2020–21 Persian Gulf Pro League

The 2020–21 Persian Gulf Pro League (formerly known as Iran Pro League) are the 38th season of Iran's Football League and 20th as Persian Gulf Pro League since its establishment in 2001. Persepolis are the defending champions and won their record-extending 4th consecutive title and 13th title overall (6th in the Pro League era) previous season. The season features 14 teams from the 2019–20 Persian Gulf Pro League and two new teams promoted from the 2019–20 Azadegan League: Mes Rafsanjan and Aluminium Arak.[1][2]

Persian Gulf Pro League
Season2020–21
Dates6 November 2020 – April 2021
Top goalscorerSajjad Shahbazzadeh
(11 goals)
Best goalkeeperMohsen Forouzan
Hossein Pour Hamidi
Hamed Lak
(6 clean sheets)
Biggest home winSepahan 4–0 Nassaji
(11 December 2020)
Biggest away winAluminium Arak 0–3 Nassaji Mazandaran
(6 November 2020)
Highest scoringMachine Sazi 3–3 Sepahan
(29 December 2020)
Longest winning runGol Gohar Sirjan
Persepolis
(2 matches)
Longest unbeaten runPersepolis
(9 matches)
Longest winless runMachine Sazi
(12 matches)
Longest losing runNassaji
Machine Sazi
(4 matches)
2021–22 →

The 2020–21 season started on 6 November 2020.[3]

Teams

Stadia and locations
Locations of clubs in 2020–21 Persian Gulf Pro League
Team Location Stadium Capacity
Aluminium Arak Arak Imam Khomeini 15,000
Esteghlal Tehran Azadi 78,116
Foolad Ahvaz Foolad Arena 30,655
Gol Gohar Sirjan Sirjan Imam Ali 8,000
Machine Sazi Tabriz Qasem Soleimani 12,000
Mes Rafsanjan Rafsanjan Shohadaye Mes 10,000
Naft Masjed Soleyman Masjed Soleyman Behnam Mohammadi 8,000
Nassaji Mazandaran Qaem Shahr Vatani 15,000
Paykan Shahr-e Qods Shahre Qods 25,000
Persepolis Tehran Azadi 78,116
Saipa Tehran Dastgerdi 8,250
Sanat Naft Abadan Takhti Abadan 8,000
Sepahan Isfahan Naghsh-e-Jahan 75,000
Shahr Khodro Mashhad Imam Reza 27,700
Tractor Tabriz Yadegar-e Emam 66,833
Zob Ahan Fooladshahr Fooladshahr 15,000

Number of teams by region
Region Number of teams Teams
Tehran 4 Esteghlal, Persepolis, Paykan, Saipa
Khuzestan 3 Foolad, Sanat Naft, Naft Masjed Soleyman
East Azarbaijan 2 Tractor, Machine Sazi
Isfahan 2 Sepahan, Zob Ahan
Kerman 2 Gol Gohar Sirjan, Mes Rafsanjan
Markazi 1 Aluminium
Mazandaran 1 Nassaji
Razavi Khorasan 1 Shahr Khodro

Personnel and kits

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
Aluminium Arak Rasoul Khatibi Meysam Majidi Uhlsport
Esteghlal Mahmoud Fekri Voria Ghafouri Merooj
Foolad Javad Nekounam Ayoub Vali Merooj
Gol Gohar Amir Ghalenoei Mehran Golzari Merooj
Machine Sazi Saeid Akhbari Akbar Afaghi Merooj
Mes Rafsanjan Mohammad Rabiei Hamed Noormohammadi Merooj
Naft MIS Mojtaba Hosseini Abbas Asgari Merooj
Nassaji Majid Jalali Hamed Shiri Merooj
Paykan Mehdi Tartar Ali Hamoudi Merooj
Persepolis Yahya Golmohammadi Jalal Hosseini Uhlsport
Saipa Ebrahim Sadeghi Sadegh Barani Start
Sanat Naft Sirous Pourmousavi Hossein Baghlani Merooj
Sepahan Moharram Navidkia Rasoul Navidkia Uhlsport
Shahr Khodro Mehdi Rahmati Reza Nasehi Uhlsport
Tractor Masoud Shojaei (interim) Masoud Shojaei Adidas
Zob Ahan Rahman Rezaei Ghasem Haddadifar Talash

Managerial changes
Team Outgoing head coach Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming head coach Date of appointment
Sepahan Miguel Teixeira End of Caretaker Spell 10 August 2020 Pre-season Moharram Navidkia 5 September 2020
Machine Sazi Human Afazeli Resigned 18 August 2020 Vahid Bayatloo 26 August 2020
Naft MIS Mehdi Tartar 13 August 2020 Mojtaba Hosseini 16 August 2020
Zob Ahan Luka Bonačić Sacked 15 August 2020 Rahman Rezaei 4 September 2020
Shahr Khodro Sohrab Bakhtiarizadeh 30 August 2020 Mehdi Rahmati 31 August 2020
Gol Gohar Sirjan Majid Jalali 3 September 2020 Amir Ghalenoei 3 September 2020
Esteghlal Farhad Majidi Resigned 5 September 2020 Mahmoud Fekri 7 October 2020
Tractor Saket Elhami 5 September 2020 Alireza Mansourian 17 September 2020
Sanat Naft Behnam Seraj Sacked 22 September 2020 Sirous Pourmousavi 22 September 2020
Nassaji Mahmoud Fekri Signed with Esteghlal 6 October 2020 Vahid Fazeli 8 October 2020
Paykan Abdollah Veisi Resigned 30 October 2020 Mehdi Tartar 4 November 2020

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 Former Player
Aluminium Arak
Esteghlal Hrvoje Milić Cheick Diabaté
Foolad Chimba Moussa Coulibaly Ayanda Patosi
Gol Gohar Godwin Mensha
Machine Sazi
Mes Rafsanjan
Naft MIS
Nassaji
Paykan
Persepolis Božidar Radošević Bashar Resan
Saipa
Sanat Naft
Sepahan Kiros Giorgi Gvelesiani Muhsen Al-Ghassani
Shahr Khodro
Tractor Okacha Hamzaoui
Zob Ahan Darko Bjedov Ivan Marković

League table

Standings
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Esteghlal 14 7 5 2 18 9 +9 26 Qualification for AFC Champions League group stage
2 Sepahan 14 7 4 3 23 18 +5 25 Qualification for AFC Champions League play-off round
3 Sanat Naft 14 6 5 3 15 11 +4 23
4 Persepolis 12 5 6 1 14 8 +6 21
5 Foolad 14 4 8 2 14 10 +4 20
6 Gol Gohar 13 5 4 4 16 12 +4 19
7 Aluminium Arak 14 4 7 3 13 13 0 19
8 Tractor 14 5 4 5 12 12 0 19
9 Mes Rafsanjan 14 5 5 4 10 10 0 20
10 Naft Masjed Soleyman 13 4 5 4 10 10 0 17
11 Paykan 14 4 6 4 15 16 −1 18
12 Shahr Khodro 14 5 3 6 15 17 −2 18
13 Saipa 14 3 8 3 9 11 −2 17
14 Zob Ahan 14 1 8 5 14 20 −6 11
15 Nassaji Mazandaran 14 2 3 9 10 18 −8 9 Relegation to Azadegan League
16 Machine Sazi 14 0 5 9 9 22 −13 5
Updated to match(es) played on 5 February 2021. Source: IPL Table, IranLeague
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored.[4]

Results
Home \ Away ALU EST FOL GOL MST MES MIS NSJ PAY PRS SAP SNA SEP SHK TRC ZOB
Aluminium Arak — 0–0 4–1 0–0 0–3 2–1 1–1 1–0 2 Mar 2–2
Esteghlal 2–0 — 1 Mar 1–0 2–0 1–0 2–2 0–1 1–1 a a
Foolad 0–0 2–1 — 7 Mar 1–1 1–0 0–0 3–0 13 Feb 23 Feb
Gol Gohar 1–2 1–1 — 1 Mar 0–0 1–2 19 Feb 3–1 3–1 1–2
Machine Sazi 7 Mar 0–1 0–1 — 0–1 13 Feb 3–3 23 Feb 0–1 1–1
Mes Rafsanjan 7 Mar 23 Feb 0–2 1–0 — 2–0 0–0 1–2 0–1 14 Feb
Naft MIS 13 Feb 1–1 1–0 — 0–1 0–0 1–1 3–1 3–1 23 Feb
Nassaji 23 Feb 13 Feb 1–1 0–1 1–0 — 1–1 7 Mar 0–1 1–1 2–3
Paykan 0–0 0–0 2–2 2–3 2–1 — 1–1 24 Feb 1–0 7 Mar
Persepolis a 2–1 2–1 9 Feb 7 Mar 14 Feb — 24 Feb 1–0 0–0 3–0 a 1–1
Saipa 0–1 0–0 0–0 2 Mar 1–0 0–0 — 1–1 14 Feb 2–1
Sanat Naft 1–1 2–1 2–0 2–1 2 Mar — 1–2 7 Mar 2–1 1–0
Sepahan 1–0 13 Feb 1–1 24 Feb 4–0 2–1 a 1–1 — 1–3 7 Mar a
Shahr Khodro 2–2 0–2 3–0 0–1 1–0 2 Mar 1–0 1–1 —
Tractor 0–1 1–3 0–0 0–0 1 Mar 3–1 0–1 0–1 0–0 —
Zob Ahan 0–0 2–2 1–1 1 Mar 0–0 1–1 1–3 0–2 1–2 —
Updated to match(es) played on 5 February 2021. Source: IPL Stats, Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Positions by round
Team ╲ Round123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930
Esteghlal462551241111
Sanat Naft581044263222
Sepahan139368652333
Tractor11111310128376544
Paykan12799671110
Persepolis94622446
Gol Gohar31111511
Foolad63479375
Naft MIS10131213111398999
Saipa8125810111011101010
Aluminium Arak1515151413128911121111
Mes Rafsanjan141616161514131414131212
Shahr Khodro25811710141312111313
Nassaji127339121213141414
Zob Ahan71011121415151515151515
Machine Sazi16141415161616161616161616
Leader : 2022 AFC Champions League Group stage
2022 AFC Champions League qualifying play-off round
Relegation to 2021-22 Azadegan League
Source: Iran Football League Organization

Season statistics
As of 5 February 2021

Top scorers
Rank Player Club Goals
1 Sajjad Shahbazzadeh Sepahan 11
2 Godwin Mensha Gol Gohar 9
3 Amin Ghaseminejad Shahr Khodro 8
4 Mohammad Abbaszadeh Tractor 7
5 Peyman Babaei Machine Sazi 6
Hamed Pakdel Aluminium Arak
Taleb Reykani Sanat Naft
8 Darko Bjedov Zob Ahan 4
Faraz Emamali Mes Rafsanjan
Voria Ghafouri Esteghlal
Mehdi Ghayedi Esteghlal
Mohammad Reza Hosseini Sepahan
Sasan Hosseini Naft MIS
Reza Khaleghifar Sanat Naft
Ahmad Nourollahi Persepolis

Hat-tricks
Player For Against Result Date
Godwin Mensha Gol Gohar Shahr Khodro 3–1 (H) 18 December 2020
Peyman Babaei Machine Sazi Sepahan 3–3 (H) 29 December 2020

Top assists
Rank Player Club Assists
1 Karim Eslami Nassaji 4
2 Mostafa Ahmadi Aluminium Arak 3
Behnam Barzay Gol Gohar
Ali Dashti Zob Ahan
Soroush Rafiei Sepahan
Mehrdad Rezaei Mes Rafsanjan
Mohammad Mehdi Mohebi Naft MIS
Ahmad Nourollahi Persepolis
Masoud Shojaei Tractor
Ahmad Reza Zendehrouh Gol Gohar

Clean Sheets
Rank Player Club Clean Sheets
1 Mohsen Forouzan Foolad 6
Hossein Pour Hamidi Aluminium Arak
Hamed Lak Persepolis
Rashid Mazaheri Esteghlal
5 Hossein Akbar Monadi Saipa 5
Mohammad Reza Akhbari Tractor
Mohammad Deris Paykan

See also

References
  1. "Aluminium Arak secure promotion to IPL". 2020-08-17. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  2. "Mes Rafsanjan promoted to Iran Professional League". 2020-08-02. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  3. "2020/21 IPL to kick off as scheduled: official". 2020-11-01. Retrieved 2020-11-06.
  4. "Persian Gulf Pro League/2020-21". Soccerway.com. Retrieved 7 November 2020.


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