2023–24 Sepahan S.C. season

Sepahan
2023–24 season
Chairman	Mohammad Reza Saket
Manager	José Morais
Stadium	Naghsh-e Jahan Stadium
Pro League	3rd
Hazfi Cup	Winners
AFC Champions League	Group stage
Home colours	Away colours
	← 2022–23 2024–25 →

The 2023–24 season is Sepahan's 70th season in existence, and their 43rd consecutive season in the top flight of Iranian football. It is also the club's 23rd consecutive season in the Persian Gulf Pro League. The club will compete in the Persian Gulf Pro League, Hazfi Cup and AFC Champions League.^[1]

Players

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	Payam Niazmand (vice-captain)
2	DF	IRN	Hadi Mohammadi
5	MF	IRN	Reza Asadi
6	MF	BFA	Bryan Dabo
8	MF	IRN	Mohammad Karimi (captain)
9	DF	IRN	Ramin Rezaeian
10	MF	IRN	Farshad Ahmadzadeh
11	FW	IRN	Kaveh Rezaei
13	GK	IRN	Mohammad Gerami ^U21
14	DF	IRN	Aria Yousefi ^U23
17	MF	IRN	Esmaeil Gholizadeh ^U21
18	DF	IRN	Milad Zakipour


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
19	DF	IRN	Omid Noorafkan (third-captain)
22	GK	IRN	Sadegh Salehi ^U21
23	MF	IRN	Ahmad Reza Mousavi ^U21
33	FW	GHA	Issah Abass (on loan from Chaves)
44	GK	IRN	Nima Mirzazad
58	DF	IRN	Mohammad Daneshgar
70	FW	IRN	Shahriyar Moghanlou
77	MF	IRN	Ali Ahmadi ^U21
80	MF	IRN	Arshia Sarshogh ^U21
81	MF	IRN	Reza Shekari
86	MF	IRN	Mohammad Javad Hosseinnejad ^U21
99	DF	IRN	Siavash Yazdani

U21 = Under-21 level player. U23 = Under-23 level player. SPE = Special group player. INJ = Out of main squad due to injury.

Transfers

Summer

In:


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
77	MF	IRN	Mohammad Reza Hosseini (Loan return from Gol Gohar)^[2]
1	GK	IRN	Payam Niazmand (from Portimonense, previously on loan)^[3]
26	FW	IRN	Ali Ahmadi ^U21 (from Sepahan U19)
7	MF	IRN	Reza Shekari (from Gol Gohar)^[4]
11	FW	IRN	Kaveh Rezaei (from Tractor)^[5]
8	MF	IRN	Reza Asadi (from Tractor)^[6]
15	MF	IRN	Ehsan Pahlevan (from Foolad)
72	FW	IRN	Issa Alekasir (from Persepolis)
3	DF	IRN	Hadi Mohammadi (from Tractor)

Out:


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
41	FW	BDI	Elvis Kamsoba (to PSS Sleman)
11	MF	BRA	Ygor Catatau
15	MF	POR	Manuel Fernandes
25	FW	IRN	Reza Bakhtiarizadeh ^U21 (to Sepahan U21)
8	MF	IRN	Yasin Salmani (to Persepolis)
23	DF	IRN	Sobhan Pasandideh (Loan return from Malavan / to Havadar)
6	MF	IRN	Masoud Rigi (to Persepolis)^[7]
26	MF	IRN	Amir Mohammad Mohkamkar ^U21 (Loan return from Saipa / to Esteghlal Khuzestan)
27	MF	IRN	Hassan Shoushtari (Loan return from Saipa / to Esteghlal Khuzestan)
20	FW	IRN	Isa Moradi (On loan to Shams Azar)
17	MF	IRN	Jalaleddin Alimohammadi (to Mes Rafsanjan)
81	FW	IRN	Mohammad Alinejad (On loan to Foolad)
—	FW	IRN	Kasra Taheri (to Rubin Kazan)

Pre-season and friendlies

5 July 2022 (2022-07-05) Friendly	Sepahan	8–0	Sucleia	Turkey
		Report

8 July 2022 (2022-07-08) Friendly	Sepahan	3–1	JK Academy	Turkey
17:00 UTC+3		Report

Competitions

Overview

Competition	Starting round	Final position	Record
Competition	Starting round	Final position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Pro League	Matchday 1	3rd	30	17	6	7	53	26	+27	056.67
Hazfi Cup	Round of 32	Winners	5	5	0	0	10	2	+8	100.00
AFC Champions League	Group stage	Round of 16	8	3	1	4	18	14	+4	037.50
Total			43	25	7	11	81	42	+39	058.14

Last updated: 13 July 2024 (2024-07-13).
Source: Competitions

Persian Gulf Pro League

Standings

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Persepolis (C)	30	20	8	2	45	18	+27	68	Qualification for the 2024–25 AFC Champions League Elite League stage
2	Esteghlal	30	19	10	1	40	15	+25	67
3	Sepahan	30	17	6	7	53	26	+27	57	Qualification for the 2024–25 AFC Champions League Elite qualifying play-offs^[a]
4	Tractor	30	16	6	8	42	22	+20	54	Qualification for the 2024–25 AFC Champions League Two group stage
5	Zob Ahan	30	11	9	10	30	29	+1	42

Source: Iran Football League Organization - League Full Table, Iplstats
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Total goal difference; 5) Total goals scored; 6) Play-off at neutral venue.
(Note: Head-to-head record is used only after all the matches between the teams in question have been played).^[8]
(C) Champions
Notes:

^ Qualified as the 2023–24 Hazfi Cup winners.

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	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H
Result	W	W	W	W	W	L	W	D	L	W	W	W	W	L	L	D	W	L	L	W	W	L	D	W	D	D	D	W	W	W
Position	3	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	3	4	4	4	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3

Updated to match(es) played on 13 July 2024. Source: "Ipl".
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss; P = Postponed

Matches

The league fixtures were announced on 9 August.^[9]

10 August 2023 1	Sepahan	3–1	Tractor	Isfahan
19:00 IRST (UTC+03:30)	Zakipour 6' Moghanlou 11' Shekari 12', 60' Nilson 15' 79' Asadi 25' Ahmadzadeh 45+1' Daneshgar 45+5' Rezaei 90+7'	Report	Hadi 45+5' 86' Karimazar 89', 90' Aghajanpour 90+1' Alves 90+6' Khalilzadeh 90+7'	Stadium: Naghsh-e Jahan Attendance: 35,000 Referee: Payam Heydari

2	Zob Ahan	0–2	Sepahan
		Report

3	Sepahan	1–0	Esteghlal
		Report

4	Paykan	1–3	Sepahan
		Report

5	Sepahan	3–1	Foolad
		Report

6	Gol Gohar	3–1	Sepahan
		Report

7	Sepahan	4–1	Sanat Naft
		Report

8	Nassaji Mazandaran	1–1	Sepahan
		Report

9	Sepahan	2–0	Malavan
		Report

10	Sepahan	1–0	Persepolis
		Report

11	Esteghlal Khuzestan	1–3	Sepahan
		Report

12	Sepahan	5–1	Mes Rafsanjan
		Report

13	Havadar	0–5	Sepahan
		Report

14	Sepahan	0–1	Aluminium Arak
		Report

15	Shams Azar	1–0	Sepahan
		Report

16	Tractor	0–0	Sepahan
		Report

17	Sepahan	1–0	Zob Ahan
		Report

18	Esteghlal	1–0	Sepahan
		Report

19	Sepahan	2–3	Paykan
		Report

20	Foolad	1–3	Sepahan
		Report

21	Sepahan	2–0	Gol Gohar
		Report

22	Sanat Naft	2–1	Sepahan
		Report

23	Sepahan	0–0	Nassaji Mazandaran
		Report

24	Malavan	1–2	Sepahan
		Report

25	Persepolis	0–0	Sepahan
		Report

26	Sepahan	1–1	Esteghlal Khuzestan
		Report

27	Mes Rafsanjan	1–1	Sepahan
		Report

28	Sepahan	2–0	Havadar
		Report

29	Aluminium Arak	0–1	Sepahan
		Report

30	Sepahan	4–1	Shams Azar
		Report

Hazfi Cup

4 March 2024 (2024-03-04) Round of 32	Sepahan	3–0	Shams Azar	Isfahan
17:30	Reza Asadi 24' Omid Noorafkan60' Reza Shekari71'			Stadium: Naghsh-e Jahan Stadium

26 April 2024 (2024-04-26) Round of 16	Esteghlal Mollasani	1–2	Sepahan	Ahvaz
19:30				Stadium: Ghadir Stadium

16 May 2024 (2024-05-16) Quarter-final	Sepahan	1–0	Malavan	Isfahan
19:30	Farshad Ahmadzadeh 39'			Stadium: Naghsh-e Jahan Stadium

15 June 2024 Semi-final

Sepahan (1)

2–1

Gol Gohar (1)

20 June 2024 (2024-06-20) Final	Sepahan	2–0	Mes Rafsanjan	Tehran
	Moghanlou 8', 23' (pen.)			Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 15,000 Referee: Bijan Heydari

AFC Champions League

Group stage

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	ITH	SEP	QWJ	AGK
1	Al-Ittihad	6	5	0	1	11	4	+7	15	Advance to round of 16	—	2–1	1–0	3–0
2	Sepahan	6	3	1	2	16	8	+8	10^[a]	Advance to round of 16	0–3^[b]	—	1–0	9–0
3	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	6	3	1	2	9	7	+2	10^[a]		2–0	2–2	—	3–2
4	AGMK	6	0	0	6	5	22	−17	0		1–2	1–3	1–2	—

Source: AFC
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
Notes:

^ ^a ^b Ranked on head-to-head points: Sepahan 4, Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya 1.
^ The match was abandoned after Al-Ittihad walked off in protest due to the presence of a sculpture of Qasem Soleimani on the pitch.^[10] The match was awarded a 3–0 win to Al-Ittihad, with Sepahan also being fined $200,000 and banned from hosting its next three Asian Champions League matches at home.^[11]^[12]

18 September 2023 (2023-09-18) 1	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	2–2	Sepahan	Franso Hariri Stadium,^{[note 1]} Erbil
19:00 UTC+3	Jasim 26', 88'	Report	Daneshgar 30' Ghorbani 67'	Attendance: 10,327 Referee: Ma Ning (China)

2 October 2023 (2023-10-02) 2	Sepahan	0–3 (awd.)	Al Ittihad	Isfahan, Iran
19:30 UTC+3:30				Stadium: Naghsh-e Jahan Stadium
Note: The match was called off due to Al-Ittihad refusing to take the pitch over a bust of Qassem Soleimani.^[13] On 2 November 2023, AFC awarded a 3–0 win to Al-Ittihad.^[14]

23 October 2023 (2023-10-23) 3	AGMK	1–3	Sepahan	OKMK Sport Majmuasi, Olmaliq
19:00 UTC+5	Mirakhmadov 36'	Report	Rezaeian 32', 49' Asadi 59'	Attendance: 3,200 Referee: Omar Mohamed Al Ali (United Arab Emirates)

6 November 2023 (2023-11-06) 4	Sepahan	9–0	AGMK	Azadi Stadium^{[note 2]}, Tehran
19:30 UTC+3:30	Ahmadzadeh 8' Asadi 59' Hosseinnejad 60', 90+3' Ghorbani 62' Rezaeian 71' Alekasir 79', 87' Moghanlou 82'	Report		Attendance: 4,721 Referee: Kim Jong-hyeok (South Korea)

27 November 2023 (2023-11-27) 5	Sepahan	1–0	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	Azadi Stadium,^{[note 2]} Tehran
21:30 UTC+3:30	Ahmadzadeh 4'	Report		Attendance: 10,450 Referee: Abdulrahman Al-Jassim (Qatar)

4 December 2023 (2023-12-04) 6	Al-Ittihad	2–1	Sepahan	Mecca, Saudi Arabia
21:00 UTC+3	Al-Amri 14' Felipe 19' Hamdallah 45' Al-Ghamdi 68' Jota 69' Z. Hawsawi 90+2'	Report	Dabo 45+4' Rezaeian 48' Asadi 68' Niazmand 88'	Stadium: King Abdul Aziz Stadium Attendance: 11,159 Referee: Ma Ning (China)

Round of 16

15 February 2024 First leg	Sepahan	1–3	Al-Hilal	Isfahan, Iran
19:30 UTC+3:30	Karimi 29' Rezaeian 37', 86' Daneshgar 76'	Report	Malcom 57', 86' Mitrović 90+4' Al-Hamdan 90+7'	Stadium: Naghsh-e Jahan Stadium Attendance: 61,265 Referee: Ahmad Al-Ali (Kuwait)

22 February 2024 Second leg	Al-Hilal	3–1 (6–2 agg.)	Sepahan	Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
21:00 UTC+3	S. Al-Dawsari 76' Neves 82' Mitrović 90+7'	Report	Ahmadzadeh 54' Yazdani 71'	Stadium: Kingdom Arena Attendance: 18,055 Referee: Adel Al-Naqbi (United Arab Emirates)

Notes

^ Team did not use their own home stadium.
^ ^a ^b After an investigation about displaying a sculpture of Qassem Soleimani during the home match against Ittihad FC, Sepahan were banned from playing three home matches of this competition at Naghsh-e-Jahan Stadium. Since Sepahan qualified for the knockout stage, this ban will include the home leg in the round of 16.^[15]

References

^ "Foolad Mobarakeh Sepahan SC - Results, fixtures, squad, statistics, photos, videos and news". Soccerway.
^ "اولین ورودی فصل جدید سپاهان مشخص شد". ورزش سه (in Persian).
^ "اولین توافق بزرگ فصل جدید: نیازمند - سپاهان". ورزش سه (in Persian).
^ "شکاری، رسمی: دومین بمب سپاهان از روی شماره!". ورزش سه (in Persian).
^ "فصل تازه کاوه رضایی در اصفهان". ورزش سه (in Persian).
^ "رسمی: رضا اسدی به سپاهان پیوست". ورزش سه (in Persian).
^ "یاغی آبی رسما با پیراهن پرسپولیس". ورزش سه (in Persian).
^ "اعلام نحوه تعیین قهرمان،صعود و سقوط کنندگان". iranleague.
^ "برنامه بازی های تراکتور در لیگ بیست و سوم". سرخ نیوز (in Persian).
^ Blow, Tom (2 October 2023). "Al-Ittihad match cancelled as they refuse to play in Iran due to statue by pitch". The Mirror. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
^ "Iranian club Sepahan penalized over canceled ACL match after Saudi team's walkout". AP News. 2 November 2023. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
^ "Al-Ittihad's match against Iran's Sepahan 3-0 for saudi side due to Qassem Soleimani busts in stadium". Arab News. 2 October 2023. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
^ "Al-Ittihad's match against Iran's Sepahan cancelled".
^ "Sepahan handed fine, stadium ban after Al-Ittihad cancellation".
^ "Sepahan handed fine, stadium ban after Al-Ittihad cancellation". Reuters. 3 October 2023. Retrieved 3 October 2023.

[table_note_res_SLPS0.83513315479976-8] Qualified as the 2023–24 Hazfi Cup winners.

[table_hth_SEP0.4461825343064-11] Ranked on head-to-head points: Sepahan 4, Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya 1.

[table_note_SEP_ITH0.4461825343064-15] The match was abandoned after Al-Ittihad walked off in protest due to the presence of a sculpture of Qasem Soleimani on the pitch.^[10] The match was awarded a 3–0 win to Al-Ittihad, with Sepahan also being fined $200,000 and banned from hosting its next three Asian Champions League matches at home.^[11]^[12]

[Stadium-16] Team did not use their own home stadium.

[SEP-20] After an investigation about displaying a sculpture of Qassem Soleimani during the home match against Ittihad FC, Sepahan were banned from playing three home matches of this competition at Naghsh-e-Jahan Stadium. Since Sepahan qualified for the knockout stage, this ban will include the home leg in the round of 16.^[15]

[1] "Foolad Mobarakeh Sepahan SC - Results, fixtures, squad, statistics, photos, videos and news". Soccerway.

[2] "اولین ورودی فصل جدید سپاهان مشخص شد". ورزش سه (in Persian).

[3] "اولین توافق بزرگ فصل جدید: نیازمند - سپاهان". ورزش سه (in Persian).

[4] "شکاری، رسمی: دومین بمب سپاهان از روی شماره!". ورزش سه (in Persian).

[5] "فصل تازه کاوه رضایی در اصفهان". ورزش سه (in Persian).

[6] "رسمی: رضا اسدی به سپاهان پیوست". ورزش سه (in Persian).

[7] "یاغی آبی رسما با پیراهن پرسپولیس". ورزش سه (in Persian).

[9] "اعلام نحوه تعیین قهرمان،صعود و سقوط کنندگان". iranleague.

[10] "برنامه بازی های تراکتور در لیگ بیست و سوم". سرخ نیوز (in Persian).

[Soleimani1-12] Blow, Tom (2 October 2023). "Al-Ittihad match cancelled as they refuse to play in Iran due to statue by pitch". The Mirror. Retrieved 30 November 2023.

[Soleimani2-13] "Iranian club Sepahan penalized over canceled ACL match after Saudi team's walkout". AP News. 2 November 2023. Retrieved 30 November 2023.

[Soleimani3-14] "Al-Ittihad's match against Iran's Sepahan 3-0 for saudi side due to Qassem Soleimani busts in stadium". Arab News. 2 October 2023. Retrieved 2 October 2023.

[17] "Al-Ittihad's match against Iran's Sepahan cancelled".

[18] "Sepahan handed fine, stadium ban after Al-Ittihad cancellation".

[19] "Sepahan handed fine, stadium ban after Al-Ittihad cancellation". Reuters. 3 October 2023. Retrieved 3 October 2023.

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