tehran. Ghalenoi also made it to the final of the Hazfi Cup losing 2–5 on aggregate to Sepahan.
 His second season proved to be less successful as Esteghlal finished
3rd and failed to qualify to the AFC Champions League. However, the 2005–06
 season was a completely different year; Esteghlal were crowned
champions of the Iran Pro League for the first time in the Pro League
era. At the end of the season, Ghalenoi left Esteghlal for the national team job.

In 2006 after the departure of Amir Ghalenoi, his assistant and youth team coach Samad Marfavi
 took over the head-coaching job. Esteghlal had a disappointing season,
finishing fourth, thus failing to secure a spot in the AFC Champions
League, as well as only reaching the Round of 16 in the Hazfi Cup with a
 shock defeat by Fajr Sepasi. After Marfavi's departure in August 2007, another Esteghlali great, former goalkeeper Nasser Hejazi took over; but after only 14 games and 4 defeats, Hejazi was fired as manager in November 2007. Firouz Karimi
 was hired as the temporary head coach for the remainder of the season;
he did not fare much better than Hejazi and the team finished 13th in
the league, its lowest finish ever. Firouz Karimi was fired in May 2008
and Amir Ghalenoi was hired again in July 2008.
He quickly regrouped the team and the Hazfi Cup proved to be a valuable
consolation, as Esteghlal became champions after defeating Pegah Gilan
 3–1 on aggregate, thus securing a Champions League spot after a
two-year absence. During Ghalenoi's first full and only season in his
second stint with Esteghlal, he led the team to an Iran Pro League
championship, finishing ahead of Zob Ahan on goal difference. However, after a group stage exit in the AFC Champions League, Ghalenoi resigned.

Samad Marfavi took the reins of Esteghlal for a second time; Marfavi led the team to a 3rd place league finish in the 2009–10 season and also led the team to the Round of 16 of the AFC Champions League, losing to Al Shabab
 of Saudi Arabia 2–3 on aggregate. In the spring of 2010, Marfavi
extended his contract for another year, but strangely a few days later
he resigned. This time Esteghlal turned to Parviz Mazloumi,
 a former Esteghlal player in the 1980s. During his 2-year tenure with
Esteghlal, he led the team to 2nd and 3rd place league finishes, as well
 as a Hazfi Cup trophy in 2012. After a 0–2 loss to fellow countrymen Sepahan
 in the Round 16 of the AFC Champions League, Mazloumi was sacked by the
 club and Amir Ghalenoi took the reins of Esteghlal for a third time.

The new era started with an exciting year for Esteghlal as both former Aston Villa man Jlloyd Samuel and Iran national football team captain Javad Nekounam joined the team. With these players, Ghalenoi had no trouble leading Esteghlal to a comfortable league victory in his first season back. The team also made it to the semi-finals of the Hazfi Cup which they eventually lost to Sepahan. The year was also marked by advancing to the AFC Champions League semi-finals where they met Korean side FC Seoul. After a 0–2 away loss in the first leg, Esteghlal faced an uphill task; they returned to Azadi Stadium with much belief but eventually lost to FC Seoul 2–4 on aggregate.

The next season
 however was a disappointing one for Ghalenoi and his team. With a
chance to win the league on the final match day, Esteghlal lost 1–3 to Tractor Sazi and dropped to 5th place, and out of a champions league slot. Esteghlal also faced a shock defeat at the hands of Mes Kerman
 in the Hazfi Cup semi-finals. To top off Esteghlal's horrendous year,
the team failed to reach the AFC Champions League knock-out stage,
finishing 3rd in its group. Amir Ghalenoi earned the title of "General"
from the club's fans for his performance.

After Esteghlal's defeat to Zob Ahan in the Hazfi Cup final on May 29, 2016, Parviz Mazloomi was fired and replaced by former player and Naft Tehran's head coach Alireza Mansourian on June 1, 2016. Esteghlal started the season poorly and were knocked out of the Hazfi Cup in the Quarter-finals by Naft Tehran. The club was also issued a transfer ban for the 2017 winter period for outstanding debts to Adil Chihi. On 7 February 2017, Esteghlal defeated Qatari club Al Sadd on penalties to advance to the 2017 AFC Champions League group stage. Esteghlal was defeated by Al Ain 6-1 on quarter final of 2017 AFC Champions League
 and was eliminated. Mansourian was the head coach of Esteghlal until
7th week of 2017–18 season of Persian Gulf Pro League. Mansourian
resigned after accumulating only 5 points in 7 matches and standing on
16th position.

German coach Winfried Schäfer was appointed as new manager of Esteghlal Tehran on 1 October 2017, replacing Alireza Mansourian.

## Crest and colours

Docharkhe Savaran (Cyclists) club found in 1945 after end of Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran;
 this dark years brought football for Iran with foreign soldiers.
Cycling in those days, was a sign of modernity in country and some of
founders are champions in that. The club was active in Cycling,
Football, Basketball, Volleyball, Weightlifting، Wrestling, Swimming and
 ping pong. After early success in football; the club was inevitably
renamed. TAJ was new name, means crown, the crown traditionally
represents power, legitimacy, victory, triumph, honor, and glory, as
well as immortality, righteousness, and resurrection. In Persian literature Taj is more than a sign of monarchy and usually refers to highest point or best thing; for example Taj Mahal. Fans calls Esteghlal: Taj-e Asia (Crown of Asia). After Iranian Revolution
 in 1979 all things those have relation with monarchy was not tolerated
and after three years club opened with new name Esteghlal, means
Independence in Persian. The first part of The motto of Iranian
Revolution. The colour of Blue and shape of Circles are main elements which saved in new simplified badge.

Esteghlal wearing blue shirt from the beginning with white or blue short and socks. The second color of club is White, color of Team Melli.

## Rivalries

### Tehran derby

Main article: Tehran derby

Other important rivalries: Esteghlal–Sepahan rivalry

The club's biggest rival and its opponent in the Tehran derby is Persepolis. The first derby match between the clubs took place on April 5, 1968, at Amjadieh Stadium. Today, all derbies and home matches are played at Azadi Stadium which is usually sold out for the derby. Esteghlal has the most wins in the Tehran derby with *25* victories.

In 1995, IRIFF began to invite foreign referees
 to officiate the derby to ease fans' and players' suspicions of referee
 bias. This occurred after the events of the 38th derby (January 20,
1995) in which Persepolis was leading by a score of 2–0 until the 79th
minute when Esteghlal scored two goals within 8 minutes to erase the
deficit; the 1st goal was scored from the penalty spot which angered the
 Persepolis fans and players who felt the referee was biased towards
Esteghlal. Persepolis fans stormed the field in the 88th minute and
fights broke out on the pitch between fans and players. Following the
match, it was decided that Iranian referees would no longer be used for
the derby. After 14 years of foreign referees, the second leg of the 2008–09 season saw an Iranian once again refereeing the derby. The game ended in a draw with goals coming from Mojtaba Jabari and Maziar Zare.

## Supporters

Esteghlal fans at Tehran derby

Esteghlal is one of the most supported teams in Iranian and Asian football.
 The club is based in Tehran and is popular in all parts of the country.
 Esteghlal also has a fan base in the United States, Europe and Persian Gulf countries.

## Grounds

Main article: Azadi Stadium

Azadi Stadium is Iran's national stadium and the largest in the country. Azadi Stadium officially had a capacity of 100,000 people at the beginning[3][4] and was built to host the 1974 Asian Games.
 The stadium is part of the much larger Azadi Sports Complex and is
surrounded by a rowing river, football training pitches, a weightlifting
 complex, swimming facilities and indoor volleyball and futsal courts,
among many other amenities. Today, Azadi Stadium has a capacity of
78,116 after renovations in 2016.[5]

Esteghlal's home stadium is *Azadi* (Persian: ورزشگاه آزادی‎), a football stadium in Tehran, Iran. The stadium's former name was Aryamehr Stadium which was changed after the Iranian Revolution. The stadium has been filled over capacity on numerous occasions; for example, when it has faced rivals Persepolis in the Tehran derby or in several AFC Champions League matches. Prior to the construction of *Azadi*, Esteghlal used to play their games at Amjadieh Stadium.