Persepolis F.C.
Persepolis Football Club is an Iranian professional football club based in Tehran that competes in the Persian Gulf Pro League. Persepolis F.C. is the football club of the multisport Persepolis Athletic and Cultural Club. The club was owned by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports until April 2024 when, due to Asian Football Confederation licensing regulations, an 85% majority ownership stake was transferred to a consortium of six Iranian banks. Ten percent of the club's share is publicly available on the Tehran Stock Exchange.
Persepolis was founded in 1963 by Ali Abdo and has been in the first division of Iranian football since 1968. The club has played at its home ground, Azadi Stadium, since 1973. They contest the Tehran Derby against rival team Esteghlal, a match that is closely followed by Iranian football fans and considered to be one of the biggest in Asia. According to the Asian Football Confederation, Persepolis is one of the most popular football club in Asia. At the AFC Champions League, 11 of the top 20 matches by attendance were played by Persepolis. Persepolis has also broken the record of 100,000 attendees in four matches at the AFC Champions League. Persepolis has won a record sixteen Iranian league titles, as well as seven Hazfi Cups, five Super Cups and the 1990–91 Asian Cup Winners' Cup. Many notable players have played for the club, including former Bundesliga players Ali Karimi, Ali Daei, Vahid Hashemian and Mehdi Mahdavikia. Ali Parvin, who spent 18 years with the club from 1970 to 1988, is widely regarded as the club's greatest player.
History
Shahin F.C. (1942–1967)
was established in 1942 by Dr. Abbas Ekrami, a teacher. Ekrami founded the club with the help of his young students and adopted the motto: "".Shahin produced many talented players, including Parviz Dehdari, Masoud Boroumand, Homayoun Behzadi, Jafar Kashani, Hossein Kalani and Hamid Shirzadegan, as well as players who played for the Iran national football team. Shahin was popular in the 1960s, but the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran and Keihan Varzeshi viewed that popularity as a threat. The conflict between FFIRI and the team grew to a head on 9 July 1967—two days after Shahin's 3–0 win against Tehranjavan F.C.—when the FFIRI dissolved the clubm. League attendance dropped and other clubs, including Pas, Rah Ahan and Oghab, attempted to sign Shahin players.
Establishment early years (1963–1969)
was established in 1963 by Ali Abdo. Abdo had returned to Iran from the United States and was a championship boxer.Persepolis F.C. started the 1968 season with Dehdari as manager. Under Dehdari, the club signed many of Shahin's former players, thereby retaining its popularity. The team was initially quite weak, and participated in Iran's second division. The best player on the team then was Mahmoud Khordbin.
The club, using four Shahin players, had a friendly match with Jam Abadan, a respected team at the time. After the match, the remainder of the Shahin players joined Persepolis. That year, no league competition was held, as many teams had been dissolved, so a 44-team tournament was held. Persepolis, along with Pas, Taj and Oghab, finished top of the group.
The next year Persepolis was the first Iranian club to compete at the Asian Champion Club Tournament held in Thailand, where they were eliminated in the group stage.
Takht Jamshid Cup (1969–1979)
In 1969, Mahmoud Khayami, one of the founders of automobile company Iran National, negotiated with Persepolis and signed all former Shahin players, except for Aziz Asli and Mahmoud Khordbin, to his new team, Paykan Tehran F.C. Paykan won the championship that year, but the new players moved back to Persepolis at the end of the season.In 1971, Persepolis won its first ever championship in the Iranian League; Persepolis had ended the season with 13 wins and 1 draw in 14 weeks. In 1972, Abdo announced Persepolis as the first professional football club in Iran. The club did not enter the domestic league and only played against foreign clubs; a few months later, it became amateur again. In 1973, the Takht Jamshid Cup was established. Persepolis won the inaugural Cup and again in 1975. That year, Persepolis lost just two matches of thirty matches. Persepolis is the most successful club in the Takht Jamshid Cup league, clinching two championship titles and finishing three times as runner-up.
Success under tough conditions (1979–1990)
With the Iranian Revolution in 1979, Abdo returned to United States. Although Persepolis won the Espandi Cup, the club fell apart and many of its old players did not return. The club's property was sequestered by the government-run Oppressed and Veterans Foundation and the club was placed under the management of the Physical Education Organization.In 1981, the Physical Education Organization declared that the name of the club would change, but club officials, players and fans opposed the move. In protest, the team did not appear in a match against Homa in the Tehran league, losing 3–0 by default and handing Homa the championship. In 1986, the club was taken over by the Oppressed and Veterans Foundation and renamed Azadi. Players declared that they would not play for the club if the name change went through. After a brief period, the Foundation handed control back to the Physical Education Organization. On 16 February 1987, the Physical Education Organization renamed the club Pirouzi with the players' agreement; fans still called the name Persepolis, however. On 10 April 2012, club chairman Mohammad Rouyanian announced that the club's official name was Persepolis.
In the 1980s, the club only played in the Tehran League and various elimination tournaments. Persepolis was successful and maintained its popularity, winning the Tehran League five seasons in a row. During that time, Ali Parvin served as player-manager.
Revitalization (1990–2001)
The 1990s were a successful decade for the team, with four league championships, two Hazfi Cups, a strong roster and renewed support. At one point, more than six Persepolis players were starters on Iran's national team. The team won the national championship in the 1995–96 season, coming back from being 10 points behind Bahman to be 6 points ahead of the league runner-up. They won the league again the next season, again finishing ahead of the runner up by 6 points. In the same year they were stopped by the Korean Pohang Steelers in the semi-finals of the Asian Champions' Cup.Persepolis finished third, defeating Iraq's Al-Zawraa in the third place match in 1996–97 ACC.The team withdrew from National League in the following season because a large number of players were on the national team and the club had commitment to play in the Asian Champions' Cup. The poor scheduling and mismanagement of both the FFIRI and AFC officials led to this unprofessional event. This prevented Persepolis from possibly winning a third consecutive league championship. Persepolis did not have much luck in the Asian Champion's cup either, as they were once again stopped in the semi-finals, this time by Chinese club, Dalian Wanda; they lost the third place match to Al-Hilal.
The 1996–97 and 1997–98 Persepolis teams are considered by many to be among the greatest Iranian clubs to ever play. National team players and future superstars, such as Ahmadreza Abedzadeh, Khodadad Azizi, Karim Bagheri, Ali Daei, Mehdi Mahdavikia, Mehrdad Minavand and Ali Karimi played for the club during those seasons.
After the World Cup 1998, several of Persepolis' best players were transferred to European clubs, but Persepolis maintained a talented squad, with future national team members Ali Karimi and Hamed Kavianpour joining the club. They won the 1998–99 championship as well as the Hazfi Cup that season. They also won the 1999–2000 league championship, again finishing third in the Asian Champions Cup. This would be their last championship in the Azadegan League era. Most of Persepolis' championships at the time were won while Ali Parvin was the manager and Amirali Abedini was the chairman.
IPL era (2001–present)
Persepolis joined the Iran Pro League when it was formed in 2001. By the end of the inaugural season, they were in a close race with their rival Esteghlal, which led the league by two points going into the final day of the regular season. Esteghlal's loss to Malavan and Persepolis' 1–0 win against Fajr Sepasi in their last games of the season gave Persepolis a one-point lead and the first-ever IPL championship. Persepolis finished third in the 2002–03 season; they also failed to advance out of the group stage in the newly created AFC Champions League.When Akbar Ghamkhar took over as club chairman, he made several changes in an effort to improve the team. He made player and staff salaries public, angering Parvin, the highest paid player on the team. Ghamkhar hired coach Vinko Begović and entered into contracts with several prominent players. Persepolis had a good start in the 2003–04 season, but things deteriorated. Begović left the team and German manager Rainer Zobel was bought in. Ghamkhar was also replaced with Hojatollah Khatib, who brought back Parvin as the club's technical director. The club finished fifth in the standings in the 2004–05 season.
The club experienced major financial problems as some of the spending decisions made in previous years had overextended the club. Persepolis finished the 2005–06 season in ninth place, the lowest it had ever placed. Parvin left the club in February 2006, vowing to never return to Persepolis following a 4–2 loss to Fajr Sepasi in Azadi Stadium; after the game, fans had cursed at Parvin and the players.
Khatib resigned as chairman and Mohammad Hassan Ansarifard was elected to the post by the club council. Arie Haan was brought in as the new manager, helping the team make it to the 2005–06 Hazfi Cup final, but he was fired by the club just before the 2006–07 season began. Turkish manager Mustafa Denizli signed with the team on 17 August 2006. Denizili's first match was the final cup matchWith the final cup match being his first one as the club's manager, Denizli was not able to help the club win the Hazfi Cup in 2006, a cup that the team needed to gain entry into the Asian Champion's League and to receive financial benefits by doing so.
The club did not win the Hazfi Cup in 2007, losing to Sepahan in the semi-finals. The club finished third in the 2006–07 IPL, and Denizli left the club after Ansarifard resigned as chairman in June 2007.