The 2018–19 Persian Gulf Pro League (formerly known as Iran Pro League) was the 36th season of Iran's Football League and 18th as Persian Gulf Pro League since its establishment in 2001. Persepolis were the defending champions. The season featured 13 teams from the 2017–18 Persian Gulf Pro League and two new teams promoted from the 2017–18 Azadegan League: Naft Masjed Soleyman as champions and Nassaji Mazandaran. Machine Sazi replaced Gostaresh. The league started on 26 July 2018 and ended on 16 May 2019. Persepolis won the Pro League title for the fifth time in their history, a total 12th Iranian title.
Teams
Stadia and locations
TeamLocationStadiumCapacityEsteghlalTehranAzadi78,116Esteghlal KhuzestanAhvazGhadir38,900FooladAhvazGhadir Foolad Arena38,900 30,655Machine SaziTabrizBonyan Diesel12,000Naft Masjed SoleymanMasjed SoleymanBehnam Mohammadi8,000Nassaji MazandaranQaem ShahrVatani15,000PadidehMashhadImam Reza27,700Pars Jonoubi JamJamTakhti Jam15,000PaykanShahr-e QodsShahre Qods25,000PersepolisTehranAzadi78,116SaipaTehranDastgerdi8,250Sanat NaftAbadanTakhti Abadan10,000SepahanIsfahanNaghsh-e-Jahan75,000SepidroodRashtSardar Jangal15,000Tractor SaziTabrizSahand66,833Zob AhanFooladshahrFooladshahr15,000
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. TeamManagerCaptainKit manufacturerEsteghlal Farhad Majidi (caretaker) Mehdi Rahmati Li-NingEst. Khuzestan Mohammad Alavi Ahmad Alenemeh Li-NingFoolad Afshin Ghotbi Ayoub Vali UhlsportMachine Sazi Mohammad Reza Mohajeri Esmaeil Farhadi MeroojNaft MIS Firouz Karimi Milad Meydavoudi MeroojNassaji Majid Jalali Mohammad Abbaszadeh UhlsportPadideh Yahya Golmohammadi Reza Nasehi Yousef JamePars Jonoubi Mehdi Tartar Mohammad Nouri MeroojPaykan Hossein Faraki Arman Ghasemi Yousef JamePersepolis Branko Ivanković Jalal Hosseini Li-NingSaipa Ebrahim Sadeghi (caretaker) Roozbeh Shahalidoost StartSanat Naft Paulo Sérgio Hossein Baghlani MeroojSepahan Amir Ghalenoei Rasoul Navidkia StartSepidrood Nader Dastneshan Hossein Kaebi MeroojTractor Sazi Georges Leekens Masoud Shojaei MeroojZob Ahan Alireza Mansourian Ghasem Haddadifar Merooj
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing head coachManner of departureDate of vacancyPosition in tableIncoming head coachDate of appointment Sepahan Mansour EbrahimzadehContract expired Pre-season Amir Ghalenoei Esteghlal Khuzestan Abdollah Veisi Dariush Yazdi Padideh Mohammad Reza Mohajeri Yahya Golmohammadi 4 June 2018 Tractor Sazi Ertuğrul Sağlam Signed by Kayserispor John Toshack 9 June 2018 Zob Ahan Amir Ghalenoei Signed by Sepahan Omid Namazi 24 May 2018 Sanat Naft Faraz Kamalvand Contract Expired Paulo Sérgio Sepidrood Ali KarimiResigned Khodadad Azizi Naft MIS Mahmoud Fekri Abdollah Veisi Sepidrood Khodadad Azizi 16th Ali Karimi Machine Sazi Firouz KarimiSacked 13th Mohammad Reza Mohajeri Foolad Sirous Pourmousavi 9th Ilie Stan Naft MIS Abdollah Veisi 15th Alireza Marzban Tractor Sazi John Toshack Resigned 6th Mohammad Taghavi Zob Ahan Omid NamaziSacked 11th Alireza Mansourian Esteghlal Khuzestan Dariush Yazdi 16th Karim Boostani Foolad Ilie Stan 13th Afshin Ghotbi Paykan Majid JalaliResigned 8th Hossein Faraki Nassaji Mazandaran Javad Nekounam 10th Majid Jalali Tractor Sazi Mohammad Taghavi 4th Georges Leekens Esteghlal Khuzestan Karim Boostani 16th Mohammad Alavi Naft MIS Ali Marzban Sacked 14th Firouz Karimi Esteghlal Winfried Schäfer 3rd Farhad Majidi (caretaker) Saipa Ali Daei 8th Ebrahim Sadeghi (caretaker)
Foreign players
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 Players Esteghlal Isma Godwin Mensha Ayanda Patosi Humam Tariq Markus Neumayr Alhaji Gero Esteghlal Khuzestan Foolad Chimba Raphaël Messi Bouli Zié Diabaté Takafumi Akahoshi Tartá Neguete Machine Sazi Fernando Jesus Jai Quitongo Maximilien Elimbi Harry Forrester Naft MIS Moussa Coulibaly Nassaji Giorgi Gvelesiani Lasha Totadze Arfang Daffé Padideh Carlos Chavarría Pars Jonoubi Jam Paykan Magno Batista Marko Vukčević Persepolis Božidar Radošević Mario Budimir Bashar Resan Godwin Mensha Saipa Samuel Sarfo Sanat Naft Jonathan Balotelli Vinícius Macoumba Kandji Aziz Sydykov Platini Karrar Jassim Sepahan Kiros Vladimir Koman Sepidrood Luka Nozadze Roman Chachua Tractor Sazi Anthony Stokes Kévin Constant Lee Erwinتراکتور همچنان در انتظار بازگشت لی اروین Yukiya Sugita Harry Forrester Zob Ahan Marion Christian Osaguona Eddie Hernández
League table
Results
Positions by round
Season statistics Top scorers
RankPlayerClubGoals1 Luciano Pereira Foolad16 Kiros Stanlley Sepahan3 Ali Alipour Persepolis144 Anthony Stokes Tractor Sazi115 Amin Ghaseminejad Padideh10 Younes Shakeri Padideh7 Issa Alekasir Paykan88 Mehrdad Bayrami Sepidrood6 Ashkan Dejagah Tractor Sazi Mehrdad Mohammadi Sepahan Amir Arsalan Motahari Zob Ahan
Hat-tricks PlayerForAgainstResultDate Anthony Stokes Tractor Sazi Esteghlal Khuzestan 6–0 (H) Lee Erwin Tractor Sazi Zob Ahan 4–1 (H) Jonathan Balotelli Sanat Naft Foolad 4–1 (A)
Clean sheets
RankPlayerClubClean sheets1 Alireza Beiranvand Persepolis162 Payam Niazmand Sepahan153 Mohsen Forouzan Tractor Sazi144 Mohammad Rashid Mazaheri Zob Ahan12 Mehdi Rahmati Esteghlal6 Hamed Fallahzadeh Saipa10 Hamed Lak Nassaji8 Yousef Behzadi Padideh9 Milad Farahani Naft MIS / Padideh
Scoring
Attendances
Average home attendances
Attendances by round Team/Round123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930AverageEsteghlal28,000A78,000A30,000AA70,000A37,000A44,000A12,000AA21,000A16,000A15,00017,000A17,000A17,000A10,000A15,00028,467Esteghlal KhuzestanA1009,000A200A100A100A600A8,500A70080AA500A200A400A2,000A100A20A1,507Foolad1,800AA1,000A450A300A500A500A2,060AA26,0004,000A40,000A23,000A12,000A5,300A2,700A2,0008,107Machine Sazi300A400A710A620A1,450A4,100A4,0006,500AA150A800A5,500A1,100A420A400AA1,0001,830Naft MIS7,000A5,000AA10,000A2,000A5,500A2,500A4,500AA5,000A7,0003,500A4,000A1,850A5,000A5,000A5,0004,857Nassaji6,000A12,000A11,000A15,0009,000A11,000A10,000A12,000AA9,000A11,000A12,400AA12,000A7,000A8,000A8,00010,227Padideh21,000A2,100A7,150A14,000A7,500A12,000A10,500A20,200A6,000A17,000A22,000A7,500A5,400A33,000A25,000A14,023Pars Jonoubi JamA4,000A13,000A5,000A2,500A3,000A3,000A2,130A3,500A1,500A2,700A1,600A2,000A2,700A1,500A20,0004,542PaykanA300A200A151A852AA4,841A300A9107,000A3,700A620A50A12,600180A125A315A2,143PersepolisA50,000A40,000A23,50015,000A13,000A23,000A45,000A38,00020,000A30,000A20,000AA81,000A47,000A90,000A57,000A39,500Saipa800A350A600A150A8,00013,560A200A350AA230A8,770A273A430AA600A750A5002,371Sanat NaftANCA2,0006,000A5,200ANCA1,472A2,200A1,5003,000A3,000AA1,500A3,000A2,000A4,000A7,600A3,267SepahanNCA15,000A9,000A8,500A10,000A16,20050,000A38,000AANCA12,100A12,000A11,200A60,000AA12,000A13,00020,538SepidroodA4,500A2,590A3,900AA6,000A5,000A5,600A14,0005,000A2,200A3,000A7,4503,000A7,500A8,000A7,000A5,649Tractor SaziANCA60,165A35,610A41,000A43,000A70,000AA70,00030,000A80,000A46,000A29,700A40,000A40,000A60,00012,000A46,963Zob AhanA10,000A7,500A500A500A300AA800A1,500580A1,200A320A100A730A15,0002,300A400A2,782Total64,90068,900121,850126,45564,66079,11158,570126,15246,050113,86067,213180,20076,90077,540146,81069,16067,380125,60073,170116,14068,87382,900107,63098,180124,500105,400137,92599,950109,33564,5002,869,814Average9,27111,48315,23115,8078,0839,8897,32115,7696,57914,2338,40222,5259,6139,69318,3518,6459,62615,7009,14614,5188,60910,36313,45412,27315,56311,57517,24112,49413,6678,06312,212
Notes:Updated to games played on 16 March 2019. Source: Iranleague.ir Matches with spectator bans are not included in average attendances Esteghlal Khuzestan played their matches against Foolad and Nassaji at Foolad Arena Machine Sazi played their matches against Esteghlal Khuzestan and Tractor Sazi at Sahand Saipa played their matches against Esteghlal and Persepolis at Takhti Tehran Saipa played their matches against Foolad, Nassaji, Paykan, Padideh, Sanat Naft, Sepahan and Tractor Sazi at Shohada Shahr-e Qods Sepahan played their match against Tractor Sazi at Foolad Shahr
Highest attendances Rank Home team Score Away team Attendance Date Week Stadium1 Persepolis 0–0Sepahan 90,000 27 Azadi2 Persepolis 1–0Esteghlal 81,000 23 Azadi3 Tractor Sazi 1–0Esteghlal 80,000 18 Sahand4 Esteghlal 3–0Tractor Sazi78,000 3 Azadi5 Esteghlal 0–0Persepolis 70,000 8 AzadiTractor Sazi 4–1Zob Ahan 70,000 12 SahandTractor Sazi 1–2Foolad 70,000 15 Sahand8 Tractor Sazi 1–0Saipa 60,165 4 Sahand9Sepahan 0–1Esteghlal 60,000 25 Naghsh-e JahanTractor Sazi 1–1Persepolis 60,000 28 Sahand Notes:Updated to games played on 16 March 2019. Source: Iranleague.ir
Awards IFLO Seasonal awards RecipientBest Player Alireza Beiranvand (Persepolis)Best Young Player Allahyar Sayyadmanesh (Esteghlal)Fair Player Payam Niazmand (Sepahan)Fair Play Club PaykanBest Goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand (Persepolis)Best Defender Jalal Hosseini (Persepolis)Best Midfielder Mehdi Kiani (Sepahan)Best Goalscorer Luciano Pereira (Foolad) Kiros Stanlley (Sepahan)Best Coach Branko Ivanković (Persepolis)Best Football Club Persepolis
Navad Monthly awards MonthManager of the MonthPlayer of the MonthReferencesManagerClubPlayerClubAugust (Mordad) Yahya GolmohammadiPadideh Mohammad KarimiSepahanSeptember (Shahrivar) Amir GhalenoeiSepahan Kiros StanlleySepahanOctober (Mehr)November Aban Winfried SchäferEsteghlal Amin Ghaseminejad Mohammad GhaseminejadPadidehDecember (Azar)February (Bahman) Winfried SchäferEsteghlal Ayanda PatosiEsteghlalMarch (Esfand)April (Farvardin) Branko IvankovićPersepolis Luciano PereiraFooladMay (Ordibehesht) Paulo SergioSanat Naft Luciano PereiraFoolad
See also 2018–19 Azadegan League 2018–19 League 2 2018–19 League 3 2018–19 Hazfi Cup 2018 Iranian Super Cup
References