Rah Ahan Tehran F.C.

Rah Ahan Sports Club (Persian: باشگاه ورزشی راه‌آهن‎), commonly known as Rah Ahan Football Club is an Iranian football club based in Tehran. They currently play in the Azadegan League. Rah Ahan is the oldest Iranian football clubs.

Rah Ahan FC
Full nameRah Ahan Sports Club
Founded2 January 1937 (1937-01-02)
GroundShahid Derakhshan Stadium
Capacity12,000
Head CoachMohsen Bayatinia
LeagueTehran Province league
WebsiteClub website

History

Establishment

Rah ahan was formed in 1937 in Tehran by Iran Railways but were bought by Mehr Afarin Holding. They are one of the oldest Iranian football clubs still in existence. In 1939 Rah ahan participated in the Tehran Local League for the first time. Their first official match was on 4 January 1940 against Bazargani F.C., they won the game 11–0. Nowadays Rah ahan is owned by the businessman Mehrafarin Holding.

1950s

During the World War in the 1940s Rah Ahan dissolved its football operations, it was not until the 1950s when Rah Ahan restarted its football team. After its re-establishment the club under the name of Pirouz played on the dirt pitches near the railway station. The players of the team composed of the Railway workers. In 1955 with the arrival of Rasoul Madadnavi from Tabriz, the club was again renamed to Rah Ahan and began to attract players from outside the railway company. After achieving good results in the 1958 season Rah Ahan was promoted to the 1st Division Tehran League, but due to new restrictions regarding private clubs in the Tehran Local Leagues, the club was denied the right to compete and eventually ceased its operations.

Pre Revolution

In 1963 Rah Ahan was again re-established and were placed in the 2nd Division Tehran Local League, in 1966 Rah Ahan was finally promote to the top division of the Tehran Local Leagues. In 1973 the Takht Jamshid Cup, Iran's first national league, was founded. In their first two years in the Cup, Rah Ahan finished a respectable 7th and 9th. In 1976 they were relegated to the 2nd Division. In their only season in the 2nd Division, Rah Ahan finished 1st in the league and were again promoted to the Takht Jamshid Cup. In 1978 they were again relegated to the 2nd Division, but they could not finish the 2nd Division season because of the Iranian Revolution.

Iran Pro League

After the establishment of the Iran Pro League in 2001, Rah Ahan was placed in the second tier Azadegan League. In 2005 Rah Ahan was promoted to the Iran Pro League after a second-place finish in the Azadegan League. Since then they have mostly been an average team where they have finish in the mid table but since the arrival of Ansarifard as the chairman they have looked more stable. They finished 11th in the 2008–09 season and avoided the relegation in the season after on the last week.

Ali Daei

In 2012–13 season and under Ali Daei, and with him at charge the team got out to an early start, and were 4th in the Iran Pro League after the opening few weeks, after that the team had an average year, dropping to 8th by season's end. In the same year they went on tour in Turkey, beating Galatasaray A2 4–1, and losing to Super Lig side Istanbul BB 3–2. At the end of the 2012–13 season Ali Daei left Rah Ahan to sign with Persepolis.

Trouble Years

Mansour Ebrahimzadeh was announced as Rah Ahan's new manager for the 2013–14 season, with him at charge Rah Ahan finished an average 11th place. At the end of the season, Ebrahimzadeh announced that he is stepping down as Rah Ahan's manager. Former Persepolis manager Hamid Estili was named as his replacement. Rah Ahan encountered severe financial problems and under Estili the club performed poorly, shortly after Estili was fired and replaced with former Rah Ahan player Farhad Kazemi.

In the 2015–16 season, Rah Ahan ran into financial troubles and finished 15th in the Persian Gulf Pro League and were relegated. This was the first time Rah Ahan will play in the Azadegan League in 12 years.

Season-by-season

For details on seasons, see List of Rah Ahan F.C. seasons

Season Div. League Position Hazfi Cup Notes
2001–02 2 Azadegan League 8th
2002–03 2 Azadegan League 11th
2003–04 2 Azadegan League 11th
2004–05 2 Azadegan League 2nd Promoted
2005–06 1 Iran Pro League 13th
2006–07 1 Iran Pro League 16th 1/16 Final
2007–08 1 Iran Pro League 12th Quarterfinal
2008–09 1 Iran Pro League 11th Final
2009–10 1 Iran Pro League 14th 1/16 Final
2010–11 1 Iran Pro League 15th 1/16 Final
2011–12 1 Iran Pro League 11th 1/16 Final
2012–13 1 Iran Pro League 8th 1/8 Final
2013–14 1 Iran Pro League 11th 1/4 Final
2014–15 1 Iran Pro League 12th 1/8 Final
2015–16 1 Iran Pro League 15th 1/16 Final Relegated
2016–17 2 Azadegan League 15th 1/32 Final
2017–18 2 Azadegan League 18th 1/32 Final Relegated
2018–19 3 2nd Division Did Not Participate Did Not Participate Relegated

Reserves

The table below shows the achievements of the club's reserve team in various competitions.

Season League Position Hazfi Cup
2010–11 3rd Division 9th/Group 2 Did not qualify
2011–12 Tehran Provincial League 7th/Group 1 Did not qualify
2012–13 Tehran Provincial League 7th/Group 1 Did not qualify
2013–14 Tehran Provincial League 1st/Group 1 Did not qualify

First-team squad

As of 19 January 2016[1]
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 Vahid Azizi
3 DF  IRN Bahman Shirvani
4 DF  IRN Milad Abtahi
6 DF  IRN Hadi Shakouri
7 DF  IRN Milad Zanidpour
8 FW  IRN Aliakbar Farhang
10 FW  IRN Mohsen Bayatinia
11 FW  IRN Kianosh Mirzaei U21
12 MF  IRN Ali Aminoalroaei U23
14 FW  IRN Amirmohammad Panahi U23
No. Pos. Nation Player
16 MF  IRN Alireza Latifi U23
31 DF  IRN Amir Reza Nasr Azadani U21
34 MF  IRN Farzad Ashoubi
35 DF  IRN Milad Golmohammadpoor U21
40 MF  IRN Ali Pazouki U21
70 FW  IRN Mohammad Reza Soleimani U21
72 MF  IRN Mehdi Hanafi U23
74 GK  IRN Kasra Kazemi U21
— FW  IRN Amir Mohammad Madani U23 (died)

Loan list

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
— GK  IRN Mohammad Ali Ramezanian (at Khoneh Be Khoneh)
— FW  IRN Soheyl Hezar Jaribi (at Khoneh Be Khoneh)

For recent transfers, see List of Iranian football transfers winter 2015–16.

Former players

For details on former players, see Category:Rah Ahan players.

Managers
Main article: List of Rah Ahan F.C. managers

IPL managers

Last updated 23 October 2017.

Name Nat From To
Firouz Karimi June 2004 February 2006
Abbas Razavi February 2006 November 2006
Akbar Misaghian December 2006 February 2008
Davoud Mahabadi February 2008 October 2008
Mahmoud Yavari October 2008 April 2009
Mehdi Tartar April 2009 June 2009
Ernie Brandts July 2009 December 2009
Mehdi Tartar December 2009 June 2010
Rasoul Korbekandi June 2010 September 2010
Mehdi Tartar September 2010 July 2011
Ali Daei July 2011 May 2013
Mansour Ebrahimzadeh July 2013 June 2014
Hamid Estili June 2014 February 2015
Ali Latifi (Interim) February 2015 February 2015
Farhad Kazemi February 2015 September 2015
Mehdi Tartar September 2015 February 2016
Ioannis Topalidis February 2016 May 2016
Mehdi Pashazadeh July 2016 January 2017
Sirous Dinmohammadi January 2017 October 2017
Mohsen Bayatinia October 2017 Present

Coaching staff
Position Name
Head Coach Mohsen Bayatinia
Goalkeeping Coach Niko Sternberg
Athletic Coach Dominic Palmer

References
  1. 2013–14 squad Archived 2015-06-15 at the Wayback Machine
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