The 2015–16 Persian Gulf Pro League (formerly known as Iran Pro League) was the 33rd season of Iran's Football League and 15th as Persian Gulf Pro League since its establishment in 2001. Sepahan were the defending champions. The season featured 14 teams from the 2014–15 Persian Gulf Cup and two new teams promoted from the 2014–15 Azadegan League: Siah Jamegan and Esteghlal Ahvaz. The league started on 30 July 2015 and ended on 13 May 2016. Esteghlal Khuzestan won the Pro League title for the first time in their history (total first Iranian title). Mehdi Taremi of Persepolis was the top scorer with 16 goals.
Teams
Stadia and locations
Note: Table lists in alphabetical order TeamCityVenueCapacity Esteghlal Tehran Azadi 95,225 Esteghlal Ahvaz Ahvaz Takhti Ahvaz 10,000 Esteghlal Khuzestan Ahvaz Ghadir 38,960 Foolad Ahvaz Ghadir 38,960 Gostaresh Tabriz Bonyan Dizel 12,000 Malavan Anzali Takhti Anzali 8,000 Naft Tehran Tehran Takhti Tehran 30,122 Padideh Mashhad Samen 35,000 Persepolis Tehran Azadi 95,225 Rah Ahan Tehran Shahr-e Qods 25,000 Saba Qom Qom Yadegar-e Emam 10,610 Saipa Tehran Shahid Dastgerdi 8,250 Sepahan Isfahan Foolad Shahr 15,000 Siah Jamegan Mashhad Samen 35,000 Tractor Sazi Tabriz Sahand 66,833 Zob Ahan Isfahan Foolad Shahr 15,000
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 CaptainKit manufacturerEsteghlal Parviz Mazloumi Mehdi Rahmati 361 DegreesEst. Ahvaz Siavash Bakhtiarizadeh Adel Kolahkaj GivovaEst. Khuzestan Abdollah Veisi Mohammad Tayyebi StartFoolad Dragan Skočić Leonard Mesarić UhlsportGostaresh Faraz Kamalvand Morteza Asadi MeroojMalavan Mohammad Ahmadzadeh Pejman Nouri GivovaNaft Tehran Alireza Mansourian Alireza Ezzati UhlsportPadideh Mohammad Reza Mohajeri Hossein Badamaki PeakPersepolis Branko Ivanković Alireza Nourmohammadi UhlsportRah Ahan Ioannis Topalidis Bahador Abdi GivovaSaba Qom Ali Daei Abolfazl Ebrahimi Daei SportSaipa Saeid Rajabi (caretaker) Ebrahim Sadeghi GivovaSepahan Ghasem Zaghinejad (interim) Moharram Navidkia JomaSiah Jamegan Farhad Kazemi Reza Enayati GivovaTractor Sazi Amir Ghalenoei Mehdi Kiani KelmeZob Ahan Yahya Golmohammadi Mehdi Rajabzadeh Legea
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing head coachManner of departureDate of vacancyPosition in tableIncoming head coachDate of appointment Padideh Alireza Marzban Resigned Pre-season Mohammad Reza Mohajeri Saba Qom Mehdi Tartar Sacked Ali Daei Siah Jamegan Rasoul Khatibi Resigned 15th Farhad Kazemi Rah Ahan Farhad Kazemi Sacked 13th Mehdi Tartar Esteghlal Ahvaz Siavash Bakhtiarizadeh Sacked 15th Ali Hanteh Sepahan Hossein Faraki Mutual consent 6th Igor Štimac Tractor Sazi Toni Mutual consent 9th Amir Ghalenoei Esteghlal Ahvaz Ali Hanteh Mutual consent 16th Siavash Bakhtiarizadeh Malavan Hamid Estili Resigned 12th Mohammad Ahmadzadeh Rah Ahan Mehdi Tartar Sacked 15th Ioannis Topalidis Sepahan Igor Štimac Resigned 11th Abdollah Veisi Saipa Majid Jalali Sacked 10th Hossein Faraki
Foreign players The number of foreign players is restricted to four per Iran 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 Esteghlal Hrayr Mkoyan Pero Pejić Adil Chihi Esteghlal Ahvaz Luiz Fernando Sandi Šahman Esteghlal Khuzestan Fernando Moussa Coulibaly Eduardo Ferreira Fellipe Bertoldo Foolad Leonard Mesarić Mathias Chago Dorge Kouemaha Gostaresh Magno Batista Leo Pimenta Georgi Georgiev Malavan Naft Tehran Padideh Persepolis Luka Marić Michael Umaña Jerry Bengtson Alexander Lobanov Rah Ahan Athos Solomou Sebastian Strandvall Saba Qom Filipe Machado Saipa Ratko Dujković Sepahan Leandro Padovani Luciano Pereira Senijad Ibričić Fozil Musaev Siah Jamegan Kyle Konwea Alagie Sosseh Korede Aiyegbusi Tractor Sazi Augusto Carlos Cardoso Aloys Nong Zob Ahan Ali Hamam Walid Ismail
League table
Results
Positions by round
Clubs season-progress
Season statistics
Top goalscorers
RankPlayerClubGoals1 Mehdi Taremi Persepolis162 Mohammad Ebrahimi Gostaresh Foulad113 Omid Ebrahimi Esteghlal10 Mehrdad Mohammadi Rah Ahan5 Sasan Ansari Foolad9 Hassan Beyt Saeed Esteghlal Khuzestan7 Jaber Ansari Esteghlal7 Jerry Bengtson Persepolis Mohammad Iranpourian Tractor Sazi Aloys Nong Tractor Sazi Gholamreza Rezaei Saipa Sajjad Shahbazzadeh Esteghlal Morteza Tabrizi Zob Ahan Mohsen Yousefi Padideh Rahim Zohaivi Esteghlal Khuzestan Last updated: 13 May 2016 Source: Soccerway.com Source: Iplstats.com
Hat-tricks
PlayerClubAgainstResultDate Mohammad Ebrahimi Gostaresh Zob Ahan 4–3 Sasan Ansari Foolad Est. Ahvaz 3–2
Clean sheets
RankPlayerClubClean sheets1 Fernando de Jesus Esteghlal Khuzestan172 Mohammad Rashid Mazaheri Zob Ahan133 Mohammadreza Akhbari Tractor Sazi124 Mehdi Rahmati Esteghlal115 Alireza Beiranvand Naft Tehran96 Hamed Lak Saba Qom8 Sosha Makani Persepolis Mojtaba Roshangar Padideh9 Mohsen Forouzan Rah Ahan7 Georgi Georgiev Gostaresh Foulad11 Hamed Fallahzadeh Saipa6 Shahab Gordan Sepahan Serghei Pașcenco Malavan Last Update: 13 May 2016 Source: Iplstats.com
Scoring
First goal of the season: Sajjad Shahbazzadeh for Esteghlal against Siah Jamegan (30 July 2015) Fastest goal of the season: 56 seconds, Jalaleddin Alimohammadi for Saba Qom against Naft Tehran (6 August 2015) Latest goal of the season: 96 minutes, Mohammad Ghazi for Saba Qom against Esteghlal Khuzestan (14 September 2015) Largest winning margin: 5 goals Rah Ahan 5–0 Esteghlal Ahvaz (16 October 2015) Tractor Sazi 5–0 Esteghlal Ahvaz (13 May 2016) Highest scoring game: 8 goals Tractor Sazi 4–4 Zob Ahan (27 October 2015) Most goals scored in a match by a losing team: 3 goals Gostaresh Foulad 4–3 Zob Ahan (31 March 2016)
Awards
Team of the Season
Goalkeeper: Mohammad Rashid Mazaheri (Zob Ahan) Defence: Sadegh Moharrami (Perspolis), Majid Hosseini (Esteghlal), Jalal Hosseini (Perspolis), Mohammad Ansari (Perspolis) Midfield: Server Djeparov (Esteghlal), Omid Ebrahimi (Esteghlal), Mohammad Reza Hosseini (Zob Ahan) Attack: Mehdi Torabi (Saipa), Ali Alipour (Perspolis), Vahid Amiri (Perspolis)
Player of the Season
Mehdi Torabi was awarded as the best player of the season. Ali Gholizadeh was also awarded as the best young player of the season.
Other awards
Branko Ivankovic was awarded as the best coach of the season. Mohammad Rashid Mazaheri won the best Goalkeeper award. Jalal Hosseini won the best Defender award. Omid Ebrahimi won the best Midfielder award. Ali Alipour won the best Striker award.
Attendances
Average home attendances
Attendances by round Team/Round123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930AverageEsteghlalA30,00035,000A14,000A11,000A2,500A90,000A11,000A6,5005,000AA12,000A70,000A28,000A38,000A15,000A85,000A30,200Esteghlal AhvazA1,100A6,000AA370A200A500A1,500A500600A200A550800A200A1,500A10,800ANCA1,773Esteghlal KhuzestanA6,000A300A200A350A210A450A250A2,000A5,000A5,000A1,100A17,000A3,250A350A35,0005,097Foolad3,100A2,000A13,000NCA1,200A400A18,000ANCAA200A6,000AA4,000A2,500A2,000A350A504,062GostareshA6,500A520A2,000A214AA60A650A225100A186A528A624A2,0002,500A4,000A15,000A2,340Malavan4,656A4,200A1,600A2,832A5,000A700A5,000A1,200A5,300ANCA2,000A3,200A10,000A5,000A7,221A4,136Naft TehranA500A990A100AA200A200A12,200A2001,200A100A7,650A13070A100A200A70A1,594PadidehA2,500A5,000A3,000A22,000A550A700AA1,50018,000A1,500A2,000A351A230A250A200586A3,891Persepolis18,000AA25,000A11,000A35,000A9,000A9,000A4,500AA40,00077,000A80,000A80,000ANCA100,000A80,000A90,00047,036Rah AhanA525A1,000A500A250A250AA500A11,800200A2,500A300A35,000A47A250123A57A3,553Saba Qom890A200A1,500A4,000A350A2,5002,500A200AA1,000A100A1,850A15,000A500AA250A4,0002,323Saipa250A300A500A300300A350A500A210AA289A70A77,000AA950A200A9,000A806,020Sepahan2,200A12,5003,500A3,500A1,500A8,500A2,200A800AA3,500AA3,500A600A1,400A500A700A2503,010Siah Jamegan25,000A2,000A1,500A1,830A18,000A120A450200AA268A900A3,580A600A411A1,250AA8,0004,274Tractor Sazi20,000A8,200A7,000A20,000ANC2,500A9,500A7,000AA1,350A5,000A10,000ANCAA10,800A2,000A12,0008,873Zob AhanA6,000AA1,500A800A400A520A500A1,900350A6,5008,000A1,000A200A2,300A1,000A400A2,091Total74,09653,12564,40042,31040,60020,30041,13260,81426,65021,76094,60042,85031,80013,16023,82527,45051,90792,98632,07099,528166,230121,80547,27024,12755,311117,25037,37392,850108,334149,3801,875,293Average9,2626,6418,0505,2895,0752,9005,1427,6023,8072,72011,8255,3563,9751,8802,9783,4316,48811,6234,58112,44120,77915,2266,7533,4476,91414,6564,67211,60615,47618,6738,048
Notes:Updated to games played on 13 May 2016. Source: Iranleague.ir Matches with spectator bans are not included in average attendances Esteghlal Ahvaz played their matches against Esteghlal and Siah Jamegan at Ghadir Foolad played their match against Gostaresh at Takhti Ahvaz Gostaresh played their matches against Persepolis and Tractor Sazi at Sahand Rah Ahan played their match against Esteghlal at Azadi Saipa played their match against Esteghlal at Takhti Tehran Saipa played their match against Persepolis at Azadi
Highest attendances Rank Home team Score Away team Attendance Date Week Stadium1 Persepolis 4–2Esteghlal 100,000 26 Azadi2 Esteghlal1–1Persepolis 90,000 11 AzadiPersepolis 2–1Rah Ahan 90,000 30 Azadi4 Esteghlal 2–3Tractor Sazi 85,000 29 Azadi5 Persepolis 1–0Foolad 80,000 20 AzadiPersepolis 1–1Tractor Sazi 80,000 22 AzadiPersepolis 0–2Naft Tehran 80,000 28 Azadi8 Persepolis 2–2Sepahan 77,000 18 AzadiSaipa 1–1Persepolis 77,000 21 Azadi10 Esteghlal 2–1Gostaresh 70,000 21 Azadi Notes:Updated to games played on 13 May 2016. Source: Iranleague.ir
See also 2015–16 Azadegan League 2015–16 Iran Football's 2nd Division 2015–16 Iran Football's 3rd Division 2015–16 Hazfi Cup Iranian Super Cup 2015–16 Iranian Futsal Super League
References