Saba Qom F.C.

Saba Qom
صبای قم

Full name	Saba Qom Football Club
Founded	1974 (as Mohemmat Sazi Artesh); 42 years ago
Ground	Yadegar Emam Stadium, Qom
Capacity	10,610
Chairman	Reza Mousavi
Head Coach	Samad Marfavi
League	Persian Gulf Pro League
2015–16	Persian Gulf Pro League, 7th
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours

Saba Qom Football Club (Persian: باشگاه فوتبال صبای قم‎‎) is an Iranian football team based in Qom, Iran and currently plays in the Persian Gulf Pro League. The team is a former part of Saba Battery Club, owned by Saba Battery Co., and was moved to Qom in 2007, although they were formerly registered as a team from Tehran playing at Shahid Derakhshan Stadium of Robat Karim.

Saba won the 2005 edition of the Hazfi Cup and the 2005 edition of the Iranian Super Cup under Iranian football legend Ali Daei.

History

Mohemmat sazi Football Club (Persian: باشگاه فوتبال مهمات سازی‎‎) was Iranian football club based in Tehran, Iran. They play in the 2nd Division.

Establishment

In 1974 a football called Mohemat Sazi was established in Tehran. The team never had any major success and only played in the lower leagues of the Iranian football league system. They came close to making it to Tehran's top football league in the 1980s. In the early 1990s the club was sponsored by a company named Maham. During the later stages of the club's history they were sponsored by Sanam, an electronics company.

Takeover

In 2002 the club's shares were sold to Saba Battery Company (also known as Niru Company) which is under the control of Iran's Ministry of Defense. Due to the club's greatly improved financial status the team was able to purchase talented players and were promoted to the Iran Pro League in 2004. ^[1]

Domestic Titles

2004–2005

In the first year of participation in Iran Pro League, Saba Battery managed to participate in the AFC Champions League for the first time ever, After becoming champions of the Hazfi Cup under Milan Živadinović. In the 2005 season Saba Battery also won the Iranian Super Cup, defeating Foolad the Iran Pro League champion 4–0. ^[2] And until 2016 they remained the only team to have the title. ^{[3] [4]}

2006–2007

Although Saba Battery did not have a successful year in Iran Pro League, they were competitive in the Hazfi Cup. Saba Battery became Runners-up after losing to Sepahan 4–2 in aggregate, with Mohammad Hossein Ziaei. Since Sepahan became 5th in the Iran Pro League, that meant that Saba Battery won't be going to AFC Champions League.

Iran Pro League

The team debuted in the Iran Pro League in the 2004–05 season and made the headlines when they signed Iranian legend and FIFA all-time greatest international goalscorer Ali Daei from Persepolis. With the help of Daei the team was able to secure a berth for the Asian Champions League after winning the 2005 Hazfi Cup, however failing to make it out of their group. In the same year Saba won the Iranian Super Cup defeating league champions Foolad 4–0. After the departure of Ali Daei in 2006, Saba signed former Bosnia and Herzegovina international Alen Avdić as his replacement. In 2007 Saba once again made the final of the Hazfi Cup, this time losing 4–0 to Sepahan on aggregate.

Move to Qom

In 2008 Saba relocated to Qom because the city of Tehran had many football teams with low attendance figures. The team was renamed Saba Qom after the move. Saba was one of the few teams of the league in 2008–09 season which did not change managers during the season and finished in 6th position at the end of the season something that happened again in the next season. In the 2011–12 Persian Gulf Cup, Saba Qom finished 4th securing a play-off spot for the 2013 AFC Champions League. In the play-off Saba lost to Al Shabab on penalties and failed to qualify to the group stage.

Ali Daei Era

In July 2015 Saba announced that legendary former Iranian footballer and coach Ali Daei would lead the club for the 2015–16 Persian Gulf Pro League season. Daei attracted several former national team players to the club, namely: Hamed Lak, Ghasem Dehnavi, Amir Hossein Sadeghi, Reza Haghighi, Mohammad Ghazi and Hashem Beikzadeh. Saba started well and were within contention of an AFC Champions League in the first half of the season, but in the second half they faltered and eventually finished in seventh place.

Season-by-season

For details on seasons, see List of Saba Qom F.C. seasons

The table below chronicles the achievements of Saba Qom in various competitions since 2002.

Season	League	Position	Hazfi Cup	AFC	Notes
2002–03	Azadegan League	6th	Did not enter	Did not enter
2003–04	Azadegan League	1st	Did not enter	Did not qualify	Promoted
2004–05	Iran Pro League	9th	Cup	Did not qualify
2005–06	Iran Pro League	4th	Semi-final	Group stage
2006–07	Iran Pro League	13th	Final	Did not qualify
2007–08	Iran Pro League	3rd	Quarter-final	Did not qualify
2008–09	Iran Pro League	6th	Semi-final	Group stage
2009–10	Iran Pro League	6th	Quarter-final	Did not qualify
2010–11	Iran Pro League	10th	Round of 32	Did not qualify
2011–12	Iran Pro League	4th	Quarter-final	Did not qualify
2012–13	Iran Pro League	9th	Round of 16	Play-off
2013–14	Iran Pro League	9th	Round of 32	Did not qualify
2014–15	Persian Gulf Pro League	9th	Round of 32	Did not qualify
2015–16	Persian Gulf Pro League	7th	Round of 16	Did not qualify

Kit Manufacturer History

List of Kit Manufacturers since 2005 including the sponsor.

Period	Kit provider	Sponsor
2005–06	Majid	NA
2006–07
2007–08
2008–09
2009–10	Daei Sport	SSEZ
2010–11		Varna
2011–12	Majid	Vegal
2012–13		Lojix
2013–14		Adakele
2014–15	Merooj	Azar Khodro

Club chairmen

Abbas Moradi (2002) Mojtaba Tabatabaei (2002–03) Ahmad Shahryari (2003–08) Ebrahim Torki (2008) Karimi Malahi (2008–09) Seyed Ali Zahedi (2009–10) Mojtaba Ramezan Beygi (2010–12) Mohammad Reza Keshvari Fard (2012–14) Abbas Jahanbin (2014–15) Reza Mousavi (2015–present)

Club managers

Name	Nat	From	To
Parviz Mazloomi		2002	2004
Milan Živadinović		2004	2005
Majid Jalali		2005	2005
Mohammad Hossein Ziaei		2005	2006
Farhad Kazemi		2006	2006
Mohammad Hossein Ziaei		2006	2008
Yahya Golmohammadi		2008	2008
Firouz Karimi		2008	2009
Mohammad Hossein Ziaei		2009	2009
Rasoul Korbekandi		2009	2010
Mahmoud Yavari		2010	2010
Abdollah Veysi		2010	2012
Yahya Golmohammadi		2012	2012
Samad Marfavi		2012	2013
Mohammad Mayeli Kohan		2013	2013
Samad Marfavi		2013	2014
Mehdi Tartar		2014	2015
Ali Daei		2015	2016
Samad Marfavi		2016	Present

Coaching Staff

Samad Marfavi, current head coach of Saba Qom.

Staff [5]	Name
Head coach	Samad Marfavi
Assistant coach	Saket Elhami
Assistant coach	Morteza Kashi
Assistant coach	Hossein Ganjian
Goalkeeping coach	Karim Bostani
Fitness Trainer	Masoud Momeni
Doctor	Akbar Rezaei
Analyzer	Ali Akbar Sarlak
Chiropractor	Mohammadreza Mehranpour

Players

First-team squad

As of July 1, 2016^[6] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Hamed Lak 2 DF Davoud Bahadori ^U23 3 DF Pouria Seifpanahi 5 MF Ghasem Dehnavi 6 MF Mehdi Hosseini ^U23 7 FW Keivan Amraei 8 FW Karim Eslami 9 FW Mansour Tanhaei 10 FW Reza Enayati 11 FW Mohammad Ousani 14 MF Omid Jahanbakhshi 16 DF Hashem Beikzadeh 17 MF Mohsen Karami ^U21 18 MF Mehran Amiri 19 DF Mohammad Milad Abadi ^U23 20 DF Mirhani Hashemi

No. Position Player 21 DF Erfan Badi^U21 22 GK Mohammad Bagher Sadeghi 23 DF Hamidreza Divsalar 24 GK Mohammadreza Ghodratipour 25 DF Arash Bale Moghadasi^U21 26 DF Mehdi Mohammadzadeh 27 DF Mohammadali Yari^U21 29 DF Ali Balooch^U21 30 MF Milad Abtahi 35 MF Hassan Karimi ^U21 70 FW Ahmad Hasanzadeh 75 MF Mohammadreza Baouj ^U21 77 FW Ali Fatemi 88 MF Vahid Aliabadi

For recent transfers, see List of Iranian football transfers summer 2016.

AFC Champions League

Asian Club Championship / AFC Champions League
Season	Round	Rival	Home	Away	Agg.
2006	Group Stage (Group C)	Al Gharafa	4–1	0–2	–
		Al-Karamah	1–2	1–0	–
		Al-Wahda	2–2	2–4	–
2009	Group Stage (Group A)	Al-Hilal	0–1	1–1	–
		Pakhtakor	0–2	2–1	–
		Al-Ahli	0–0	3–5	–
2013	Play-off	Al Shabab	1–1 P	–	–

Individual Records

Lists of the players with the most caps and top goalscorers for the club, as of 13 March 2016 (players in bold signifies current Saba Qom player).

Top Scorers Player Goals Years Reza Enayati 32 2011–12, 2013–14, 2016– Fereydoon Fazli 31 2007–10 Farid Karimi 30 2012–14, 2015–16 Mohsen Bayat 26 2005–15 Ali Daei 23 2004–06 Mohsen Bayatinia 22 2008–11 Davoud Haghi 16 2009–11 Sohrab Bakhtiarizadeh 15 2004–07 Jalaleddin Alimohammadi 9 2014–16 Top Scorers by Season Season Player Goals 2004–05 Ali Daei 11 2005–06 Ali Daei 11 2006–07 Alen Avdić 6 2007–08 Fereydoon Fazli 12 2008–09 Fereydoon Fazli 14 2009–10 Davoud Haghi 13 2010–11 Mohsen Bayatinia 8 2011–12 Reza Enayati 18 2012–13 Farid Karimi 6 2013–14 Reza Enayati 13 2014–15 Ayoub Kalantari 5 2015–16 Jalaleddin Alimohammadi 6

Club honors

• Azadegan League:
  • Winners (1): 2003–04
• Hazfi Cup:
  • Winners (1): 2005
  • Runners-up (1): 2007
• Iranian Super Cup:
  • Winners (1): 2005

Unofficial titles

• Shohada Cup

Winner: 2016

See also

• Saba Qom futsal Club
• Saba Novin Qom Football Club

References

• تاریخچه. Official Club Website (in Persian). Retrieved November 9, 2006.

1. http://www.sabayeqom.com/2015-10-10-14-19-25/2015-10-10-14-32-50.html
2. http://www.aftabir.com/news/view/2005/aug/29/c6c1125305229_sport_football.php/%D8%A7%D9%88%D9%84%DB%8C%D9%86-%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%BE%D8%B1%D8%AC%D8%A7%D9%85-%D9%81%D9%88%D8%AA%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84-%D9%83%D8%B4%D9%88%D8%B1-%D8%B5%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%AA%D8%B1%DB%8C-%D8%AF%D9%88%D9%85%DB%8C%D9%86-%D9%82%D9%87%D8%B1%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%86%DB%8C
3. http://www.tebyan.net/newindex.aspx?pid=12896
4. http://www.imna.ir/fa/doc/news/63014/%D9%BE%DB%8C%D8%B4%D9%86%D9%87%D8%A7%D8%AF-%D8%B3%D9%BE%D8%A7%D9%87%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A8%D8%B1%DA%AF%D8%B2%D8%A7%D8%B1%DB%8C-%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%BE%D8%B1%D8%AC%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%AD%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%B2%DB%8C
5. http://iranleague.ir/League/ClubProfile/76
6. http://ffiri.ir/club/%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B4%DA%AF%D8%A7%D9%87-%D9%87%D8%A7%DB%8C-%D9%84%DB%8C%DA%AF-%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%AA%D8%B1/101/%D8%B5%D8%A8%D8%A7%DB%8C-%D9%82%D9%85/10007/

External links

• Official club website