Persian League

Rah Ahan Tehran (Official Website)
راه آهن تهران
Full name Rah Ahan FC Tehran
Nickname(s) Locomotive Runners
(Persian:لوكوموتيورانان)
Founded 1964
Ground Rah Ahan Stadium
Capacity 15,000
Chairman Mohammad Hassan Ansarifard

Rah Ahan (راه آهن in Persian) is a football team based in Tehran, Iran. They currently play in the IPL. The team is sponsored by Iran's national railroad company. Up until recently the club always provided players to Esteghlal FC. The club was promoted to the IPL with quite a lot of controversy, after allegations of match-fixing, and use of ineligible players. Sanat Naft FC launched complaints against the club, and Rah Ahan's appearance in the IPL was not certain until the first day of the 2005-06 season. The courts in Iran at the beginning of the 2006-07 season confirmed that Rah Ahan had been promoted unfairly and that Sanat Naft should have been promoted instead. It is not clear how this issue will be resolved, as the courts reached this decision three weeks into the season.

Coach: Davoud Mahabadi

Club history

Establishment
Rah Ahan was formed in 1964 by Iran's Islamic Republic of Iran Railways and to this day the club still remains in their control. Rah Ahan has a history of supplying players to Esteghlal F.C., however in recent times the number of players being transferred to Esteghlal has dramatically decreased.

Match Fixing Scandal
The club was promoted to the IPL with much controversy, after numerous allegations of match-fixing, and use of ineligible players. Sanat Naft F.C. launched complaints against the club, and Rah Ahan's presence in the IPL was not certain until the very first day of the 2005-06 season. The courts in Iran at the beginning of the 2006-07 season confirmed that Rah Ahan had been promoted unfairly and that Sanat Naft should have been promoted instead. Sanat Naft F.C. will get automatic qualification to the IPL for the 2007/08 season regardless of their league position.

Managers

Behrooz Tabani (?-May 2004)
Firooz Karimi (June 2004-February 2006)
Behrooz Tabani (March 2006-May 2006)
Abbas Razawi (June 2006-November 2006)
Akbar Misaghiyan (December 2006-February 2008)
Davood Mahabadi (March 2008-Present)

2007/2008 Squad

No.	Position	Player	No.	Position	Player
2	DF	Alireza Mohammad	18	GK	Mehdi Sabeti
3	DF	Moharam Habibi	22	FW	Mohsen Rahimi
6	MF	Ali Ghasemzadeh	24	DF	Hamid Sarabadani
7	MF	Amin Torkashvand	25	DF	Mohammad Mehdi Varnekash
9	MF	Mehdi Tartar (captain)	26	DF	Ebrahim Karimi
10	MF	Ahmad Jamshidian		MF	Seyed Hossain Hossaini
11	FW	Hadi Asghari		MF	Seyed Jamal Mousavi
12	MF	Amir Azhari		MF	Hamed Noormohamad
13	MF	Hamlet Mkhitaryan		MF	Hamid Reza Payami
14	MF	Ahmad Taghavi		DF	Afshin Ziadnejad
17	FW	Hamed Shirkhanlo		DF	Akbar-Rushid Parnegahi

2008/2009 Transfers

In:

No.		Position	Player
		FW	Álvaro Pintos (from Real Potosí)
			Ahmad Mayghol (from Niroye Zamini)
			Bahram Beiranvand (from Tarbiat Yazd)
		MF	Davoud Haghi (from Esteghlal Ahvaz)
		GK	Hossein Ashena (from Paykan)
			Alireza Afzali (from Niroye Zamini)
		GK	Nader Ghobeishavi (from Aboomoslem)
			Alireza Javadi Pour (from Moghavemat Tehran)
		DF	Mohammad Ali Dehghan (from Sepasi)
		MF	Mojtaba Zarei (from Sepasi)
			Morteza Molian (from Homa)
		DF	Mohsen Mirabi (from Pas Hamedan)

Out:

No.	Position	Player
2	DF	Alireza Mohammad (to Persepolis)
10	FW	Ahmad Jamshidian (to Sepahan for 400 million toman)
14	MF	Ahmad Taghavi (to Esteghlal Ahvaz for 140 million toman)
11	FW	Hadi Asghari (to Sepahan)
1	GK	Gevorg Kasparov (to FC Ulisses Yerevan)
25	MF	Meisam Baou (to Aboomoslem)
18	GK	Mehdi Sabeti (to Aboomoslem)

Ahmad Jamshidian
Parviz Broumand
Davoud Haghi
Mehdi Tartar
Sohrab Entezari
Hamlet Mkhitaryan
Gevorg Kasparov