TheIranian football league system is a series of interconnected leagues forfootball clubs inIran.

The current structure has been in place since 2001. ThePro League is the highest level of club football in Iran. It is also called thePro League. Below it is theAzadegan League, also known as the 1st division and called theAzadegan League, which consists of one eighteen-team group. One level further down from that is theLeague 3, also known asLeague 3 which is made up of 60 teams evenly distributed into three groups. One step down, and the final nationwide league, is theLeague 3. This level has six groups and 96 teams. The final level of the football system consists of 31provincial leagues. Local teams from each province participate in these leagues, and some of the leagues are divided into further divisions.

The system works with a promotion-relegation system, meaning that a team from the lowest level of the system can make it to the top level within a number of years. The number of teams in each league often changes from season to season, due to the lack of any professional management in the lower levels of the system. Currently the IPL is the only league that is considered professional, despite many of its rules about club facilities and management being broken. It is not uncommon for teams in the lower levels of the system to change team names because of sponsorship issues or for teams to completely withdraw from a competition.

The top five levels of the system are managed by theIranian football federation, while the bottom level leagues are managed by their respective provincial football committee.

Before the 1970s, Iran did not have an official national football league. Most clubs participated in championships of their city or province. Therefore, the champion of theTehran Premier League was seen as theIranian football champion. Due to their achievements in the Tehran Premier League,Shahin Tehran andTaj, today known asEsteghlal, were the most popular teams at this time. AlsoDaraei andPAS Tehran were successful clubs inTehran's own league.^[1]

In 1970, the Local League was created.^[2] For the first time, the league comprised also teams from many other cities and provinces includingSepahan fromIsfahan andEast Azerbaijan clubTractor.^[3] The first recognized Iranian football champion wasTaj after beatingPAS Tehran 2–1 in the final of the1970–71 Local League.^[4][5][6][3] The incidents of the semi-final between Taj andPersepolis are also of great importance for the rivalry between both clubs.^[4][7][6] The second and lastedition of the Local League was won by Persepolis.^[8][4][9]

In 1972, theTakht Jamshid Cup was founded as the national league and included teams from all over the country. TheIranian Football Federation had decided to create a league similar to European football leagues. The league was named afterTakht-e Jamshid, the ancientAchaemenid capital known outside of Iran asPersepolis. The Takht Jamshid Cup comprised twelve clubs in the1973–74 season.Persepolis became the first champions of the Takht Jamshid Cup, two points ahead of rivalTaj.^[10][11]

Before the beginning of the1974–75 season, the number of teams were increased from twelve to 16 teams.Esteghlal claimed its first Takht Jamshid Cup title after winning the league ahead of Persepolis.^[12] The1975–76 Takht Jamshid Cup was won by Persepolis with a great performance by Iranian football legendAli Parvin.^[13] The second place team was anotherTehran based club, Homa.^[14] The next two seasons were won byPAS Tehran under coachHassan Habibi.^[15][16] PAS Tehran won their championships both times ahead of Persepolis.^[17][18] At this time the Takht Jamshid Cup was one of the strongest football leagues in Asia. TheIran national football team won in 1976 their third successiveAFC Asian Cup and qualified 1978 for theFIFA World Cup for the first time in the country's history.

The1978–79 Takht Jamshid Cup season was abandoned due to the1979 Revolution.Shahbaz was leading the league after twelve matchdays ahead of Persepolis and Taj.^[19][20][21]

Due to theIslamic Revolution and theIran–Iraq War, the Takht Jamshid Cup was dissolved and also the lower leagues were unorganized. Once again the champion of theTehran Province League was seen as theIranian football champion. The league was dominated byPersepolis with five titles andEsteghlal with two championships. In 1987 the17th of Shahrivar league was created with mainly teams fromTehran, but also with clubs from some others cities. The league was won by Persepolis ahead ofDaraei.^[22] Due to the fact that the league was part of the Tehran Province League, Persepolis' title is today not accepted as a national championship.

In 1989 theQods League was formed as the national Iranian football league. The first official Iranian football champion since the revolution wasEsteghlal. After only one season the Qods League was abolished.^[23]

In 1991 the Azadegan League was formed as the top flight of Iranian football. The league was named as Azadegan League in honor of the Iranianprisoners of war who were released.Azadegan meansthe liberated inPersian. The league started with a format of 12 teams in the firstseason. In the1992–93 Azadegan League season the league changed its format. 16 clubs participated in two groups of eight teams.PAS Tehran were the champions in both seasons.^[23]Esteghlal relegated for the first time in their history in 1993. Before the start of the1993–94 season, the league changed its format again. 14 teams participated in one group.Saipa won the Azadegan League title, sitting three points of runners-upPersepolis. Only one year later the league format was changed again. 24 clubs participated in two groups of 12 teams. Saipa defended their title in final against Esteghlal.

Prior to the start of the1995–96 Azadegan League season, the league changed its format again.^[24] 16 teams participated in one group until 1999.Persepolis were the champions in1995–96,^[24]1996–97^[25] and1998–99,^[26] whileEsteghlal became the champion in the1997–98 season.^[27] In 1999 the league was reduced to 14 teams. Persepolis won the1999–2000 Azadegan League season, sitting seven points clear of rival Esteghlal.^[28] The2000–01 season was the last year of the Azadegan League as the top-level football league of Iran. Esteghlal became the champion in a league of 12 teams.^[29]

The2001–2002 season saw the beginning of the first professional football league inIran. Unfortunately many say that the new league is professional in name only and is missing many of the required components of a pro league. Player salaries have risen significantly and other positives in the league are the emergence of provincial teams and raw talent which every Pro League team boasts. Teams likeFoolad Sepahan,Foolad Khouzestan,Zob Ahan FC andEsteghlal Ahvaz have all shown they can compete, even though they are not based inTehran. The league can only continue to get better, and many are hoping this league will help Iran's football, in terms of improving quality and reputation.

On 12 August 2006, the Iranian Football Federation decided to change the name of the league once again. The name of the league was initially thePersian Gulf Cup.^[30] This was done to promote the name of the Persian Gulf, instead of the many variations which some nations and organizations use which Iranclaims are incorrect. The league logo was also changed, with the winner being selected from over 130 designs and unveiled on 14 November 2006.^[31] They continued to get better steady and slowly which made many people criticize that the league is sometimes stepping backwards.Saipa was the 6th team to win the 6th new edition of the league which meant 6 different teams won 6 leagues in the row. But in 2008Persepolis regained the title after 6 years by the dramatic win again the rivalSepahan on the 96th minute of the final match and become the first team that won two titles in the new edition of the Iranian League. The next seasonEsteghlal did the same thing and won the league for second time on the final matchday. Then,Sepahan dominated the league by winning the title in three consecutive seasons. CurrentlySepahan holds thePro League title record with four previous titles and they recently added a fifth to their trophy case with the 2014–15 season championship.

_{Notes
1.Taj changed its name toEsteghlal in 1979.
2.Shahin changed its name toPersepolis in 1968, which in turn changed to Piroozi in 1986; but the 'old' name Persepolis is still used in preference to Piroozi in Iran.
3.Azadegan League is now the name of the 2nd highest division in Iran, only the IPL is higher.}

The number of national championships attained by football clubs in Iran since1970. The national championships were suspended from 1979 to 1991.

• Pro League
• Azadegan League
• League 2
• League 3
• League 4
• League system
• Hazfi Cup
• Iranian Super Cup
• Kowsar Women Football League
• Iranian Futsal Super League
• Iran Premier Beach Soccer League

• Football leagues in Iran
• Football league systems in Asia

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• CS1 Persian-language sources (fa)
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