Steel Azin F.C.
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Iran Football's 3rd Division | |||
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Steel Azin Football Club (
History
A new era
Ekbatan FC was re-established by two of its former players, Rabti & Ghani, in the late 1990s. Moving up the Iranian football ladder year after year, the team reached the Azadegan League in 2003. The team was able to avoid relegation for two consecutive years, but lack of financial resources made the club hot favorites for relegation. Following two dismal years, in the summer of 2005, the club was sold by Rabti & Ghani to an Iranian construction tycoon living abroad.
Following their takeover, the new ownership group of the club announced a new era, vowing to invest in youth football. The first move was a shuffle on the bench. Rabti was replaced by his assistant coach, and was made Technical Director. Ghani remained Club manager in the new Club structure modeled after German teams - it included the owner as the club chairman. The club's pre- season included a month-long stay in Dubai and matches against Sharjah Wanderers Club, Fabexi FC and
Once the season started though, it took only three weeks for the coach to be replaced and Rabti was reinstated as head coach. The club's dismal start to the season continued, which saw them at the bottom of the standings by mid season despite a remarkable 1-0 win over league leaders
The club's start to the season though was anything but, as Garousi was sacked after losing all of the first seven games. His replacement Asghar Sharafi signed on a two-year deal and promised to keep the club in the second division. Despite a five match winning streak, the team was not able to make up for their terrible start to the season, finishing in 9th place- only a four-point improvement from the previous season. Shortly after, speculation began on the club's future. While the senior team had not enjoyed much success during the past two seasons, the club had proven successful with its ambitious plans for the youth academy. Vatanikia also affirmed the support of the board by praising them in an interview after winning numerous titles with Ekbatan's academy.
Hedayati's takeover
On April 30, 2007 Iranian multi millionaire Hossein Hedayati bought Ekbatan and renamed it to Steel Azin.[2] With strong financial support and an ambitious owner, Steel Azin promised to be the new heavyweights in Iranian football.
Youth academy
Ekbatan was known for having one of the best youth academies in Iranian football and had introduced a number of talented players to Iranian football. It was one of the youngest teams in the Azadegan League, with an age average of 23 in the season prior to the takeover of Hossein Hedayati. Following the takeover, Steel Azin's youth academy was completely recreated by former Iranian national team coach Heshmat Mohajerani.
Iran Pro League
Hossein Hedayati went on an unprecedented shopping spree as he brought the biggest names in Iranian football to his second tier football club of Steel Azin. Players included national team goalkeeper Ebrahim Mirzapour, Davoud Fanaei, Hamed Kavianpour, Ali Ansarian and Mohammad Parvin. Iranian football legend Ali Parvin was installed as Technical director while former Esteghlal and Cameroon assistant coach Theo de Jong became head coach. Heshmat Mohajerani was named director of the youth academy. The huge media buzz and the stars who were brought in, did not prove successful as they were not able to gain promotion to the Premier League. Mohammad Parvin finished as top scorer following a number of impressive appearances.
The following year, after a major big names load off, the club was narrowly promoted to the Premier League. Following promotion to the top tier, the heavy investments once again commenced. Star signings followed and even foreign based players like Lek Kcira, Leonard Kweuke and Iranians Ferydoon Zandi and Amir Shapourzadeh. The player who caused for the biggest media attention though, was Ali Karimi who joined from rivals Persepolis. Despite all of this, Steel Azin's first season in the Iranian Premier League was a disaster, as the club finished in fifth place, with the blame put largely on their defence.
In the 2010/2011 season, Steel Azin had a nightmare season. With numerous Managerial and coaching changes, the club was bottom of the table for nearly all of the 34 weeks. Ali Karimi's contract was terminated and he moved to German giants
Due to the poor results, major investments, and a star-studded lineup, the nickname of "FC Hollywood" was given to the club by the media. This was also due to the fact that players seemed to be enjoying themselves with their large salaries, rather than playing as would be expected of them. The club were often referred to as the "Galacticos of Iran" during their first season in the Premier League which was more successful. The controversial refusal to continue playing following the Tehran derby against Persepolis, was later withheld and the club agreed to play the last four matches. Steel Azin were relegated two weeks prior to the end of the season.
Following their relegation into the
Season-by-season
The table below chronicles the achievements of the club in the League and Hazfi Cup since 2005.
Season | League | Hazfi Cup
|
Leagues Top goalscorer | Manager(s) | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Division | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | Pos | Name(s) | Goals | |||
2005–06 | Div 1
|
22 | 4 | 9 | 9 | 20 | 28 | 21 | 10th | First Round | Hossein Vaez | 6 | Mohammad Rabti/ Hadi Ahangaran |
2006–07 | Div 1
|
22 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 13 | 24 | 25 | 9th | First Round | Mohammad Siah | 10 | Mohsen Garousi/ Asghar Sharafi |
2007–08 | Div 1
|
22 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 41 | 28 | 38 | 3rd | 1/8 Final | Mohammad Parvin | 15 | de Jong/ Jan Verheijen/ Kazemi |
2008–09 | Div 1
|
26 | 17 | 4 | 5 | 49 | 30 | 55 | 1st | 1/8 Final | Hadi Khodadadi | 10 | Nader Dastneshan |
2009–10 | IPL
|
34 | 13 | 13 | 8 | 55 | 49 | 52 | 5th | Quarterfinal | Ali Karimi | 14 | Estili/ Peyrovani
|
2010–11 | IPL
|
34 | 6 | 10 | 18 | 30 | 63 | 28 | 18th | Quarterfinal
|
Siavash Akbarpour Mohammad Gholami |
9 | Tumbaković/ Peyrovani/ Khakpour/ Yavari |
2011–12 | Div 1 | 26 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 29 | 22 | 28 | 10th | Third Round | Hamid Kazemi | 11 | Afazeli/ Kheirandish |
2012–13 | Div 2
|
26 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 26 | 24 | 36 | 7th | First Round | Farid Behzad | 10 | Kheirandish |
Key
|
|
Champions | Runners-up | Promoted | Relegated |
Sponsorship
Official sponsor
The official club sponsor is Steel Azin Co, which is also owned by Hossein Hedayati. Under the previous ownership, Fabexi LLC was the main sponsor.
Kit providers
- 2005/06: Aghili
- 2006/07: Farhad
- 2007/08: Daei
- 2009/10: Majid
- 2010/11: Shekari / Umbro / Majid
- 2011/12: Merooj
Managers
Name | Nat | From | To |
---|---|---|---|
Mohamad Rabti | September 2006 | December 2006 | |
Hadi Ahangaran | December 2006 | May 2006 | |
Mohsen Garousi | June 2006 | September 2006 | |
Asghar Sharafi | September 2006 | June 2007 | |
Theo de Jong | June 2007 | December 2007 | |
Jan Verheijen (Temp) | December 2007 | December 2007 | |
Farhad Kazemi | December 2007 | July 2008 | |
Nader Dastneshan | July 2008 | June 2009 | |
Hamid Reza Estili
|
June 2009 | April 2010 | |
Afshin Peyrovani (Temp) | April 2010 | July 2010 | |
Ljubiša Tumbaković | July 2010 | October 2010 | |
Afshin Peyrovani | October 2010 | December 2010 | |
Mohammad Khakpour | December 2010 | February 2011 | |
Mahmoud Yavari | April 2011 | June 2011 | |
Human Afazeli | June 2011 | June 2012 |
Notable former players
References
- ^ "استیل آذین به تهران بازگشت". Archived from the original on 2012-07-01. Retrieved 2012-07-15.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2019-12-15. Retrieved 2007-09-10.
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: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)