2016–17 Persian Gulf Pro League

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Tractor Sazi – Sanat Naft[5]
(17 January 2017)
Esteghlal – Est. Khuzestan[6]
(17 January 2017)
Sanat Naft – Naft Tehran[7]
(3 February 2017)
Sanat Naft – Paykan[8]
(3 March 2017)
Total attendance1,884,144
Average attendance8,086
→

The 2016–17 Persian Gulf Pro League (formerly known as Iran Pro League) was the 34th season of Iran's Football League and 16th as Persian Gulf Pro League since its establishment in 2001. Esteghlal Khuzestan were the defending champions. The season featured 13 teams from the 2015–16 Persian Gulf Pro League and three new teams promoted from the 2015–16 Azadegan League: Paykan as champions, Machine Sazi and Sanat Naft. The league started on 25 July 2016 and ended on 4 May 2017. Persepolis won the Pro League title for the third time in their history (total 10th Iranian title).

Teams

Stadia and locations

Padideh
Esteghlal Persepolis Naft Tehran Paykan Saipa
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Locations of clubs in 2016–17 Persian Gulf Pro League
Team City Venue Capacity
Esteghlal Tehran Azadi 78,116
Esteghlal Khuzestan Ahvaz Ghadir 38,900
Foolad Ahvaz Ghadir 38,900
Gostaresh Tabriz
Bonyan Diesel
 12,000
Machine Sazi Tabriz Yadegar-e Emam 66,833
Naft Tehran Tehran Takhti Tehran 30,122
Padideh
 Mashhad Samen 35,000
Paykan Tehran
Shahr-e Qods
 25,000
Persepolis Tehran Azadi 78,116
Saba Qom Qom Yadegar-e Emam 10,610
Saipa Tehran Shahid Dastgerdi 8,250
Sanat Naft Abadan Takhti Abadan 10,000[9]
Sepahan
 Isfahan
Naghsh-e-Jahan
 75,000
Siah Jamegan
 Mashhad Samen 35,000
Tractor Sazi
 Tabriz Yadegar-e Emam 66,833
Zob Ahan Isfahan Foolad Shahr 15,000

Number of teams by region

Region Number of teams Teams
1
Tehran
 5 Esteghlal, Persepolis, Naft Tehran, Paykan, Saipa
2
East Azerbaijan
 3 Tractor Sazi, Machine Sazi, Gostaresh
2
Khuzestan
 3 Esteghlal Khuzestan, Foolad, Sanat Naft
4
Khorasan
 2 Mashhad, Padideh
4
Isfahan
 2 Sepahan, Zob Ahan
6
Qom
 1 Saba Qom

Personnel and kits

Main article: List of Iranian Football League managers

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Team Manager Captain Kit manufacturer
Esteghlal Iran Alireza Mansourian Iran Mehdi Rahmati China Li-Ning
Est. Khuzestan Iran Sirous Pourmousavi Iran Mohammad Tayyebi Iran Start
Foolad Iran Naeim Saadavi
Mehrdad Jamaati
 Germany Uhlsport
Gostaresh Iran Faraz Kamalvand Iran Morteza Asadi Iran Merooj
Machine Sazi Iran Farhad Kazemi Iran Andranik Teymourian Iran Merooj
Naft Tehran Iran Ali Daei Iran Alireza Ezzati Italy Legea
Padideh Iran Mohammad Reza Mohajeri Iran Reza Nasehi Iran Yousef Jame
Paykan Iran Majid Jalali Iran Rahman Ahmadi Iran Yousef Jame
Persepolis Croatia Branko Ivanković Iran Jalal Hosseini Spain Joma
Saba Qom Iran Samad Marfavi Iran Reza Enayati Iran Merooj
Sanat Naft Iran Firouz Karimi Iran Hassan Houri Iran Merooj
Saipa Iran Hossein Faraki Iran Ebrahim Sadeghi Italy Givova
Sepahan Croatia Zlatko Kranjčar Iran Ehsan Hajsafi Germany Uhlsport
Siah Jamegan Iran Akbar Misaghian Iran Meysam Hosseini Iran Merooj
Tractor Sazi Iran Amir Ghalenoei Iran Mehdi Kiani Turkey Fitcom
Zob Ahan Iran Mojtaba Hosseini Iran Mehdi Rajabzadeh Iran Merooj

Managerial changes

Team Outgoing head coach Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming head coach Date of appointment
Naft Tehran Iran Alireza Mansourian Contract expired 15 May 2016 Pre-season Iran Ali Daei 5 July 2016
Foolad Croatia Dragan Skočić 16 May 2016 Iran Naeim Saadavi 25 May 2016
Esteghlal Khuzestan Iran Abdollah Veisi Mutual contest 23 May 2016 Iran Sirous Pourmousavi 25 May 2016
Esteghlal Iran Parviz Mazloumi Sacked 1 June 2016 Iran Alireza Mansourian 1 June 2016
Saba Qom Iran Ali Daei Signed by Naft Tehran 3 July 2016 Iran Samad Marfavi 3 July 2016
Zob Ahan
 Iran Yahya Golmohammadi Resigned 24 September 2016 14th Iran Mojtaba Hosseini 24 September 2016
Siah Jamegan
 Iran Farhad Kazemi 27 October 2016 13th Iran Khodadad Azizi 28 October 2016
Machine Sazi Iran Rasoul Khatibi 8 December 2016 16th Iran Farhad Kazemi 11 December 2016
Sanat Naft
 Iran Nader Dastneshan Sacked 5 January 2017 11th Iran Firouz Karimi 5 January 2017
Siah Jamegan
 Iran Khodadad Azizi Resigned 25 February 2017 15th Iran Akbar Misaghian 25 February 2017
Sepahan
 Iran Abdollah Veisi Sacked 16 March 2017 7th Croatia Zlatko Kranjčar 17 March 2017

Foreign players

See also: List of foreign footballers in the Persian Gulf Pro League

The number of foreign players is restricted to four per Persian Gulf Pro League team, including a slot for a player from AFC countries. A team can use four foreign players on the field in each game, including at least one player from the AFC country.
In bold: Players that have been capped for their national team.

Club Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 Asian Player
Esteghlal Armenia Hrayr Mkoyan
Róbson Januário
Leandro Padovani
Esteghlal Khuzestan Cameroon Aloys Nong
Foolad
 Cameroon Mathias Chago Cameroon Ernest Nfor
Gostaresh
Fernando
Magno Batista
Chimba
Machine Sazi
Edson
 Georgia (country) Kakhaber Kakashvili Uzbekistan Aziz Ibragimov
Naft Tehran Croatia Igor Prahić
Padideh
 Armenia Varazdat Haroyan Ivory Coast Drissa Diarrassouba Cameroon David Wirikom
Paykan Armenia Levon Hayrapetyan Nigeria Godwin Mensha France Jérémy Manzorro Afghanistan Faysal Shayesteh
Persepolis Croatia Božidar Radošević Ukraine Volodymyr Pryyomov Ukraine Oleksiy Polyanskyi Australia Antony Golec
Saba Qom
Saipa
Júnior Lopes
Alessandro
 Montenegro Bogdan Milić
Sanat Naft
Bruno Matos
 Nigeria Rasheed Alabi South Korea Kim Gwi-hyeon
Sepahan
Lee Oliveira
 Mali Moussa Coulibaly Uzbekistan Server Djeparov
Siah Jamegan
Andrey
 Ivory Coast Moussa Traoré France Goran Jerković
Tractor Sazi
Edinho
 Iraq Karrar Jassim
Zob Ahan Honduras Jerry Bengtson Lebanon Rabih Ataya Lebanon Ali Hamam

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Persepolis (C) 30 20 6 4 46 14 +32 66 Qualification for the 2018 AFC Champions League group stage
2 Esteghlal 30 16 9 5 45 27 +18 57
3
Tractor Sazi
 30 15 11 4 38 24 +14 56
4 Zob Ahan 30 12 10 8 39 30 +9 46 Qualification for the 2018 AFC Champions League qualifying play-offs
5
Sepahan
 30 12 9 9 38 34 +4 45
6 Paykan 30 12 8 10 39 38 +1 44
7 Est. Khuzestan 30 10 11 9 36 34 +2 41
8 Gostaresh 30 7 17 6 26 24 +2 38
9 Naft Tehran 30 8 12 10 31 34 −3 36
10 Foolad 30 7 14 9 30 32 −2 35
11
Padideh
 30 8 10 12 28 36 −8 34
12 Sanat Naft 30 8 9 13 24 34 −10 33
13 Saipa 30 7 11 12 20 30 −10 32
14
Siah Jamegan
 30 6 12 12 24 35 −11 30
15 Saba Qom (R) 30 6 10 14 22 33 −11 28 Relegation to the 2017–18 Azadegan League
16 Machine Sazi (R) 30 3 7 20 18 45 −27 16
Updated to match(es) played on 4 May 2017. Source: IPL Stats, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored.[10]
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Results

Home \ Away EST
ESK
 FOL GOS
MST
 NAF
PAD
 PAY PRS SAB SAP
SNA
SEP
SJA
TRK
ZOB
Esteghlal 1–2 1–0 2–2 1–1 1–1 1–0 3–2
3–2
 2–1 2–0 1–2
2–1
 1–1 1–2 2–1
Est. Khuzestan
 2–1 0–1 0–0 1–0 2–2 2–1 2–3 1–1 1–0 0–0 1–0 1–1 0–0 0–1 1–1
Foolad 1–1 1–3 2–2 1–2 4–2 1–0 1–2 0–3 2–0 2–2 3–0 1–1 0–0 0–0 0–2
Gostaresh 1–1 2–1 0–0 2–1 0–0 3–0 0–0 0–1 0–0 2–1 1–0 2–1 0–1 0–2 0–0
Machine Sazi
 0–3 1–3 0–0 0–0 0–2 0–2 1–4 0–2 0–0 3–3 1–0 0–1 0–1 0–2 1–2
Naft Tehran 0–1 1–1 2–2 1–1 2–1 3–0 2–1 0–2 1–2 2–0 2–1 0–1 1–1 0–2 2–1
Padideh
 1–2 0–0 0–1 3–2 1–0 0–0 0–0 1–2 1–0 0–1 3–3 1–1 1–1 0–1 1–1
Paykan 1–1 4–3 2–1 1–1 3–1 0–0 0–2 0–0 1–1 2–0 3–2 3–2 1–0 0–1 1–2
Persepolis
0–0
 1–0 1–1 1–0 1–0 3–0 4–0 2–0 1–0 1–0 1–0
2–1
 3–0
3–0
 3–3
Saba Qom 0–2 1–2 0–0 0–0 1–1 0–1 2–3 1–0 0–2 1–0 0–0 0–1 2–1 3–0 1–1
Saipa 1–2 0–2 1–0 1–1 1–0 1–0 1–1 0–1 0–1 0–0 0–2 1–1 1–0 0–0 0–0
Sanat Naft
 0–3 1–1 0–1 0–1 3–0 0–0 0–3 1–0 1–0 2–1 0–1 1–0 1–1 0–0 0–3
Sepahan
1–1
 3–1 1–1 1–0 0–3 2–1 0–1 1–1
1–3
 4–1 3–1 0–0 2–1 2–0
2–1
Siah Jamegan
 0–1 2–1 1–1 1–1 1–0 2–2 1–1 1–2 1–0 2–2 0–2 0–1 1–1 1–2 2–1
Tractor Sazi
 1–0 2–2 2–2 1–1 0–0 1–0 1–1 3–1
0–0
 2–1 0–0 2–2 1–2 3–0 4–1
Zob Ahan
 0–2 2–0 1–0 1–1 2–1 1–1 2–0 3–0 1–0 0–1 1–1 1–1
2–0
 1–0 1–2
Updated to match(es) played on 4 May 2017. Source: PersianLeague Stats
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Positions by round

Team ╲ Round123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930
Machine Sazi
234101011151616161616161616161616161616161616161616161616
Leader and 2018 AFC Champions League Group stage
2018 AFC Champions League Group stage
2018 AFC Champions League Third qualifying round
Relegation to 2017–18 Azadegan League
Source: FIFA.com
(in English)