2016–17 Persian Gulf Pro League

Persian Gulf Pro League

Season	2016–17
Matches played	80
Goals scored	175 (2.19 per match)
Top goalscorer	Sasan Ansari (9 goals)
Best goalkeeper	Alireza Beiranvand (4 clean sheets)
Biggest home win	Naft Tehran 3–0 Padideh (6 August 2016)
Biggest away win	Mashhad 0–2 Saipa (5 August 2016) Foolad 0–2 Zob Ahan (5 August 2016) Machine Sazi 0–2 Tractor Sazi (11 August 2016)
Highest scoring	Padideh 3–3 Sanat Naft (21 September 2016)
Longest winning run	2 matches Sepahan Sanat Naft Persepolis Tractor Sazi
Longest unbeaten run	10 matches Persepolis Tractor Sazi
Longest losing run	2 matches Esteghlal
Highest attendance	75,000[1] Persepolis – Esteghlal (16 September 2016)
Lowest attendance	0 (spectator ban) Esteghlal – Naft Tehran[2] (25 July 2016)
Total attendance	634,458
Average attendance	8,134
← 2015–16 2017–18 →

2016–17 Persian Gulf Pro League (also known as Iran Pro League) is the 34th season of Iran's Football League and 16th as Iran Pro League since its establishment in 2001. Esteghlal Khuzestan are the defending champions. The season features 13 teams from 2015–16 Persian Gulf Pro League and three new teams promoted from 2015–16 Azadegan League: Paykan as champions, Machine Sazi and Sanat Naft as second and third place teams, respectively. The league started on 25 July 2016.

Teams

Stadia and locations

Saba

Sepahan
Zob Ahan

Foolad
Est. Khuzestan

Sanat Naft

Tractor Sazi
Machine Sazi
Gostaresh

Mashhad
Padideh

Esteghlal
Persepolis
Naft Tehran
Paykan
Saipa

Locations of clubs in 2016–17 Persian Gulf Pro League

Note: Table lists in alphabetical order

Team	City	Venue	Capacity
Esteghlal	Tehran	Azadi	78,116
Esteghlal Khuzestan	Ahvaz	Ghadir	38,960
Foolad	Ahvaz	Ghadir	38,960
Gostaresh	Tabriz	Bonyan Diesel	12,000
Machine Sazi	Tabriz	Bagh Shomal	25,000
Mashhad	Mashhad	Samen	35,000
Naft Tehran	Tehran	Takhti Tehran	30,122
Padideh	Mashhad	Samen	35,000
Paykan	Tehran	Shahr-e Qods	25,000
Persepolis	Tehran	Azadi	78,116
Saba Qom	Qom	Yadegar-e Emam	10,610
Saipa	Tehran	Shahid Dastgerdi	8,250
Sanat Naft	Abadan	Takhti Abadan	8,000
Sepahan	Isfahan	Naghsh-e-Jahan	75,000
Tractor Sazi	Tabriz	Yadegar-e Emam	66,833
Zob Ahan	Isfahan	Foolad Shahr	15,000

Number of teams by region

	Region	Number of teams	Teams
1	Tehran	5	Esteghlal, Persepolis, Naft Tehran, Paykan, Saipa
2	East Azerbaijan	3	Tractor Sazi, Machine Sazi, Gostaresh
2	Khuzestan	3	Esteghlal Khuzestan, Foolad, Sanat Naft
4	Khorasan	2	Mashhad, Padideh
4	Isfahan	2	Sepahan, Zob Ahan
6	Qom	1	Saba Qom

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	Captain	Kit manufacturer
Esteghlal	Alireza Mansourian	Mehdi Rahmati	Li-Ning
Est. Khuzestan	Sirous Pourmousavi	Mohammad Tayyebi	Joma
Foolad	Naeim Saadavi	Mehrdad Jamaati	Uhlsport
Gostaresh	Faraz Kamalvand	Morteza Asadi	Merooj
Machine Sazi	Rasoul Khatibi	Andranik Teymourian	Merooj
Mashhad	Khodadad Azizi (interim)	Meysam Hosseini	Merooj
Naft Tehran	Ali Daei	Alireza Ezzati	Legea
Padideh	Mohammad Reza Mohajeri	Reza Nasehi	Yousef Jame
Paykan	Majid Jalali	Rahman Ahmadi	Yousef Jame
Persepolis	Branko Ivanković	Jalal Hosseini	Joma
Saba Qom	Samad Marfavi	Reza Enayati	Merooj
Sanat Naft	Nader Dastneshan	Hassan Houri
Saipa	Hossein Faraki	Ebrahim Sadeghi	Givova
Sepahan	Abdollah Veisi	Ehsan Hajsafi	Uhlsport
Tractor Sazi	Amir Ghalenoei	Mehdi Kiani	Fitcom
Zob Ahan	Mojtaba Hosseini	Mehdi Rajabzadeh	Joma

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing head coach	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming head coach	Date of appointment
Naft Tehran	Alireza Mansourian	Contract expired	15 May 2016	Pre-season	Ali Daei	5 July 2016
Foolad	Dragan Skočić		16 May 2016		Naeim Saadavi	25 May 2016
Esteghlal Khuzestan	Abdollah Veisi	Mutual contest	23 May 2016		Sirous Pourmousavi	25 May 2016
Esteghlal	Parviz Mazloumi	Sacked	1 June 2016		Alireza Mansourian	1 June 2016
Saba Qom	Ali Daei	Signed by Naft Tehran	3 July 2016		Samad Marfavi	3 July 2016
Zob Ahan	Yahya Golmohammadi	Resigned	24 September 2016	14th	Mojtaba Hosseini	24 September 2016
Mashhad	Farhad Kazemi		27 October 2016	13th	Khodadad Azizi (interim)	28 October 2016

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.

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Asian Player
Esteghlal	Hrayr Mkoyan	Róbson	Leandro Padovani
Esteghlal Khuzestan	Rafael Roballo	Deyvid Sacconi
Foolad	Mathias Chago	Ernest Nfor
Gostaresh	Fernando	Magno Batista	Chimba
Machine Sazi	Edson	Kakhaber Kakashvili	Manu
Mashhad	Andrey	Moussa Traoré
Naft Tehran	Igor Prahić
Padideh	Varazdat Haroyan	Drissa Diarrassouba
Paykan	Levon Hayrapetyan	Godwin Mensha	Halisson
Persepolis	Oleksiy Polyanskyi	Volodymyr Pryyomov	Božidar Radošević
Saba Qom
Saipa	Júnior Lopes	Alessandro
Sanat Naft	Bruno Matos	Rasheed Alabi	Danny Santoya	Kim Gwi-hyeon
Sepahan	Lee Oliveira	Moussa Coulibaly		Pedro Henrique
Tractor Sazi	Edinho			Karrar Jassim
Zob Ahan	Jerry Bengtson			Ali Hamam

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Persepolis	12	7	5	0	13	3	+10	26	2018 AFC Champions League Group stage
2	Tractor Sazi	12	6	6	0	19	8	+11	24
3	Naft Tehran	12	5	4	3	18	16	+2	19	2018 AFC Champions League Play-off round
4	Zob Ahan	12	5	3	4	19	11	+8	18
5	Esteghlal	12	4	6	2	15	11	+4	18
6	Foolad	12	3	7	2	16	14	+2	16
7	Paykan	12	3	7	2	14	14	0	16
8	Sanat Naft	12	4	4	4	13	13	0	16
9	Est. Khuzestan	12	3	6	3	15	15	0	15
10	Sepahan	12	4	3	5	12	14	−2	15
11	Padideh	12	3	6	3	11	15	−4	15
12	Gostaresh	12	2	7	3	9	9	0	13
13	Mashhad	12	2	5	5	10	16	−6	11
14	Saba Qom	12	1	6	5	9	15	−6	9
15	Saipa	12	1	6	5	8	14	−6	9	Relegation to 2017–18 Azadegan League
16	Machine Sazi	12	1	3	8	7	20	−13	6

Updated to games played on 2 December 2016.
Source: IPL Stats
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results

Home ╲ Away

EST

ESK

FOL

GOS

MST

MSH

NAF

PAD

PAY

PRS

SAB

SAP

SNA

SEP

TRK

ZOB

Esteghlal

2–2

1–1

1–1

2–0

1–2

2–1

Est. Khuzestan

2–1

0–0

2–2

2–3

1–1

Foolad

1–1

1–2

4–2

1–0

2–0

2–2

0–2

Gostaresh

0–0

0–1

3–0

0–0

0–1

2–1

0–2

Machine Sazi

1–3

0–0

1–4

0–1

0–2

Mashhad

0–1

1–1

2–2

2–2

0–2

0–1

2–1

Naft Tehran

2–1

3–0

2–0

2–1

0–1

2–1

Padideh

0–0

1–0

1–1

0–0

3–3

Paykan

1–1

0–0

0–0

1–1

3–2

Persepolis

0–0

1–1

1–0

3–0

1–0

1–0

Saba Qom

0–2

0–0

1–1

2–3

1–0

0–0

1–1

Saipa

0–2

1–1

1–1

0–1

1–1

0–0

Sanat Naft

1–1

3–0

1–0

0–0

0–3

Sepahan

3–1

1–1

2–1

0–1

1–1

1–3

Tractor Sazi

2–2

2–2

3–0

1–1

3–1

0–0

2–1

Zob Ahan

2–0

1–1

3–0

1–1

2–0

1–2

Updated to games played on 26 November 2016.
Source: PersianLeague Stats
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For coming matches, an a indicates there is an article about the match.

Positions by round

	Leader : 2018 AFC Champions League Group stage
	2018 AFC Champions League Group stage
	2018 AFC Champions League Third qualifying round
	Relegation to 2017-18 Azadegan League

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
Tractor Sazi	5	7	3	2	2	1	1	2	2	2	1
Persepolis	3	3	1	1	1	2	2	1	1	1	2
Naft Tehran	7	15	6	5	3	4	3	3	3	3	3
Paykan	9	8	14	14	13	14	8	4	7	4	4
Est. Khuzestan	5	1	9	8	9	8	11	5	8	10	11
Sanat Naft	9	10	5	3	4	5	5	6	4	7	10
Esteghlal	7	12	15	15	14	15	10	7	5	5	6
Foolad	13	12	16	16	16	10	12	8	9	9	9
Sepahan	15	6	2	4	6	3	4	9	6	6	7
Zob Ahan	13	12	7	6	8	9	14	10	11	8	5
Mashhad	1	2	10	9	5	6	6	11	13	12	12
Gostaresh	9	10	13	13	15	16	16	12	10	13	13
Saipa	15	15	8	7	7	7	9	13	14	14	15
Saba Qom	9	8	12	12	12	13	7	14	12	15	14
Padideh	3	3	11	11	11	12	13	15	15	11	8
Machine Sazi	2	3	4	10	10	11	15	16	16	16	16

Last updated: 26 November 2016
Source: FIFA.com (English)

Clubs season-progress

W	Win
D	Draw
L	Lose
B	Bye
W/O	Withdrew

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
Persepolis	W	D	W	W	D	D	W	W	D	W	D	W
Tractor Sazi	D	D	W	W	D	W	W	D	D	W	W	D
Naft Tehran	D	L	W	D	W	D	W	L	W	D	W	L
Zob Ahan	L	D	W	D	D	L	L	W	L	W	W	W
Esteghlal	D	L	L	D	D	D	W	W	W	D	D	W
Foolad	L	D	L	D	D	W	D	W	D	D	D	W
Sanat Naft	D	D	W	W	L	D	D	L	W	L	L	W
Paykan	D	D	L	D	D	D	W	W	D	W	D	L
Est. Khuzestan	D	W	L	D	D	D	L	W	D	L	D	W
Sepahan	L	W	W	L	D	W	L	L	W	D	D	L
Padideh	W	D	L	D	D	L	D	L	D	W	W	D
Gostaresh	D	D	L	D	L	D	D	W	D	L	D	W
Mashhad	W	D	L	D	W	D	L	L	L	D	D	L
Saba Qom	D	D	D	L	D	D	W	L	D	L	L	L
Saipa	L	D	W	D	D	D	L	D	L	D	L	L
Machine Sazi	W	D	D	L	D	L	L	L	L	L	L	L

Last updated: 28 November 2016
Source: IranProLeague Stats

Statistics

Top Goalscorers Position Player Club Goals 1 Sasan Ansari Foolad 9 2 Morteza Tabrizi Zob Ahan 8 3 Mohammad Ghazi Naft Tehran 7 4 Rahim Mehdi Zohaivi Esteghlal Khuzestan 6 Mehdi Rajabzadeh Zob Ahan 5 Mohammad Iranpourian Tractor Sazi 5 Godwin Mensha Paykan Luciano Pereira Mendes Gostaresh Foolad Mohammad Shadkam Sanat Naft Éder Luciano Tractor Sazi Mehdi Taremi Persepolis Last updated: 28 November 2016 Source: Soccerway.com Source: PersianLeague.com

Top Assistants Position Player Club Assists Last updated: 13 May 2016 Source: Varzesh3.com Source: Iplstats.com

Clean Sheets Position Player Club Clean Sheets 1 Alireza Beiranvand Persepolis 5 2 Hassan Houri Sanat Naft 3 Mohammadreza Akhbari Tractor Sazi Mehdi Rahmati Esteghlal 4 Fernando de Jesus Ribeiro Gostaresh Foulad 2 Leandro da Silva Oliveira Sepahan Shahab Gordan Padideh 7 Milad Farahani Naft Tehran 1 Vahid Sheikhveisi Esteghlal Khuzestan Alessandro Felipe Oltramari Saipa Manuel Fernández Muñiz Machine Sazi Mohammad Nasseri FC Mashhad Mohammad Rashid Mazaheri Zob Ahan Rahman Ahmadi Paykan Hamed Lak Saba Qom Last Update: 14 September 2016 Source: Iplstats.com

Hat-tricks Player Club Against Result Date

Attendances

Average home attendances

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Persepolis	256,000	75,000	16,000	51,200	+8.8%^†
2	Esteghlal	140,000	55,000	0	35,000	+15.8%^†
3	Est. Khuzestan	40,800	30,000	500	10,200	+100.1%^†
4	Sanat Naft	28,000	8,000	4,000	7,000	+74.2%^†
5	Tractor Sazi	31,100	7,200	5,000	6,220	−29.8%^†
6	Foolad	30,580	25,000	300	5,097	+25.4%^†
7	Sepahan	19,950	13,000	1,200	4,988	+65.7%^†
8	Mashhad	23,450	15,700	1,000	3,908	−8.5%^†
9	Saipa	18,575	16,500	220	3,715	−38.2%^†
10	Paykan	11,960	8,360	100	2,990	+705.9%^†
11	Machine Sazi	8,365	5,000	300	1,673	−52.1%^†
12	Gostaresh	9,486	4,050	100	1,581	−32.4%^†
13	Padideh	6,100	3,100	700	1,525	−60.8%^†
14	Zob Ahan	6,300	3,000	500	1,260	−39.7%^†
15	Naft Tehran	1,922	1,000	200	385	−75.8%^†
16	Saba Qom	1,370	400	150	228	−90.1%^†
	League total	634,458	75,000	0	8,134	+1.0%^†

Updated to games played on 28 October 2016
Source: Iranleague.ir
Notes:
Matches with spectator bans are not included in average attendances
Machine Sazi, Paykan and Sanat Naft played last season in Azadegan League

Attendances by round

Team/Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	Average
Esteghlal	0	A	55,000	A	15,000	A	35,000	A	35,000	A																					35,000
Esteghlal Khuzestan	A	10,000	A	500	A	A	300	A	30,000	A																					10,200
Foolad	2,000	A	2,000	A	300	300	A	980	A	25,000																					5,097
Gostaresh	1,200	A	4,050	A	526	A	100	110	A	3,500																					1,581
Mashin Sazi	A	2,050	A	5,000	A	700	A	315	A	300																					1,673
Naft Tehran	A	322	200	A	1,000	A	200	A	200	A																					385
Padideh	A	3,100	A	A	800	A	700	A	1,500	A																					1,525
Paykan	A	100	A	8,360	A	500	A	3,000	A	A																					2,990
Persepolis	A	50,000	A	50,000	A	75,000	A	16,000	A	65,000																					51,200
Saba Qom	400	A	300	A	200	A	150	A	200	120																					228
Saipa	16,500	A	A	220	A	400	A	1,000	A	455																					3,715
Sanat Naft	A	4,000	A	8,000	A	8,000	A	A	8,000	A																					7,000
Sepahan	2,250	A	3,500	A	1,200	A	13,000	A		A																					4,988
Siah Jamegan	1,600	A	1,450	2,500	A	1,000	A	15,700	A	1,200																					3,980
Tractor Sazi	5,000	A	7,200	A	7,000	A	6,900	A	5,000	A																					6,220
Zob Ahan	A	600	A	500	A	1,500	A	3,000	A	700																					1,260
Total	28,950	70,672	73,700	75,080	26,026	87,400	56,350	40,105	79,900	96,275																					634,458
Average	4,136	8,834	9,213	9,385	3,253	10,925	7,044	5,013	11,414	12,034																					8,134

Notes:
Updated to games played on October 28, 2016. Source: Iranleague.ir
Matches with spectator bans are not included in average attendances
Machine Sazi played their matches against Esteghlal Khuzestan and Gostaresh at Bonyan Dizel
Machine Sazi played their matches against Paykan, Sepahan and Tractor Sazi at Shahid Bakeri
Saipa played their match against Persepolis at Takhti Tehran
Sepahan played their matches against Esteghlal Khuzestan, Padideh, Paykan, Persepolis and Siah Jamegan at Foolad Shahr
Tractor Sazi played their matches against Esteghlal Khuzestan, Foolad, Paykan, Persepolis and Siah Jamegan at Shahid Bakeri

Highest attendances

Rank	Home team	Score	Away team	Attendance	Date	Week	Stadium
1	Persepolis	0–0	Esteghlal	75,000	September 16, 2016	6	Azadi
2	Persepolis	1–0	Sanat Naft	65,000	October 28, 2016	10	Azadi
3	Esteghlal	1–2	Sanat Naft	55,000	August 5, 2016	3	Azadi
4	Persepolis	1–1	Foolad	50,000	August 1, 2016	2	Azadi
4	Persepolis	1–0	Saba Qom	50,000	August 11, 2016	4	Azadi
6	Esteghlal	2–1	Zob Ahan	35,000	September 20, 2016	7	Azadi
6	Esteghlal	2–0	Saipa	35,000	October 21, 2016	9	Azadi
8	Esteghlal Khuzestan	1–1	Persepolis	30,000	October 20, 2016	9	Ghadir
9	Foolad	1–1	Esteghlal	25,000	October 27, 2016	10	Ghadir
10	Saipa	0–1	Persepolis	16,500	July 26, 2016	1	Takhti Tehran

Notes:
Updated to games played on October 28, 2016. Source: Iranleague.ir

See also

• Azadegan League 2016–17
• Iran Football's 2nd Division 2016–17
• Hazfi Cup 2016–17
• Iranian Super Cup
• Futsal Super League 2016–17

References

1. http://iranleague.ir/MatchDetails/11012
2. http://iranleague.ir/MatchDetails/10964