Esteghlal Ahvaz F.C. facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Esteghlal Ahvaz
استقلال اهواز

Full name	Esteghlal Ahvaz Football Club
Founded	1948; 77 years ago (1948) (as Taj Ahvaz Football Club)
Ground	Takhti Ahvaz
Ground Capacity	10,000
Owner	Mohammad Maleki
Chairman	Farshid Faraji
Head Coach	Ali Khoshzhat
League	League 3
2019–20	League 3, Disqualified (relegated)
Home colours Away colours

Esteghlal Ahvaz Football Club, also known as Esteghlal Ahvaz, was a football club from Ahvaz, Khuzestan, in Iran. The club played in the Khuzestan Province League.

It was started in 1948 as Taj Ahvaz Football Club. The team played its home games at the Takhti Ahvaz. This stadium can hold 10,000 fans. Mohammad Maleki owned and supported the club.

Club History

How the Club Started

The club began in 1938 as Taj Ahvaz Football Club. Hakim Shoushtari founded it. At that time, it was connected to Taj Tehran, another famous football club.

Early Years (Before 1970)

Before the 1970s, Iran did not have a national football league. Clubs usually played in championships for their city or province. Taj Ahvaz played in the Khuzestan Premier League during these years.

The 1970s and New Leagues

In 1970, the Local League was created. This was a new league for teams from all over Iran. Taj Ahvaz did well, finishing third in their qualifying tournaments in both 1970–71 and 1971–72.

In 1972, the Takht Jamshid Cup became the national league. Taj Ahvaz was supposed to join in 1973. However, the Iran Football Federation had a rule. Only one team with the same name could play in the league. Since Taj Tehran was already there, Taj Ahvaz had to stay in the Khuzestan Premier League.

Name Change After the Revolution

After the Iranian Revolution in 1979, Taj Ahvaz changed its name. It became Esteghlal Ahvaz Football Club. The word Esteghlal means independence in Persian. This change happened because the new government did not want anything linked to the old royal family.

The 1980s and 1990s

The Iran–Iraq War happened during the 1980s. This war greatly affected Ahvaz and Khuzestan. Because of the war, people were not very interested in football. The national leagues were also not well organized.

In 1991, the Azadegan League became Iran's top football league. Esteghlal Ahvaz played in this league for eight years. They had average results. In the 1997–98 Azadegan League season, they finished 13th. This meant they moved down to Iran Football's 2nd Division.

The 2000s: A Stronger Period

The Iran Pro League started as a professional league. The Azadegan League then became the second-highest league. Esteghlal Ahvaz won the 2001–02 Azadegan League season. This win allowed them to move up to the Iran Pro League.

The team played well in the Iran Pro League. They finished eighth in 2003–04 and fifth in 2004–05. In the 2006–07 season, they even finished as runners-up (second place).

Challenging Years

After 2009, Esteghlal Ahvaz faced difficulties. They finished 18th in the 2009–10 Iran Pro League and moved down to the Azadegan League. The next year, they moved down again to League 2 because of many problems.

In 2012, they won the 2011–12 Iran 2nd Division and returned to the Azadegan League. However, after two average seasons, they were relegated (moved down) to League 2 again.

Moving Up and Down

Even though Esteghlal Ahvaz was relegated, they got a chance to play in the 2015–16 Persian Gulf Pro League. This happened because another team, Foolad Novin, could not be promoted. Foolad Novin was a reserve team, and rules did not allow them to move up.

However, Esteghlal Ahvaz did not manage the team well. They were relegated back to the Azadegan League before the season ended. In the 2016–17 Azadegan League season, they did not win a single match. This led to them being relegated to League 2 once more.

Home Stadium

Takhti Ahvaz Stadium, where Esteghlal Ahvaz played home games.

Esteghlal Ahvaz played its home games at the Takhti Ahvaz. This stadium can hold 10,000 people. It opened in 1978 and is owned by the city of Ahvaz. The stadium was updated in 2005 and 2012. Another local team, Shahin Ahvaz, also uses this stadium.

The team also played a few matches at Ghadir Stadium in the 2015–16 season.

Fan Attendance

The table below shows how many fans came to Esteghlal Ahvaz's games over the years.

Notes:
Matches where no fans were allowed are not counted in the average.

Club Supporters

During the 1980s, the Iran–Iraq War made people less interested in football. This also affected Esteghlal Ahvaz.

In later years, the club's struggles led to fewer fans attending games. Sometimes, fans caused problems. For example, in a match in 2016, some fans threw objects. Because of this, Esteghlal Ahvaz had to play three games without any fans in the stadium.

Team Rivalries

Esteghlal Ahvaz had a main rival: Foolad.

The Ahvaz Derby

The biggest rivalry for Esteghlal Ahvaz was with Foolad Khuzestan. Both teams are from Ahvaz. Games between them were called the Ahvaz Derby. Even though the fans of Foolad were mostly Arab and Esteghlal Ahvaz fans were mostly Persian, there was no ethnic tension in the rivalry. As Esteghlal Ahvaz had weaker seasons, the derby became less important.

Other Rivalries

Esteghlal Ahvaz also had smaller rivalries with other teams in Ahvaz. These included Esteghlal Khuzestan and Shahin Ahvaz.

Season Results

This table shows how Esteghlal Ahvaz performed in different competitions since 1970.

Notes:
The Persian Gulf Pro League was also known as Iran Pro League (IPL) and Persian Gulf Cup (PGC).
The Azadegan League was the top division from 1991 to 2001.
The League 2 was once called Iran 2nd Division.
The League 3 was once called Iran 3rd Division.

Club Achievements

Esteghlal Ahvaz won some important titles:

National Leagues

• Persian Gulf Pro League
  • Second Place (1): 2006–07
• Azadegan League
  • Winners (1): 2001–02
• League 2
  • Winners (1): 2011–12

Team Players

This is a list of some players who were part of the Esteghlal Ahvaz first team squad.

No. Position Player 10 MF Adel Kolahkaj 13 FW Ali Bigdeli 15 DF Peyman Taleshi U23 20 DF Mehdi Eslami 24 FW Reza Bahmaei U23 25 DF Milad Rabbani U23 26 DF Maki Sharifi 28 FW Mehdi Niyayesh Pour 29 MF Mohammad Javad Kerdouni U21

No. Position Player 31 MF Mojtaba Rashidi U21 32 MF Sadegh Zharfani U21 34 DF Mehdi Yalali U21 38 FW Mirfarzad Majidi 39 DF Adel Masoudifard U23 45 GK Ali Kordani MF Pedram Ardalany

Team Coaches

Here are the coaches who led Esteghlal Ahvaz since 1993.

No.	Coach	from	until	Major Titles
1	Bahram Atef	July 1993	June 2001	0
2	Mehdi Monajati	July 2001	2002
3	Jalal Cheraghpour	2002	June 2002	1	Azadegan League
4	Amir Ghalenoei	July 2002	June 2003	0
5	Nasser Hejazi	July 2003	June 2004
6	Luka Bonačić	July 2004	2005
7	Martik Khachatourian	2005	2005
8	Mahmoud Yavari	2005	June 2005
9	Srđan Gemaljević	July 2005	June 2006
10	Firouz Karimi	July 2006	November 2007
11	Majid Jalali	November 2007	May 2008
12	Karim Boustani	July 2008	August 2008
13	Mahmoud Yavari	August 2008	August 2008
14	Reza Ahadi	August 2008	August 2008
15	Akbar Misaghian	August 2008	February 2009
16	Khodadad Azizi	June 2009	September 2009
17	Majid Bagherinia	2009	2009
18	Mohammad Ahmadzadeh	2009	2009
19	Mehdi Hasheminasab	2009	2009
20	Alireza Firouzi	2009	September 2010
21	Dariush Yazdi	September 2010	January 2011
22	Firouz Karimi	February 2011	March 2011
23	Afshin Kamaei	March 2011	March 2011
24	Fereydoon Fazli	April 2011	April 2011
25	Dariush Yazdi	April 2011	May 2011
26	Adel Hardani	July 2011	November 2012
27	Masoud Norouzi	November 2012	November 2012
28	Ali Hanteh	November 2012	June 2013	1	League 2
29	Davoud Mahabadi	July 2013	June 2014	0
30	Dariush Yazdi	July 2014	2015
31	Habib Khadirian	2015	2015
32	Fereydoun Hardani	2015	2015
33	Hossein Seyed-Salehi	2015	2015
34	Saber Mirghorbani	2015	June 2015
35	Siavash Bakhtiarizadeh	July 2015	October 2015
36	Ali Hanteh	November 2015	December 2015
37	Siavash Bakhtiarizadeh	January 2016	June 2016
38	Hamidreza Farzaneh	July 2016	December 2016
39	Siavash Bakhtiarizadeh	January 2017

Club Chairmen

These are the people who served as chairmen for Esteghlal Ahvaz since 2002.

No.	Coach	from	until
1	Nasrollah Heibodi		2002
2	Ali Shafizadeh	2002	2006
3	Shahram Shafizadeh	2006	2011
4	Safar Jamalpour	2011	2016
5	Farshid Faraji	2016

See also

• Esteghlal Tehran
• Esteghlal Khuzestan
• FC Istiklol
• 2016–17 Azadegan League
• 2016-17 Hazfi Cup