Esteghlal F.C. v Sepahan S.C.

Location	Tehran Isfahan,Iran
Teams	Esteghlal Football Club Sepahan Sport Club
Latest meeting	Sepahan 3–1 Esteghlal (15 May 2025) 2024–25 Persian Gulf Pro League
Statistics
Meetings total	Official matches: 83 Friendly matches: 4 Total matches: 87
Most wins	Official matches: Both (31) Friendly matches:Sepahan (2) Total matches:Sepahan (33)
Top scorer	Levon Stepanyan Mehdi Seyed-Salehi Rasoul Khatibi (6)
Largest victory	Sepahan 0–4 Esteghlal 1971–72 Local League (28 January, 1972 (1972-01-28))

Therivalry between Esteghlal and Sepahan is afootball rivalry played betweenIranian football clubsEsteghlal Tehran andSepahan Isfahan.

Since 1971–72 Iran football season,Esteghlal Tehran andSepahan Isfahan had several meetings in Iranian League, Hazfi Cup, and friendly matches.

The first was inLocal League 1971–72 inIsfahan, that Esteghlal won the match with the result of4–0. First win for Sepahan was inTakht Jamshid Cup 1974–75 with the result of1–0.^[1]

Before theIranian Revolution in 1979, two football clubs met 10 times (2 times in Local League and 8 times in Takht Jamshid Cup). From these 10 meetings, each club won 4 matches and the result of 2 matches was draw.

From 1991–92 to 2000–01 Iranian Football Seasons, two clubs met 18 times (16 times inAzadegan League, and 2 times in Naghsh-Jahan Tournament in Esfahan). From these 18 meetings, Esteghlal won 8 matches and Sepahan won 5. The result of the other 5 matches was draw.

Since the establishment ofIran Pro League in 2001, two clubs met 30 times (22 times in Iran Pro League, 6 times in Hazfi Cup, once inAFC Champions League, and once in Tehran Etehadiyeh Cup). From these 30 meetings, Esteghlal won 8 matches and Sepahan won 15. The result of the other 7 matches was draw.

The best win for Esteghlal took place in the clubs first meeting inLocal League 1971–72 with the score of4–0. And the best win for Sepahan was in2002–03 Hazfi Cup with the score of3–0.

The highest goal-scoring match was in2010–11 Iran Pro League with the result of4–3 for Esteghlal.

Two football clubs faced each other in Semi-final of2001–02 Hazfi Cup in a two-leg meeting.

The importance of this meeting forEsteghlal was that, they missed the championship of2001–02 Iran Pro League in the last day toPersepolis and Winning the Hazfi Cup was a really high motivation for them. On the other sideSepahan, who lost both the meetings in2001–02 Iran Pro League to Esteghlal, was really eager to compensate those two losses.

The first leg was held inIsfahan, and Sepahan could win the match with the result of4–2. However, in the second leg inTehran, it was Esteghlal who could win the match with the result of3–1 in a really exciting match. Therefore, after these two dramatic and close matches, two clubs gain the score of 5–5 in total, and Esteghlal could advance into the final just because of higher number of scored-away goals.

In the final, Esteghlal also could beatFajr Sepasi and became the champion.

In 2002–03 Iranian Football Season, two clubs met each other 5 times, and dramatically,Sepahan could won all 5 meetings with coaching ofFarhad Kazemi. From these five meetings, 2 of them were in2002–03 Iran Pro League, 2 of them were in2002–03 Hazfi Cup, and the last one in a four-team friendly tournament (Etehadiyeh Cup^[2]) hosted byEsteghlal.

In2002–03 Iran Pro League, Sepahan could beat Esteghlal in both league matches inTehran andIsfahan with the similar result of3–2.

In the 1/8 final of2002–03 Hazfi Cup, two clubs again faced each other in a two-leg meeting. The first leg was held in Isfahan, and Sepahan could win the match with the result of3–0. In the second leg in Tehran, it was again Sepahan who could beat Esteghlal with the result of1–0.

After the end of 2002–03 Iran's Football Season and before the starting of the new Iranian Football Season, a four-team friendly tournament with the name ofEtehadiyeh Cup held in Tehran hosted by Esteghlal. In this tournament Esteghlal as the host, Sepahan andPas Tehran as the champion and runner-up of2002–03 Iran Pro League, andAl Wasl fromDubai as the guest team participated. In the Semi-final of the tournament, Seaphan and Esteghlal again faced each other and Sepahan could beat Esteghlal with the result of3–2 and advanced to the final of the tournament. In the final, Sepahan also could beat Pas Tehran and became the champion.

Therefore, and after these five matches between the club in a single season, Sepahan could win all the matches and made a really dramatic record.

In 2003–04 Iran's Football Season, two football clubs reached the Final of2003–04 Hazfi Cup.

Esteghlal by coaching ofAmir Ghalenoei had a great performance in2003–04 Iran Pro League and becoming the runner-up. On the other side,Sepahan by coaching ofFarhad Kazemi did not have a successful season in2003–04 Iran Pro League. Therefore, and before the starting of Final, Esteghlal seemed to be the favor for winning the Hazfi Cup title.

The first leg was held inIsfahan and Sepahan could win the match with the result of3–2, in a really close and exciting match and with the final scoring of Sepahan in 90th minute of the match. By this first-leg result, Esteghlal could simply become the champion with winning the second-leg match with the result of 1–0 or 2–1.

However, the story of second-leg match was different. In the second leg inTehran and in front of more than 85000 Esteghlal fans, it was Sepahan could perform really great and won the match with the result of2–0. It was a really unexpected loss for Esteghlal fans and Amir Ghalenoei, due to their great performance during the league season. On the other side, it was a really dramatic win for Sepahan fans and Frahad Kazemi.

Therefore, after these two dramatic matches, Seaphan could become the champion by the total result of5–2.

At the end of 2011–12 Iran's Football Season, two football clubs met each other in the 1/8 Final of2012 AFC Champions League.

This was the first meeting of two football clubs in an international and continental tournaments. Moreover, the fact that Sepahan was the winner of2011–12 Iran Pro League and Esteghlal was the winner of2011–12 Hazfi Cup, makes this match really important for both football clubs and their fans.

By winning this match, Esteghlal had the possibility to go for the first time to the Quarter-Finals of AFC Champions League since its establishment in 2002. On the other side, Sepahan's fans expected from their team to win this match and go forward for the first Asian title after three-year-in-a-row Iran's football championships.

On May 22, 2012, the match was held in Isfahan and finally Sepahan could win the match with the result of2–0. Therefore, Sepahan advanced to Quarter-Finals of AFC Champions League for the third time in the history of the club. The Quarter-Final round will be held in September 2012.

This list isincomplete; you can help byadding missing items.(February 2012)

•Total: Esteghlal with29 higher finishes, Sepahan with13 higher finishes (till end of the2024–25 Persian Gulf Pro League)

Friendly matches are not included in the following records unless otherwise noted.

• Players inItalic are still active in football playing.
• Players inbold are still active for Esteghlal or Sepahan.

Rasoul Khatibi andMehdi Seyed-Salehi Two of the players who are top scorers of rivalries.

Pos.	Player	Club(s)	League	Cup	Asia	Other	Total
1	Levon Stepanyan	Sepahan	2	4	–	–	6
	Mehdi Seyed-Salehi	Sepahan Esteghlal	1 1	4 –	–	–
	Rasoul Khatibi	Sepahan	4	–	–	2
4	Amin Mousavi	Sepahan	5	–	–	–	5
	Moharram Navidkia	Sepahan	5	–	–	–
	Reza Enayati	Esteghlal	4	1	–	–
	Yadollah Akbari	Esteghlal	2	3	–	–
8	Gholam Hossein Mazloumi	Esteghlal	4	–	–	–	4
9	Farhad Majidi	Esteghlal	3	–	–	–	3
	Hadi Aghili	Sepahan	3	–	–	–
	Mohammad Navazi	Esteghlal	2	–	–	1
	Edmond Bezik	Sepahan	1	1	–	1
13	Ali Jabbari	Esteghlal	2	–	–	–	2
	Shahrokh Bayani	Esteghlal	2	–	–	–
	Mehdi Fonounizadeh	Esteghlal	2	–	–	–
	Karim Ghanbari	Sepahan	2	–	–	–
	Alireza Mansourian	Esteghlal	2	–	–	–
	Majid Basirat	Sepahan	2	–	–	–
	Alireza Akbarpour	Esteghlal	2	–	–	–
	Sattar Hamedani	Esteghlal	2	–	–	–
	Alireza Vahedi Nikbakht	Esteghlal	2	–	–	–
	Ali Samereh	Esteghlal	2	–	–	–
	Meysam Baou	Esteghlal	2	–	–	–
	Abdul-Wahab Abu Al-Hail	Sepahan	2	–	–	–
	Mehdi Jafarpour	Sepahan	2	–	–	–
	Pirouz Ghorbani	Esteghlal	2	–	–	–
	Milad Meydavoudi	Esteghlal	2	–	–	–
	Milorad Janjuš	Sepahan	2	–	–	–
	Arash Borhani	Esteghlal	2	–	–	–
	Amir Hossein Sadeghi	Esteghlal	2	–	–	–
	Ehsan Hajsafi	Sepahan	2	–	–	–
	Behnam Barzay	Esteghlal	2	–	–	–
	Jaber Ansari	Esteghlal	2	–	–	–
	Server Djeparov	Esteghlal	2	–	–	–
	Cheick Diabaté	Esteghlal	2	–	–	–
	Sajjad Shahbazzadeh	Sepahan	2	–	–	–
	Giorgi Gvelesiani	Sepahan	2	–	–	–
	Omid Noorafkan	Sepahan	2	–	–	–
	Ramin Rezaeian	Sepahan	2	–	–	–
	Faraz Fatemi	Esteghlal	1	1	–	–
	Ahmad Momenzadeh	Sepahan Esteghlal	1 0	– 1	–	–
	Mahmoud Karimi Sibaki	Sepahan	1	1	–	–
	Nasser Farshbaf	Sepahan	–	2	–	–
	Houshang Loveynian	Sepahan	1	–	–	1
	Mehdi Tartar	Sepahan	–	–	–	2
46	Bruno Correa	Sepahan	–	–	1	–	1
	Mohsen Bengar	Sepahan	–	–	1	–
	Masoud Mojdehi	Esteghlal	1	–	–	–
	Karo Haghverdian	Esteghlal	1	–	–	–
	Mostafa Heydari	Sepahan	1	–	–	–
	Hamid Nadimian	Sepahan	1	–	–	–
	Hassan Ebrahimi	Esteghlal	1	–	–	–
	Reza Saffarpour	Sepahan	1	–	–	–
	Hassan Nazari	Esteghlal	1	–	–	–
	Hadi Naraghi	Esteghlal	1	–	–	–
	Hassan Rowshan	Esteghlal	1	–	–	–
	Amirhossein Shah Zeydi	Sepahan	1	–	–	–
	Rasoul Khorvash	Sepahan	1	–	–	–
	Alireza Rahimi	Sepahan	1	–	–	–
	Taghi Jahani	Sepahan	1	–	–	–
	Ramin Shahmohammadi	Sepahan	1	–	–	–
	Mohammad Javad Nadafi	Esteghlal	1	–	–	–
	Javad Zarincheh	Esteghlal	1	–	–	–
	Ali Akbarian	Esteghlal	1	–	–	–
	Mohammad Taghavi	Esteghlal	1	–	–	–
	Hamid Memarian	Sepahan	1	–	–	–
	Sadegh Varmazyar	Esteghlal	1	–	–	–
	Mehdi Pashazadeh	Esteghlal	1	–	–	–
	Masoud Khademi	Sepahan	1	–	–	–
	Mohsen Garousi	Esteghlal	1	–	–	–
	Ali Latifi	Esteghlal	1	–	–	–
	Behzad Dadashzadeh	Esteghlal	1	–	–	–
	Abdollah Veisi	Sepahan	1	–	–	–
	Mohammad Niksirat	Esteghlal	1	–	–	–
	Davoud Dehghani	Sepahan	1	–	–	–
	Mehdi Hasheminasab	Esteghlal	1	–	–	–
	Sirous Dinmohammadi	Esteghlal	1	–	–	–
	Afshin Hajipour	Sepahan	1	–	–	–
	Saeed Ramezani	Sepahan	1	–	–	–
	Siavash Akbarpour	Esteghlal	1	–	–	–
	Javad Maheri	Sepahan	1	–	–	–
	Omid Ravankhah	Esteghlal	1	–	–	–
	Emad Mohammed	Sepahan	1	–	–	–
	Hashem Beikzadeh	Sepahan	1	–	–	–
	Ahmad Jamshidian	Sepahan	1	–	–	–
	Fabio Januário	Sepahan	1	–	–	–
	Javad Shirzad	Esteghlal	1	–	–	–
	Khosro Heydari	Esteghlal	1	–	–	–
	Arash Afshin	Sepahan	1	–	–	–
	Milad Fakhreddini	Esteghlal	1	–	–	–
	Mehdi Sharifi	Sepahan	1	–	–	–
	Luciano Pereira	Sepahan	1	–	–	–
	Hossein Papi	Sepahan	1	–	–	–
	Omid Ebrahimi	Esteghlal	1	–	–	–
	Farshid Esmaeili	Esteghlal	1	–	–	–
	Jalaleddin Alimohammadi	Sepahan	1	–	–	–
	Mehrdad Mohammadi	Sepahan	1	–	–	–
	Farshid Bagheri	Esteghlal	1	–	–	–
	Ali Ghorbani	Esteghlal	1	–	–	–
	Mame Thiam	Esteghlal	1	–	–	–
	Kiros Stanlley	Sepahan	1	–	–	–
	Ayanda Patosi	Esteghlal	1	–	–	–
	Mehdi Ghayedi	Esteghlal	1	–	–	–
	Mohammad Mohebi	Sepahan	1	–	–	–
	Soroush Rafiei	Sepahan	1	–	–	–
	Reza Mirzaei	Sepahan	1	–	–	–
	Mehdi Mehdipour	Esteghlal	1	–	–	–
	Jafar Salmani	Esteghlal	1	–	–	–
	Mohammad Daneshgar	Esteghlal	1	–	–	–
Yasin Salmani	Sepahan	1	–	–	–
Amir Arsalan Motahari	Esteghlal	1	–	–	–
Reza Asadi	Sepahan	1	–	–	–
Rouzbeh Cheshmi	Esteghlal	1	–	–	–
Masoud Juma	Esteghlal	1	–	–	–
Mehdi Limouchi	Sepahan	1	–	–	–
Mohammad Hossein Eslami	Esteghlal	1	–	–	–
Kaveh Rezaei	Sepahan	1	–	–	–
Mohammad Mehdi Mohebi	Sepahan	1	–	–	–
Wissam Ben Yedder	Sepahan	1	–	–	–
Ali Mousavi	Esteghlal	–	1	–	–
Morteza Hashemizadeh	Sepahan	–	1	–	–
Mohammad Reza Khalatbari	Sepahan	–	1	–	–
Farzad Hatami	Esteghlal	–	1	–	–
Vouria Ghafouri	Esteghlal	–	1	–	–
Ali Karimi	Esteghlal	–	1	–	–
Iman Alami	Esteghlal	–	–	–	1
Abbas Sarkhab	Esteghlal	–	–	–	1
Roger Fabrizio	Esteghlal	–	–	–	1
Aref Haji Eydi	Sepahan	–	–	–	1
Mohammad Reza Azadi	Esteghlal	–	–	–	1

League = "Iranian League" ; Cup = "Hazfi Cup" ; Asia = "AFC Champions League" ; Other = "Friendlies and Exhibitions"

Competition	Player	Club(s)	Goals
League	Amin Mousavi	Sepahan	5
	Moharram Navidkia	Sepahan	5
Hazfi Cup	Levon Stepanyan	Sepahan	4
	Mehdi Seyed-Salehi	Sepahan	4
AFC Champions League	Bruno Correa	Sepahan	1
	Mohsen Bengar	Sepahan	1

Player	Club(s)	Consecutive matches	Total goals in the run	Start	End
Gholamhossein Mazloumi	Esteghlal	3	4	1971–72 Local League (first leg)	1974–75 Takht Jamshid Cup (first leg)

Ahat-trick is achieved when the same player scores three or more goals in one match. Listed in chronological order.

Sequence	Player	No. of goals	Time of goals	Representing	Final score	Opponent	Tournament
1.	Amin Mousavi	3	41', 59', 90+1'	Sepahan	3–1	Esteghlal	1994–95 Azadegan League
2.	Levon Stepanyan	3	17', 48', 55'	Sepahan	4–2	Esteghlal	2001–02 Hazfi Cup

Friendly matches are not included in the following records unless otherwise noted.
ABrace is achieved when the same player scores two goals in one match. Listed in chronological order.

Sequence	Player	No. of goals	Time of goals	Representing	Final score	Opponent	Tournament
1.	Shahrokh Bayani	2	25', 38'	Esteghlal	3–1	Sepahan	1991–92 Azadegan League
3.	Afshin Hajipour	2	10', 32'	Sepahan	3–2	Esteghlal	2002–03 Iran Pro League
4.	Nasser Farshbaf	2	52', 72'	Sepahan	3–0	Esteghlal	2002–03 Hazfi Cup
5.	Moharram Navidkia	2	43', 48'	Sepahan	3–2	Esteghlal	2002–03 Iran Pro League
7.	Mehdi Seyed-Salehi	2	25', 68'	Sepahan	2–0	Esteghlal	2003–04 Hazfi Cup
8.	Rasoul Khatibi	2	62', 84'	Sepahan	2–2	Esteghlal	2004–05 Iran Pro League
9.	Meysam Baou	2	39', 90'	Esteghlal	2–1	Sepahan	2006–07 Persian Gulf Cup
10.	Abdul-Wahab Abu Al-Hail	2	7', 90'	Sepahan	2–1	Esteghlal	2007–08 Persian Gulf Cup
11.	Milad Meydavoudi	2	18', 43'	Esteghlal	4–3	Sepahan	2010–11 Persian Gulf Cup
12.	Milorad Janjuš	2	72', 75'	Sepahan	3–4	Esteghlal	2010–11 Persian Gulf Cup
13.	Server Djeparov	2	36', 47'	Esteghlal	3–0	Sepahan	2017–18 Persian Gulf Pro League

Rank	Head coach	Club	Matches	Win	Draw	Lost	Winning rate
1	Farhad Kazemi	Sepahan	11	8	2	1	73%
2	Mansour Pourheidari	Esteghlal	11	5	2	4	45%
3	Mahmoud Yavari	Sepahan	12	5	2	5	42%
4	Zdravko Rajkov	Esteghlal	7	4	1	2	57%
5	Winfried Schäfer	Esteghlal	4	3	0	1	75%
	Farhad Majidi	Esteghlal	4	3	0	1	75%
7	Nasser Hejazi	Esteghlal Sepahan	7	2 1	1 0	2 1	43%
8	Zlatko Kranjčar	Sepahan	10	3	4	3	33%
9	José Morais	Sepahan	3	3	0	1	75%
10	Yevgeni Skomorokhov	Esteghlal	2	2	0	0	100%
11	Moharram Navidkia	Sepahan	3	2	0	1	66%

^*Ghalenoei has won 7 matches but his losses have been more.he has lost 14 matches.

•    Club holds record in the competition

TheIFFHS Asian Player of the Year is an annual prize presented byInternational Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS). It had originally been the predecessor of the AFC Player of the Year, but was revived in 2020.

TheAFC Player of the Year is an annual prize presented byAsian Football Confederation (AFC). It is awarded to the Asian player who has the best performance at AFC club(s) in a calendar year.

Best Footballer in Asia is an annual association football award organized and presented byTitan Sports. It is awarded to the player who had the best performance for Asian football during the calendar year.

• Football in Iran
• Esteghlal F.C.
• Sepahan F.C.
• Tehran Derby
• El Gilano
• Isfahan Derby
• Mashhad Derby
• Persepolis F.C.–Sepahan S.C. rivalry
• Persepolis F.C.–Tractor S.C. rivalry
• Major football rivalries

• Esteghlal F.C.
• Football derbies in Iran
• Sepahan S.C.
• Esteghlal F.C. matches
• Sepahan S.C. matches

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