2017–18 Esteghlal F.C. season

The 2017–18 season is Esteghlal Football Club's 72nd season in existence and the club's 17th consecutive season in the top division of Iranian football. It covers a period from 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018.

Esteghlal F.C.

2017–18 season
Chairman	Amir hosein fat’hi
Manager	Winfried Schäfer
Stadium	Azadi Stadium
Iran Pro League	3rd
Hazfi Cup	Champions
AFC Champions League	Round of 16
Top goalscorer	League: Ali Ghorbani (7) All: Mame Thiam (12)
Highest home attendance	85,000
Lowest home attendance	0
Average home league attendance	27,200
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Players

Squad information

Players and squad numbers last updated on 8 July 2017.

No.	Name	Nat.	Position(s)	Date of Birth (Age)	Signed in	Contract until	Signed from	Notes
Goalkeepers
1	Mehdi Rahmati		GK	(1983-02-02)2 February 1983 (aged 34)	2015	2019	Paykan	Captain
19	Arshia Babazadeh ^U23		GK	(1995-11-05)5 November 1995 (aged 22)	2016	2022	De Anza Force
22	Hossein Hosseini		GK	(1992-06-30)30 June 1992 (aged 25)	2012	2019	Youth system
Defenders
2	Khosro Heydari		RB / RM / RW	(1983-09-14)14 September 1983 (aged 34)	2011	2019	Sepahan	Vice-captain
4	Roozbeh Cheshmi		DM / CB / CM	(1993-07-24)24 July 1993 (aged 24)	2015	2019	Saba Qom
5	Majid Hosseini ^U23		CB / DM	(1996-06-20)20 June 1996 (aged 21)	2014	2019	Youth system
13	Armin Sohrabian ^U23		LB / CB	(1995-07-26)26 July 1995 (aged 22)	2017	2019	Sepahan
18	Milad Zakipour ^U23		LB / LM	(1995-11-23)23 November 1995 (aged 22)	2016	2021	Naft Tehran
21	Vouria Ghafouri		RB / RM	(1987-09-20)20 September 1987 (aged 30)	2016	2018	Sepahan
33	Pejman Montazeri		CB / RB	(1983-09-06)6 September 1983 (aged 34)	2017	2019	Al Ahli
90	Leandro Padovani Celin		CB	(1983-12-21)21 December 1983 (aged 34)	2016	2018	Sepahan
Midfielders
6	Omid Ebrahimi		DM / CM	(1987-09-15)15 September 1987 (aged 30)	2014	2018	Sepahan
14	Farshid Bagheri		DM / CB / CM	(1992-06-05)5 June 1992 (aged 25)	2016	2018	Saba Qom
16	Mehdi Ghaedi ^U21		LW / RW	(1998-12-05)5 December 1998 (aged 19)	2017	2020	Iranjavan
20	Server Djeparov		AM / CM / LM	(1982-10-03)3 October 1982 (aged 35)	2017	2018	Lokomotiv Tashkent
23	Dariush Shojaeian		RW / LW / AM	(1992-04-07)7 April 1992 (aged 25)	2017	2020	Gostaresh Foulad
24	Omid Noorafkan ^U21		DM / LB / LW	(1997-04-09)9 April 1997 (aged 20)	2015	2019	Youth system
28	Mohsen Karimi		LW / RW	(1994-09-20)20 September 1994 (aged 23)	2014	2020	Youth system
77	Behnam Barzay		RW / LW	(1993-02-11)11 February 1993 (aged 24)	2015	2020	Rah Ahan
80	Bojan Najdenov		CM	(1991-08-27)27 August 1991 (aged 26)	2018	2019	Smouha
88	Farshid Esmaeili		AM / LW / SS	(1994-02-23)23 February 1994 (aged 23)	2015	2020	Fajr Sepasi
Forwards
9	Ali Ghorbani		CF / LW / RW	(1990-09-18)18 September 1990 (aged 27)	2016	2018	Naft Tehran
11	Jaber Ansari		SS / LW	(1987-01-10)10 January 1987 (aged 30)	2015	2019	Gostaresh Foulad
25	Mame Baba Thiam		CF	(1992-10-09)9 October 1992 (aged 25)	2018	2019	Juventus[1]
Players transferred during the season
30	Azim Gök ^U23		CB	(1996-01-25)25 January 1996 (aged 21)	2016	2019	Youth system
17	Yaghoub Karimi		LB / LM	(1991-08-31)31 August 1991 (aged 26)	2014	2018	Sepahan
8	Mojtaba Jabbari		AM	(1983-06-16)16 June 1983 (aged 34)	2017	2019	Al Ahli
7	Hassan Beyt Saeed		LW / CF / RW	(1990-04-01)1 April 1990 (aged 27)	2017	2019	Esteghlal Khuzestan
10	Sajjad Shahbazzadeh		CF	(1990-01-23)23 January 1990 (aged 27)	2017	2018	Naft Tehran

Persian Gulf League Squad

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	Mehdi Rahmati (Captain)
2	DF	IRN	Khosro Heydari (Vice-captain)
4	MF	IRN	Roozbeh Cheshmi
5	DF	IRN	Majid Hosseini
6	MF	IRN	Omid Ebrahimi (3rd-captain)
9	FW	IRN	Ali Ghorbani
11	FW	IRN	Jaber Ansari
13	DF	IRN	Armin Sohrabian
14	MF	IRN	Farshid Bagheri
16	MF	IRN	Mehdi Ghaedi
18	DF	IRN	Milad Zakipour
19	GK	IRN	Arshia Babazadeh
20	MF	UZB	Server Djeparov

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
21	DF	IRN	Vouria Ghafouri
22	GK	IRN	Hossein Hosseini
23	MF	IRN	Dariush Shojaeian
24	MF	IRN	Omid Noorafkan
25	FW	SEN	Mame Thiam
28	MF	IRN	Mohsen Karimi
33	DF	IRN	Pejman Montazeri
70	FW	IRN	Mohammad Javad Mohammadi
77	MF	IRN	Behnam Barzay
80	MF	MKD	Bojan Najdenov
88	MF	IRN	Farshid Esmaeili
90	DF	BRA	Padovani

AFC Champions League Squad

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	Mehdi Rahmati (Captain)
2	DF	IRN	Khosro Heydari (Vice-captain)
4	MF	IRN	Roozbeh Cheshmi
5	DF	IRN	Majid Hosseini
6	MF	IRN	Omid Ebrahimi (3rd-captain)
7	FW	SEN	Mame Thiam
8	MF	IRN	Farshid Esmaeili
9	FW	IRN	Ali Ghorbani
10	MF	MKD	Bojan Najdenov
11	FW	IRN	Jaber Ansari
13	DF	IRN	Armin Sohrabian
14	MF	IRN	Farshid Bagheri
16	MF	IRN	Mehdi Ghaedi

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
18	DF	IRN	Milad Zakipour
19	GK	IRN	Arshia Babazadeh
20	MF	UZB	Server Djeparov
21	DF	IRN	Vouria Ghafouri
22	GK	IRN	Hossein Hosseini
23	MF	IRN	Dariush Shojaeian
24	MF	IRN	Omid Noorafkan
28	MF	IRN	Mohsen Karimi
33	DF	IRN	Pejman Montazeri
70	FW	IRN	Mohammad Javad Mohammadi
77	MF	IRN	Behnam Barzay
90	DF	BRA	Padovani

Transfers

Main articles: List of Iranian football transfers summer 2017 and List of Iranian football transfers winter 2017–18

In

No.	Pos.	Nat.	Name	Age	Moving from	Type	Transfer window	Ends	Source
16	LM		Mehdi Ghaedi	18	Iranjavan	Transfer	Summer	2020	[2]
26	CF		Fardin Najafi	19	Esteghlal U19	Promotion	Summer	2020	[3]
27	AM		Hossein Heydari	18	Esteghlal U19	Promotion	Summer	2022	[4]
7	LW		Hassan Beyt Saeed	27	Esteghlal Khuzestan	Transfer	Summer	2019	[5]
10	CF		Sajjad Shahbazzadeh	27	Naft Tehran	Transfer	Summer	2018	[6]
23	AM		Dariush Shojaeian	25	Gostaresh Foulad	Transfer	Summer	2020	[7]
32	DM		Sina Khadempour	20	Naft Tehran	Transfer	Summer	2022	[8]
33	CB		Pejman Montazeri	33	Al Ahli	Transfer	Summer	2019	[9]
70	RW		Mohammad Javad Mohammadi	21	Haf Semnan	Transfer	Summer	2022	[10]
13	LB		Armin Sohrabian	21	Sepahan	Transfer	Summer	2019	[11]
8	AM		Mojtaba Jabari	34	Al Ahli	Transfer	Summer	2019	[12]
77	LW		Sajjad Aghaei	18	Persepolis U19	Transfer	Summer	2022	[13]
20	AM		Server Djeparov	34	Sepahan	End of loan	Summer	2018	[14]
77	RW		Behnam Barzay	24	Unattached	Transfer	Winter	2020	[15]
80	CM		Bojan Najdenov	26	Smouha	Transfer	Winter	2019	[16]
25	CF		Mame Thiam	26	Juventus	Transfer	Winter	2019	[17]

Out

No.	Pos.	Nat.	Name	Age	Moving to	Type	Transfer window	Source
5	CB		Hossein Kanaanizadegan	23	Saipa	Released	Summer	[18]
20	CB		Taha Shariati	17	Saipa	Transfer	Summer	[19]
31	CB		Alireza Sayyar	23	Unattached	Released	Summer	[20]
27	DM		Hossein Abarghouei	20	Gostaresh Foulad	Transfer	Summer	[21]
13	LW		Miad Yazdani	24	Sepidrood Rasht	Loan	Summer	[22][23]
9	CF		Kaveh Rezaei	25	Charleroi	End of contract	Summer	[24]
74	AM		Mojtaba Haghdoust	21	Naft Tehran	End of loan	Summer
3	CB		Róbson Januário de Paula	23	Bahia	End of loan	Summer
77	RW		Behnam Barzay	24	Sanat Naft Abadan	End of contract	Summer
12	LB		Mohammad Reza Hashemi	20	Shemushack	Transfer	Summer
	GK		Mehrdad Lashni	19	Mes Rafsanjan	Transfer	Summer	[25]
32	DM		Sina Khadempour	20	Naft Tehran	Loan	Summer	[26]
77	LW		Sajjad Aghaei	18	Aluminium Arak	Loan	Summer	[27]
7	LW		Hassan Beyt Saeed	27	Foolad	Transfer	Winter	[28]
30	CB		Azim Gök	21	Malavan	Loan	Winter	[29]
17	LM		Yaghoub Karimi	26	Esteghlal Khuzestan	Transfer	Winter	[30]
8	AM		Mojtaba Jabari	34	Unattached	Released	Winter	[31]
10	CF		Sajjad Shahbazzadeh	27	Qatar	Transfer	Winter	[32]
15	CB		Hrayr Mkoyan	31	Shirak	Transfer	Winter

Pre-season and friendlies

Esteghlal v Nassaji

1 July 2017 (2017-07-01) 1	Esteghlal	1 – 0	Nassaji	Tehran, Iran
18:30 IRDT (UTC+04:30)	H. Beyt Saeed	Report

Esteghlal v Pars Jonoubi

10 July 2017 (2017-07-10) 2	Esteghlal	2 – 0	Pars Jonoubi	Yerevan, Armenia
18:30 AMT (UTC+04:00)	S. Shahbazzadeh  68' A. Ghorbani  83'	Report		Stadium: Yerevan Football Academy Attendance: 400

Ararat v Esteghlal

15 July 2017 (2017-07-15) 3	Ararat	1 – 2	Esteghlal	Yerevan, Armenia
18:30 AMT (UTC+04:00)	88'	Report	A. Ghorbani  20', 42'	Stadium: Yerevan Football Academy Attendance: 200

Esteghlal v Baadraan

22 July 2017 (2017-07-22) 4	Esteghlal	1 – 1	Baadraan	Tehran, Iran
18:00 IRDT (UTC+04:30)	Jaber Ansari  57'	Report	Saeed Vasei  43'	Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 0

Competitions

Overview

Competition	First match	Last match	Starting round	Final position	Record
					Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Pro League	28 July 2017	27 April 2018	—	3rd	30	15	9	6	43	18	+25	050.00
Hazfi Cup	8 September 2017	3 May 2018	Round of 32	Winners	5	5	0	0	10	3	+7	100.00
AFC Champions League	30 January 2018	15 May 2018	Group stage	Round of 16	8	4	3	1	12	7	+5	050.00
Total					43	24	12	7	65	28	+37	055.81

Last updated: 16 May 2018 (2018-05-16).

Source: Competitions

Iran Pro League

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Persepolis (C)	30	19	7	4	48	15	+33	64	Qualification for the 2019 AFC Champions League group stage
2	Zob Ahan	30	15	10	5	46	30	+16	55	Qualification for the 2019 AFC Champions League second preliminary round
3	Esteghlal	30	15	9	6	43	18	+25	54	Qualification for the 2019 AFC Champions League group stage
4	Saipa	30	15	9	6	40	34	+6	54	Qualification for the 2019 AFC Champions League second preliminary round
5	Pars Jonoubi Jam	30	11	14	5	34	24	+10	47

Updated to match(es) played on April 13, 2018. Source: IPL Stats, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored.[33]
(C) Champion.

Results summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
30	15	9	6	43	18	+25	54	10	4	1	29	7	+22	5	5	5	14	11	+3

Last updated: 3 May 2018.
Source: Ipl Stats

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	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A
Result	L	D	W	L	L	L	D	W	D	L	W	D	W	D	W	W	W	D	D	D	W	L	W	W	W	W	W	D	W	W
Position	13	11	9	11	15	15	16	10	12	13	11	11	9	8	8	6	5	4	5	6	6	6	6	3	3	3	3	3	3	3

Updated to match(es) played on 26 January 2018. Source: "Ipl".
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Matches

  Win   Draw   Loss   Postponed

Sanat Naft v Esteghlal

28 July 2017 (2017-07-28) 1	Sanat Naft	1 – 0	Esteghlal	Abadan
21:00 IRDT (UTC+04:30)	J. Karrar  18' M. Shadkam  41'	Report		Stadium: Takhti Abadan Attendance: 10,000 Referee: Mouood Bonyadifar

Esteghlal v Esteghlal Khuzestan

4 August 2017 (2017-08-04) 2	Esteghlal	0 – 0	Esteghlal Khuzestan	Tehran
21:00 IRDT (UTC+04:30)	M. Zakipour  91' S. Shahbazzadeh  93'	Report	H. Bahrami  19' A. Alaei  84' Y. Delfi  86'	Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 26,000 Referee: Vahid Kazemi

Esteghlal v Tractor Sazi

11 August 2017 (2017-08-11) 3	Esteghlal	1 – 0	Tractor Sazi	Tehran
20:45 IRDT (UTC+04:30)	Djeparov  42' Shojaeian  67'	Report	Taheran  41'	Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 61,000 Referee: Bijan Heydari Man of the Match: Server Djeparov

Saipa v Esteghlal

17 August 2017 (2017-08-17) 4	Saipa	1 – 0	Esteghlal	Tehran
20:45 IRDT (UTC+04:30)	Abbaszadeh  58' (pen.)  58' Shahalidoost  78'  Akhbari  90+3'	Report	Rahmati  57' Cheshmi  80'	Stadium: Takhti Stadium Attendance: 27,000 Referee: Mohammad Zahedifar Man of the Match: Mohammad Abbaszadeh

Esteghlal v Padideh

22 August 2017 (2017-08-22) 5	Esteghlal	0 – 2	Padideh	Tehran
18:00 IRDT (UTC+04:30)	H. Beyt Saeed  41'	Report	Mohammad Ghazi  15' Hossein Mehraban  72'	Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 18,000 Referee: Alireza Faghani Man of the Match: Mohammad Ghazi

Pars Jonoubi Jam v Esteghlal

15 September 2017 (2017-09-15) 6	Pars Jonoubi Jam	2 – 0	Esteghlal	Jam
20:00 IRDT (UTC+04:30)	Ali Dashti  38' Farshad Salarvand  90+6'	Report	Roozbeh Cheshmi  33' F. Bagheri  85' H. Hosseini  90'	Stadium: Takhti Stadium Attendance: 16,000 Referee: Mohammad Seyed Ali Man of the Match: Ali Dashti

Esteghlal v Zob Ahan

20 September 2017 (2017-09-20) 7	Esteghlal	1 – 1	Zob Ahan	Tehran
20:00 IRDT (UTC+04:30)	Cheshmi  12' 93' Padovani  90'	Report	NejadMehdi  78'	Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 22,000 Referee: Payam Heydari

Sepidrood v Esteghlal

26 September 2017 (2017-09-26) 8	Sepidrood	1 – 2	Esteghlal	Rasht
16:15 IRST (UTC+03:30)	ebrahimi  86' (pen.)		Jaber Ansari  53' Majid Hosseini  54' Dariush Shojaeian  68' Heydari  84'	Stadium: Sardar Jangal stadium Attendance: 6,000

Esteghlal v Foolad

13 October 2017 (2017-10-13) 9	Esteghlal	0 – 0	Foolad	Tehran
17:00 IRST (UTC+03:30)	Cheshmi  95'	Report		Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 30,000

Persepolis v Esteghlal

20 October 2017 (2017-10-20) 10	Persepolis	1 – 0	Esteghlal	Tehran
15:00 IRST (UTC+03:30)	A. Alipour  23' (pen.)		Cheshmi  22' Farshid Bagheri  50' Omid Ebrahimi  59' Vouria Ghafouri  87' Milad Zakipour  89' Farshid Esmaeili  96' Dariush Shojaeian  96'	Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 85,000

Esteghlal v Naft Tehran

31 October 2017 (2017-10-31) 11	Esteghlal	2 – 0	Naft Tehran	Tehran
17:45 IRST (UTC+03:30)	Mohammadizadeh  56' (og.) Farshid Bagheri  62'} J. Ansari  66'			Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 18,000

Siah Jamegan v Esteghlal

15 November 2017 (2017-11-15) 12	Siah Jamegan	0 – 0	Esteghlal	Mashhad
14:45 IRST (UTC+03:30)	Amraei  76' Badamaki  77' Seifollahi  82' Malekian  82'	Report	Esmaeili  18' Djeparov  49' Ghaedi  84'	Stadium: Samen Stadium Attendance: 30,000 Referee: Mehdi Seyedali

Esteghlal v Gostaresh

25 November 2017 (2017-11-25) 13	Esteghlal	2 – 0	Gostaresh	Tehran
17:30 IRST (UTC+03:30)	F. Esmaeili  63', 86'			Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: N/C

Paykan v Esteghlal

30 November 2017 (2017-11-30) 14	Paykan	0 – 0	Esteghlal	Shahr-e Qods
15:00 IRST (UTC+03:30)				Stadium: Shahr-e Qods Stadium

Esteghlal v Sepahan

6 December 2017 (2017-12-06) 15	Esteghlal	3 – 0	Sepahan	Tehran
17:30 IRST (UTC+03:30)	A. Ghorbani  4' S. Djeparov  36', 47'			Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 25,000

Esteghlal v Sanat Naft

22 December 2017 (2017-12-22) 16	Esteghlal	4 – 0	Sanat Naft	Tehran
17:30 IRST (UTC+03:30)	M. Karimi  15', 42', 67' D. Shojaeian  55'} Milad Zakipour 63'			Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 15,000

Esteghlal Khuzestan v Esteghlal

28 December 2017 (2017-12-28) 17	Esteghlal Khuzestan	0 – 3	Esteghlal	Ahvaz
16:25 IRST (UTC+03:30)			V. Ghafouri  7' M. Karimi  61' O.G  48' Djeparov  61' R. Cheshmi 15',  73'	Stadium: Ghadir Stadium

Tractor Sazi v Esteghlal

5 January 2018 (2018-01-05) 18	Tractor Sazi	0 – 0	Esteghlal	Tabriz
14:30 IRST (UTC+03:30)				Stadium: Yadegar-e Emam Stadium Attendance: 38,000

Esteghlal v Saipa

12 January 2018 (2018-01-12) 19	Esteghlal	1 – 1	Saipa	Tehran
16:35 IRST (UTC+03:30)	D. Shojaeian  23' F. Bagheri  50' Noorafkan  71'			Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 33,000

Padideh v Esteghlal

19 January 2018 (2018-01-19) 20	Padideh	0 – 0	Esteghlal	Mashhad
15:00 IRST (UTC+03:30)			M. Hosseini  74' B. Barzay  83' Ali Ghorbani  89'	Stadium: Samen Stadium Attendance: 35,000

Esteghlal v Pars Jonoubi Jam

25 January 2018 (2018-01-25) 21	Esteghlal	4 – 0	Pars Jonoubi Jam	Tehran
16:50 IRST (UTC+03:30)	S. Djebarov  4' B. Barzay 31' A. Ghorbani 34', 48', 65' Noorafkan  41'			Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 24,000

Zob Ahan v Esteghlal

4 February 2018 (2018-02-04) 22	Zob Ahan	2 – 1	Esteghlal	Isfahan
17:00 IRST (UTC+03:30)			V. Ghafouri  31' M. Hosseini  59' B. Barzay  67' Cheshmi  85' Shojaeian  87'	Stadium: Foolad Shahr

Esteghlal v Sepidrood

8 February 2018 (2018-02-08) 23	Esteghlal	3 – 0	Sepidrood	Tehran
18:15 IRST (UTC+03:30)	F. Esmaeili  14' O. Ebrahimi  64' J. Ansari 42',  77'			Stadium: Azadi Stadium

Foolad v Esteghlal

24 February 2018 (2018-02-24) 24	Foolad	1 – 4	Esteghlal	Ahvaz
16:00 IRST (UTC+03:30)	Rahim Zahivi 12'		M. Thiam  2', 90+2' R. Cheshmi  7', 38' D. Shojaeian  17' Hossein Hosseini  83'	Stadium: Ghadir Stadium

Esteghlal v Persepolis

1 March 2018 (2018-03-01) 25	Esteghlal	1 – 0	Persepolis	Tehran
15:45 IRST (UTC+03:30)	V. Ghafouri  43', 52' Thiam  45' Farshid Esmaeili  54' Djeparov  77'	Report		Stadium: Azadi Stadium

Naft Tehran v Esteghlal

28 March 2018 (2018-03-28) 26	Naft Tehran	1 – 2	Esteghlal	Tehran
18:45 IRDT (UTC+04:30)	Mohsen Bengar 37'	Report	J. Ansari  75' O. Noorafkan  88', 88'	Stadium: Takhti Stadium Referee: Seyed Mehdi Seyed Ali Man of the Match: Omid Noorafkan

Esteghlal v Siah Jamegan

6 April 2018 (2018-04-06) 27	Esteghlal	4 – 1	Siah Jamegan	Tehran
18:55 IRDT (UTC+04:30)	F.Esmaeili 50', 84' A. Ghorbani 67', 76'	Report	Ali Asgari  80'	Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 15,000 Referee: Hossein Zargar Man of the Match: Farshid Esmaeili

Gostaresh v Esteghlal

11 April 2018 (2018-04-11) 28	Gostaresh	1 – 1	Esteghlal	Tabriz
17:30 IRDT (UTC+04:30)	Reza Khaleghifar 57'	Report	A. Ghorbani 11'	Stadium: Bonyan Diesel Attendance: 1000 Man of the Match: A. Ghorbani 67'

Esteghlal v Paykan

22 April 2018 (2018-04-22) 29	Esteghlal	3 – 2	Paykan	Tehran
18:00 IRDT (UTC+04:30)	M.Thiam 49' 34' V. Ghafouri 54' D. Shojaeian O. Ebrahimi 90'	Report		Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 10,000 Referee: Ashkan Khorshidi Man of the Match: M.Thiam

Sepahan v Esteghlal

27 April 2018 (2018-04-27) 30	Sepahan	0 – 1	Esteghlal	Isfahan
18:00 IRDT (UTC+04:30)		Report	M.Thiam 11' O.Noorafkan 64'	Stadium: Naghsh-e Jahan Stadium Attendance: 35,000 Referee: Mohammadreza Akbarian Man of the Match: M.Thiam

Hazfi Cup

Main article: 2017–18 Hazfi Cup

Gol Gohar v Esteghlal

8 September 2017 (2017-09-08) Round of 32	Gol Gohar	1 – 2	Esteghlal	Sirjan
17:45 DST+04:30	M. Gholami  76' (pen.)	Report	O. Noorafkan  56' K. Heydari  85'	Stadium: Gol Gohar Attendance: 3,000 Referee: Hossein Zargar

Esteghlal v Nassaji

20 October 2017 (2017-10-20) Round of 16	Esteghlal	2 – 1	Nassaji	Tehran
16:45 IRST (UTC+03:30)	F. Esmaeili  28' A. Ghorbani  59'	Report	M. Ousani  71'	Stadium: Azadi Stadium Referee: Mooud Bonyadifard

Esteghlal v Iranjavan Bushehr

19 December 2017 (2017-12-19) Quarter Final	Esteghlal	3 – 0	Iranjavan Bushehr	Tehran
13:30 IRST (UTC+03:30)	M. Hosseini  45+4' S. Djeparov  50' A. Ghorbani  90+2'	Report		Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 5,000 Referee: Reza Adel

Sanat Naft Abadan v Esteghlal

30 January 2018 (2018-01-30) Semi-Final	Sanat Naft Abadan	1 – 2	Esteghlal	Abadan
14:45 IRST (UTC+03:30)	L. Pereira  61'	Report	P. Montazeri  8' D. Shojaeian  44'	Stadium: Takhti Stadium Referee: Alireza Faghani

Esteghlal v Khooneh be Khooneh

3 May 2018 (2018-05-03) Final	Esteghlal	1 – 0	Khooneh be Khooneh	Khorramshahr
17.15 DST+04:30	Mame Thiam  35'	Report		Stadium: Khorramshahr Stadium Attendance: 15,000 Referee: Hossein Zargar Man of the Match: Mame Thiam

AFC Champions League

Main article: 2018 AFC Champions League

Group stage

Main article: 2018 AFC Champions League group stage

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Esteghlal	6	3	3	0	9	5	+4	12	Round of 16
2	Al-Ain	6	2	4	0	10	6	+4	10
3	Al-Rayyan	6	1	3	2	7	11	−4	6
4	Al-Hilal	6	0	2	4	3	7	−4	2

Source: AFC
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers

Al-Rayyan v Esteghlal

13 February 2018 (2018-02-13)	Al-Rayyan	2 – 2	Esteghlal	Doha, Qatar
18:10 UTC+3	Hamdallah  18' Tabata  28'	Report	Tabata  6' (o.g.) Ghorbani  88'	Stadium: Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium Attendance: 5,038 Referee: Hettikamkanamge Perera (Sri Lanka)

Esteghlal v Al-Hilal

20 February 2018 (2018-02-20)	Esteghlal	1 – 0	Al-Hilal	Muscat, Oman
19:30 UTC+4	Thiam  46'	Report		Stadium: Al-sib Stadium Attendance: 4,175 Referee: Ryuji Sato (Japan)

Al-Ain v Esteghlal

6 March 2018 (2018-03-06)	Al-Ain	2 – 2	Esteghlal	Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain
19:20 UTC+4	Berg  63' Khalil  89' (pen.)	Report	Thiam  52', 77'	Attendance: 10,036 Referee: Mohd Amirul Izwan Yaacob (Malaysia)

Esteghlal v Al-Ain

12 March 2018 (2018-03-12)	Esteghlal	1 – 1	Al-Ain	Tehran, Iran
--:-- UTC+3:30	Thiam  42' (pen.)		Shiotani  78'	Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 90000

Esteghlal v Al-Rayyan

2 April 2018 (2018-04-02)	Esteghlal	2 – 0	Al-Rayyan	Tehran, Iran
--:-- UTC+4:30	Server Djeparov  3' Vouria Ghafouri  58' (pen.)			Stadium: Azadi Stadium

Al-Hilal v Esteghlal

16 April 2018 (2018-04-16)	Al-Hilal	0 – 1	Esteghlal	Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
--:-- UTC+3		Report	Vouria Ghafouri  36'	Stadium: Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium Attendance: 4500

Round of 16

Main article: 2018 AFC Champions League knockout stage

Zob Ahan v Esteghlal

8 May 2018 (2018-05-08) First leg	Zob Ahan	1 – 0	Esteghlal	Esfahan, Iran
	Gvelesiani  92' (pen.)	Report		Stadium: Foolad Shahr Stadium Attendance: 15,000

Esteghlal v Zob Ahan

15 May 2018 (2018-05-15) Second leg	Esteghlal	3 – 1 (3 – 2 agg.)	Zob Ahan	Tehran, Iran
20:45 --:-- UTC+4:30	M. Thiam  11' (pen.), 41', 64'	Report	G. Hadadifar  65'	Stadium: Azadi Stadium Attendance: 75,680 Referee: Ahmed Al-Kaf (Oman)

Statistics

Appearances and goals

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Iran Pro League		Hazfi Cup		Champions League
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK		Mehdi Rahmati	18	0	10	0	4	0	4	0
2	DF		Khosro Heydari	25	1	15	0	4	1	6	0
4	MF		Roozbeh Cheshmi	38	3	26	3	5	0	7	0
5	DF		Majid Hosseini	33	1	24	0	4	1	5	0
6	MF		Omid Ebrahimi	33	2	23	2	4	0	6	0
9	FW		Ali Ghorbani	40	9	27	6	5	2	8	1
11	FW		Jaber Ansari	26	4	22	4	1	0	3	0
13	DF		Armin Sohrabian	13	0	8	0	1	0	4	0
14	MF		Farshid Bagheri	30	0	18	0	5	0	7	0
16	MF		Mehdi Ghaedi	14	0	12	0	2	0	0	0
18	DF		Milad Zakipour	25	0	21	0	2	0	2	0
20	MF		Server Djeparov	39	6	26	4	5	1	8	1
21	DF		Vouria Ghafouri	36	6	24	4	4	0	8	2
22	GK		Hossein Hosseini	25	0	20	0	1	0	4	0
23	MF		Dariush Shojaeian	33	5	24	4	3	1	6	0
24	MF		Omid Noorafkan	34	2	24	1	4	1	6	0
25	FW		Mame Baba Thiam	13	12	6	4	1	1	6	7
27	MF		Hossein Heydari	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
28	MF		Mohsen Karimi	6	3	5	3	1	0	0	0
33	DF		Pejman Montazeri	25	1	15	0	3	1	7	0
70	MF		Mohammad Javad Mohammadi	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
77	MF		Behnam Barzay	8	1	5	1	1	0	2	0
80	DF		Bojan Najdenov	5	0	4	0	0	0	1	0
88	MF		Farshid Esmaeili	34	6	23	5	4	1	7	0
90	DF		Leandro Padovani	8	0	6	0	2	0	0	0
Players transferred out during the season
7	FW		Hassan Beyt Saeed	10	0	9	0	1	0	0	0
8	MF		Mojtaba Jabbari	4	0	4	0	0	0	0	0
10	FW		Sajjad Shahbazzadeh	9	0	8	0	1	0	0	0
17	DF		Yaghoub Karimi	4	0	4	0	0	0	0	0
30	DF		Azim Gök	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0

Last updated: 27 April 2018 (2018-04-27)
Source: Competitions

Goalscorers

Rank	No.	Pos.	Nat.	Name	Pro League	Hazfi Cup	AFC CL	Total
1	25	FW		Mame Baba Thiam	4	1	7	12
2	9	FW		Ali Ghorbani	7	2	1	10
3	88	CM		Farshid Esmaeili	5	1	0	6
	20	CM		Server Djeparov	4	1	1	6
	21	DF		Vouria Ghafouri	4	0	2	6
4	23	CM		Dariush Shojaeian	4	1	0	5
5	11	FW		Jaber Ansari	4	0	0	4
6	28	FW		Mohsen Karimi	3	0	0	3
	4	MF		Roozbeh Cheshmi	3	0	0	3
7	6	MF		Omid Ebrahimi	2	0	0	2
	24	MF		Omid Noorafkan	1	1	0	2
8	77	FW		Behnam Barzay	1	0	0	1
	2	DF		Khosro Heydari	0	1	0	1
	5	DF		Majid Hosseini	0	1	0	1
	33	DF		Pejman Montazeri	0	1	0	1
Totals					42	10	11	63

Last updated: 16 May 2018 (2018-05-16)

Clean sheets

Rank	Name	Pro League	Hazfi Cup	AFC CL	Total
1	Hossein Hosseini	10	0	1	11
2	Mehdi Rahmati	6	2	2	10
Total		16	2	3	21

Disciplinary record

Includes all competitive matches. Players with 1 card or more are included only.

N	P	Nat.	Name	Pro League			Hazfi Cup			AFC CL			Total			Notes
1	GK		Mehdi Rahmati	1			1			1			3
4	MF		Roozbeh Cheshmi	8						2			10
14	MF		Farshid Bagheri	4			1						5
16	FW		Mehdi Ghaedi				1						1
18	DF		Milad Zakipour	3			2						5
23	MF		Dariush Shojaeian	4	1		1			1			6	1
88	MF		Farshid Esmaeili							1			1

Last updated: 7 August 2017 (2017-08-07)
Source: Matches
Only competitive matches
= Number of bookings; = Number of sending offs after a second yellow card; = Number of sending offs by a direct red card.

References

1. "آی‌تی‌سی مهاجم استقلال از یوونتوس رسید". ورزش سه (in Persian). Retrieved 2018-02-06.
2. قائدی رسما استقلالی شد
3. استقلال از رده پایه بازیکن گرفت
4. استقلال یک جوان دیگر هم جذب کرد
5. بیت سعید بالاخره آبی‌پوش شد
6. سجاد شهباززاده به خانه اش برگشت
7. داریوش شجاعیان به استقلال پیوست
8. مدافع تیم ملی امید استقلالی شد
9. پژمان منتظری به استقلال پیوست
10. محمدی به استقلال پیوست
11. سهرابیان آبی پوش شد
12. مجتبی جباری به استقلال پیوست
13. "بازیکن سابق پرسپولیس دراستقلال". ورزش سه (in Persian). 2017-07-03. Retrieved 2017-07-03.
14. "رسمی؛ چپاروف در استقلال ماندنی شد". ورزش سه (in Persian). Retrieved 2017-07-10.
15. "رسمی؛ برزای استقلالی شد". ورزش سه (in Persian). Retrieved 2017-11-05.
16. "بویان نایدنوف به استقلال پیوست". ورزش سه (in Persian). Retrieved 2018-02-05.
17. "آی‌تی‌سی مهاجم استقلال از یوونتوس رسید". ورزش سه (in Persian). Retrieved 2018-02-06.
18. "کنعانی‌زادگان صید جدید دایی برای سایپا". ورزش سه (in Persian). Retrieved 2017-07-05.
19. بازیکن استقلال به سایپا پیوست
20. علیرضا سیار با اشک از استقلال جدا شد
21. ستاره‌ی امیدهای استقلال به گسترش پیوست
22. هافبک استقلال به سپیدرود پیوست
23. با استقلال سه ساله تمدید کردم چون انگیزه‌های زیادی دارم
24. جدایی ناگهانی کاوه رضایی از استقلال(عکس)
25. "مهرداد لشنی به مس رفسنجان پیوست". پارس فوتبال (in Persian). Retrieved 2017-08-06.
26. "رضایت نامه بازیکن استقلال برای نفت صادر شد". باشگاه خبرنگاران (in Persian). Retrieved 2017-08-09.
27. "مهاجم استقلال به آلومینیوم اراک پیوست". خبرگزاری دانشجو (in Persian). Retrieved 2017-08-22.
28. "بیت‌سعید به فولاد خوزستان پیوست". ورزش سه (in Persian). Retrieved 2017-12-18.
29. "مدافع تیم فوتبال استقلال به ملوان پیوست". خبرگزاری مهر (in Persian). Retrieved 2017-12-30.
30. "یعقوب کریمی به استقلال خوزستان پیوست". ورزش سه (in Persian). Retrieved 2018-01-10.
31. "باشگاه استقلال قرارداد جباری را یکطرفه فسخ کرد". ورزش سه (in Persian). Retrieved 2018-01-15.
32. "رسمی: شهباززاده بازیکن القطر شد". ورزش سه (in Persian). Retrieved 2018-01-18.
33. "PERSIAN GULF PRO LEAGUE/2018 - Season rules". Scoresway. Archived from the original on 4 May 2018. Retrieved 30 March 2017.

External links

• Iran Premier League Statistics
• Persian League