Foolad F.C.

Foolad Khuzestan Football Club was founded on 2 March 1971 in Ahwaz, Iran by at that time, President of the Foolad Khuzestan Company Ali Akbar Davar. Foolad was a team that no one knew anything about until the dissolution of Jonoub Ahwaz in 1996. Foolad won the Ahwaz City Championship in 1991 and entered the 2nd division of the Khuzestan football league two years later.

Foolad won the first group in its debut season and was promoted to the Ahwaz's first league which they won in their debut season as well. This meant they would be promoted to the Khuzestan Provincial Leagues.

In 1995, which was Foolad's second year in the Khuzestan's Second Division, they became provincial champions. That same year Jonoub Ahvaz, was contracted and Foolad took their place in Iran Football's 2nd Division. In 1996, with Homayoun Shahrokhinejad as manager, the team was promoted to the 1st division. It was an amazing run, considering that the team began in the 4th division of the Ahvaz City League in 1986.

Ever since their promotion, the club has introduced very talented young footballers to Iranian football. The team was eventually bought by the Ahwaz Steel Mill, this helped the team's financial situation improve. The team was finally able to use its massive potential and win the IPL in the 2004–05 season but due to some ensuing internal problems and coaching difficulties could not perform well in the 2006 Asian Champions League. Their star player, Iman Mobali was loaned and eventually transferred to Al-Shabab of the UAE Pro League.

After a mediocre 2005–06, Foolad started the 2006–07 season with former Iranian national team coach Mohammad Mayeli Kohan, but he resigned halfway through the season as Foolad had achieved poor results. Youth club coach Nenad Nikolić temporarily replaced him and soon after Portuguese manager Augusto Inácio was named head coach. Foolad went through a terrible 2006–07 season finishing 15th and being relegated to the lower Azadegan League.

Foolad start the 2007–08 season at Azadegan League and won the playoff spot despite their strong leadership until the last weeks. In the playoff, they drew with Payam Mashhad in a two-leg matches and missed the promotion via away goal. A few weeks later they bought the right to play in Persian Gulf Cup from Sepahan Novin and promoted to IPL. Then Majid Jalali was announced as the club's head coach with signing a three years contract where they had an average season with ending the season in the 7th place.

On September 1, 2009, Seifollah Dehkordi was elected as the club's president after previous president Masoud Rezaeian resigned from his position. At that time, Dehkordi was Foolad's vice president and Ahvaz's Football Association president. After the election of Dehkordi, Majid Jalali left the club despite good results. Luka Bonačić was named as Jalali's successor but he could not please the club as he was not able to win a single match in first eight weeks and the club decided to bring Majid Jalali back where they finished the league 10th. At the Jalali's final year as Foolad manager, the club ended the season at the 14th place, the worst since their promotion back to the league.

Foolad players celebrating winning their second IPL title in 2014

After Jalali's contract was not renewed, Naft Tehran manager Hossein Faraki was named as the club's new head coach. He led Foolad to the 4th rank in his first season as the club's manager, gaining an AFC Champions League spot for the second time in the Foolad's history. In the 2013–14 Iran Pro League season, Faraki led the club to their second Iran Pro League title, his team finished with 57 points after defeating Gostaresh on the final match day with a goal from Mehrdad Jamaati in the 37th minute. They finished 2 points clear of second place Persepolis. Five days later, Foolad advanced to the Round of 16 of the AFC Champions League for the first time after they defeated El-Jaish of Qatar. Although Foolad lost to Al Sadd on away goals, they remained the only team in the competition not to lose a game.

On 23 May 2014, Faraki resigned as the manager of the club, due to knee problems, despite two good seasons with Foolad. Dragan Skočić was named as his successor on the following day.

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 Shahab Gordan 2 DF  IRN Mehdi Shiri 3 FW  IRN Sasan Ansari (ViceCaptain) 4 DF  IRN Ayoub Vali (captain) 6 DF  IRN Sina Shahabbasi U23 7 FW  IRN Majid Aliyari 8 MF  IRN Hamid Bou Hamdan 9 FW  AZE Ali Ghorbani 13 MF  IRN Mohammad Abshak 14 MF  IRN Ehsan Pahlevan 17 MF  IRN Mohammad Reza GhobeishaviU23 18 MF  IRN Alireza BaviehU21 20 DF  IRN Mojtaba Najjarian U25 21 DF  IRN Mohammad Nejad Mehdi

No. Pos. Nation Player 22 GK  IRN Ali GholamzadehU23 23 FW  IRN Alireza KoushkiU23 24 MF  IRN Ashkan Dejagah 25 GK  AUT Christopher Knett 30 FW  JPN Yukiya Sugita 31 MF  ESP Roberto Torres 33 DF  IRN Aref Aghasi 35 DF  IRN Mohammad Amin HazbaviU19 50 DF  IRN Vahid Heydarieh 70 MF  IRN Saeed Vasei 15 MF  BRA Lucas Candido 73 DF  IRN Sina Moridi 77 DF  IRN Saeid Aghaei 91 FW  ESP Álex Alegría 99 FW  IRN Younes DelfiU23

For recent transfers, see List of Iranian football transfers summer 2022.

Name	Position
Head Coach	Juan Ignacio Martínez
Assistant coaches	Mohammad Khoramgah Hossein Kazemi Ahmad Aleneme
Goalkeeping coaches	Nader Ghobeishavi
Athletic coach	Manel Benavente
Fitness coach	Raul López Marin
Team doctor	Akbar Moradi
Physiotherapist	Payam Ahmadi
Masseurs	Behnam Taghizadeh Iman Saeedi
Media officer	Soheil Ehyaei
Team manager	Mohammad Alavi

• Last updated: 11 August 2022
• Source: Coaching staff

• Last updated: 15 March 2023
• Source: Board of Directors

• Persian Gulf Pro League:
  • Winners (2): 2004–05, 2013–14
• Hazfi Cup:
  • Winners (1): 2020–21
• Iranian Super Cup:
  • Winners (1): 2021