Saipa F.C.

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Saipa
سايپا
Full nameSaipa Football Club
Nickname(s)Carmakers
The Foxes
Oranges
Founded1 February 1989; 35 years ago (1989-02-01)
Ground
2023-24
Azadegan League, 5th
WebsiteClub website
Current season

Saipa Football Club (

.

History

Team training in February 2019

Early days

In 1989, SAIPA Company decided to start its own football team. They purchased a team playing in the 4th division of Tehran's city league, and renamed it Saipa F.C. After back to back promotions starting in the first year, the Karaj based club was playing in the 2nd division by 1991. That same year they purchased the Shipping Department team's shares, and participated in the 1st division of Tehran's local league. In that year they won the Tehran city championship as well as the Tehran Super Cup, thus attaining the right to play in Iran's top league at the time, the Azadegan League.

Azadegan League

In their first year in the Azadegan League they won the championship, as well as the Hazfi Cup. They also won the league championship again in 1994. The team was relegated into the second division in 1995, but were promoted again in the following year. Since their second promotion to the top tier, the club has remained in the middle of the league table.

Persian Gulf Pro League

Ali Daei era

By 2001, the club's on-field performance remained stable, occupying mid-table position most years. Shortly following Iranian goalkeeper

Saba Battery. The club had finished third in the previous season and now, with Werner Lorant as a coach, the team aimed to work for the title. Shortly after the season began though, Littbarski was fired and Ali Daei
took on the role of player/coach. Daei scored the winner in the title winning game. Daei extended his contract, this time as a full-time coach. He was appointed head coach of the national team but kept his role at Saipa until the end of the season.

Return to mid-table and relocation to Tehran

Following the title winning year which saw the team play in the AFC Champions League, Saipa turned back into the mid-table places of the league again. Before the start of the 2015–16 Persian Gulf Pro League season Saipa announced they had moved their home city from Karaj to nearby Tehran.

Season-by-season

The table below chronicles the achievements of Saipa in various competitions since 1993.

Season Pos.
Hazfi Cup
ACL
1993–94
Azadegan League 1st Winners did not qualify
1994–95
1st Second round
1995–96
16th 4th Place
1996–97 Second Division 2nd did not qualify
1997–98
Azadegan League 7th Not held
1998–99
4th
1999–2000
3rd Semifinal
2000–01
7th Semifinal
2001–02
Pro League 11th
2002–03
6th Quarterfinals
2003–04
13th Semifinal
2004–05
13th Quarterfinals
2005–06
3rd Round of 16
2006–07
1st Quarterfinals
2007–08
11th Round of 16 Quarterfinals
2008–09
10th Round of 16 did not qualify
2009–10 8th Third Round
2010–11 11th Fourth Round
2011–12
8th Round of 16
2012–13
9th Round of 16
2013–14
8th Round of 16
2014–15
7th Round of 16
2015–16
8th Semifinals
2016–17
13th Semifinals
2017–18 4th Round of 16
2018–19 7th Semifinals Play-off
2019–20 14th Quarterfinals did not qualify
2020–21 15th Round of 16
2021-22 Azadegan League 14th Third Round
2022-23

Honours

  • Iran Pro League
    /First Division
    • Champions:
      2006–07
  • Hazfi Cup
    • Winners:
      1993–94

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 Iran IRN Mehrdad Bashagardi
2 DF Iran IRN Asghar Nasiri
3 DF Iran IRN Mohammad Hossein Heydari
4 DF Iran IRN Mojtaba Bijan
5 DF Iran IRN Mojtaba Mamashli
6 MF Iran IRN Aref Haji Eydi U25
7 MF Iran IRN Alireza Ghasemi
8 MF Iran IRN Amirhossein Mousazadeh
9 FW Iran IRN Reza Khaleghifar
10 MF Iran IRN Mohammad EbrahimiU25
11 MF Iran IRN Akbar Afaghi
16 FW Iran IRN Rahman Jafari
17 MF Iran IRN Sina Zamehran
22 GK Iran IRN Nima Alipour
23 DF Iran IRN Hamidreza Divsalar
No. Pos. Nation Player
27 DF Iran IRN Arash Mehri BabadiU23
28 MF Iran IRN Mohammad Hossein Babagoli
30 MF Iran IRN Mohammadreza Moslemi JavidU23
31 MF Iran IRN Pouya Mokhtari U23
35 MF Iran IRN Alireza Safari U19
36 MF Iran IRN Mohammadtaha Tabatabataei U21
38 MF Iran IRN Mehdi Goudarzi U19
44 MF Iran IRN Reza Faraji
47 MF Iran IRN Morteza Hosseinzadeh
48 MF Iran IRN Mehdi KashefiU23
70 FW Iran IRN Shahin Balijani
72 MF Iran IRN Mehdi Hanafi
77 MF Iran IRN Mehrshad SeydiU23
80 DF Iran IRN Pouria BaliU23
97 DF Iran IRN Mehdi BayatU25
3 {{{pos}}} Iran IRN Mohammad hadavand Mirzaei

Manager

Coaching staff

Staff[1] Name
Head coach Iran Faraz Kamalvand
First team coach Iran Asghar Maziar
Assistant coach Iran Mehdi Zarei
Iran Kazem Borjlou
Goalkeeping coach Iran Farshad Bakhtiarizadeh
Fitness coach Iran Ali Asghar GhorbanaliPour
Doctor Iran Mahyar Mortazavi
Analyzer Iran Mohammad Palizvan
Technical Manager Iran Asghar Hajiloo
B team Manager Iran Kianoush Rahmati

The following managers had managed Saipa since 1993:

Name Period Trophies
Iran Bijan Zolfagharnasab 1993–97 2
Hazfi Cup
Iran Nasrollah Abdollahi 1997–00
Iran Behtash Fariba 2000–01
Iran Hamid Alidoosti 2001–02
Italy Giovanni Mei 2002–03
Iran Mohammad Mayeli Kohan 2003–04
Iran Bijan Zolfagharnasab 2004–06
Germany Werner Lorant 2006
Iran Ali Daei 2006–08 1
Persian Gulf Cup
Germany Pierre Littbarski 2008
Iran Mohammad Mayeli Kohan 2008–11
Iran Majid Saleh 2011–12
Iran Mojtaba Taghavi 2012–13
Engin Firat
2013–14
Iran Majid Jalali 2014–16
Iran Hossein Faraki 2016–17
Iran Ali Daei 2017–19
Iran Ebrahim Sadeghi 2019–21
Iran Faraz Kamalvand 2021

References

  1. ^ "سازمان لیگ فوتبال ایران".

External links