F.C. Nassaji Mazandaran

Nassaji Mazandaran
Full name	Nassaji Mazandaran Football Club
Nickname(s)	Mazandaran Tigers (Persian: ببرهای مازندران, Babrhay-e Mazandaran)
Founded	May 3, 1959; 65 years ago
Ground	Vatani Stadium
Capacity	15,000
Owner	Reza Haddadian
Chairman	Ali Khatir
Manager	Saket Elhami
League	Persian Gulf Pro League
2023–24	Persian Gulf Pro League, 12th
Website	fcnassaji.ir
Home colours	Away colours
	Current season

Nassaji Mazandaran Football Club (Persian: باشگاه فوتبال نساجی مازندران, Bâšgâh-e Futbâl-e Nassaji Mazandaran) is an Iranian football club based in Qaem Shahr, Mazandaran. They currently compete in the Persian Gulf Pro League.^[1]

Nassaji has one of the highest average attendances in Iran. Nassaji is also the oldest club from the Caspian region of Iran and one of the oldest in all of Iran. One of the most important honors of Nassaji Mazandaran is a championship title in Iranian Hazfi Cup and a runner-up title in Iranian Super Cup.^[2]

History

Establishment

Nassaji lineup in 1959, which is considered the first lineup of this team.

Nassaji Mazandaran Company established the club in Qaem Shahr in 1959. Nassaji entered the Qods Cup in 1988 and soon after they entered the top division Azadegan League in 1991 and remained a strong competitor in that division until 1995.

Recent years

Nassaji stayed in 2nd division until 2001 and when Iranian Football Federation decided to start a professional league, the Azadegan league became the second highest league in Iran. In 2004 Nassaji was relegated to 2nd Division but they were promoted back to the Azadegan League at the end of the 2005–06 season. On 3 August 2006 Nasser Hejazi signed as head-coach of Nassaji on a one-year deal for the 2006–07 season.

In the 2013–14 season, Nassaji had their closest call with promotion to the Persian Gulf Pro League since their relegation from the top flight in 1995, the team finished third in Group A which was one place out of a promotion play-off spot. The following season Nassaji again finished third and was two points out of a promotion play-off spot.

Persian Gulf Pro League

On 29 April 2018, after a win against Rah Ahan, Nassaji finished in second place in the Azadegan League and were promoted to the Persian Gulf Pro League for the first time.^[3]

AFC Champions League debut

On 27 October 2022, Nassaji won the 2021–22 Hazfi Cup cup which see them qualified to their first ever AFC Champions League appearance. On 18 September 2023 in their debut 2023–24 AFC Champions League group stage fixtures, Nassaji won 2–0 against Mumbai City of India with goals coming from Ehsan Hosseini and Mohammad Reza Azadi.

Facilities

Since the club was created, Nassaji has trained and played its home games at Vatani Stadium, which was built in the 1940s. After the Islamic Revolution of 1979, the stadium was expanded to hold 15,000 people.

Seasons

The table below chronicles the achievements of Nassaji Mazandaran since 1989.

Year	Division	Position	Hazfi Cup
1989–90	Qods	3rd	Not held
1990–91	2nd Division	3rd	1/16 Final
1991–92	Azadegan	7th	First round
1992–93	Azadegan	7th	Not held
1993–94	Azadegan	6th	1/8 Final
1994–95	Azadegan	10th	First round
1995–96	2nd Division	4th	Second round
1996–97	2nd Division	8th	Second round
1997–98	2nd Division	7th	Not held
1998–99	2nd Division	5th	1/4 Final
1999–00	2nd Division	6th	Third round
2000–01	2nd Division	4th	1/4 Final
2001–02	Azadegan	4th	Third round
2002–03	Azadegan	13th	Second round
2003–04	Azadegan	16th	Second round
2004–05	2nd Division	3rd	First round
2005–06	2nd Division	2nd	1/16 Final
2006–07	Azadegan	6th	First round
2007–08	Azadegan	5th	1/16 Final
2008–09	Azadegan	12th	1/16 Final
2009–10	Azadegan	7th	1/16 Final
2010–11	Azadegan	4th	Third round
2011–12	Azadegan	5th	Second round
2012–13	Azadegan	8th	First round
2013–14	Azadegan	3rd	Third round
2014–15	Azadegan	3rd	Fourth round
2015–16	Azadegan	8th	did not contest
2016–17	Azadegan	10th	1/16 Final
2017–18	Azadegan	2nd	1/8 Final
2018–19	PGPL	10th	1/8 Final
2019–20	PGPL	9th	1/16 Final
2020–21	PGPL	12th	1/8 Final
2021–22	PGPL	12th	Winner
2022–23	PGPL	13th	Semifinal
2023–24	PGPL	12th	1/16 Final
2024–25	PGPL

Honours

Hazfi Cup
- Winners (1): 2021–22
Iranian Super Cup
- Runners-up (1): 2022
Azadegan League
- Runners-up (1): 2017–18

Players

First-team squad

As of 9 october 2024^[4]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
2	DF	IRN	Saeid Aghaei
3	DF	IRN	Vahid Mohammadzadeh
4	DF	IRN	Amir Mehdi Janmaleki
5	DF	IRN	Amirhossein Samdaliri ^U23
6	MF	IRN	Mansour Bagheri
8	MF	IRN	Ayoub Kalantari
9	MF	SDN	Mohamed Eisa
10	MF	IRN	Hossein Zamehran
11	MF	IRN	Mehrdad Rezaei
13	MF	IRQ	Muntadher Mohammed
14	FW	IRN	Hamed Pakdel
16	MF	IRN	Amir Reza Vafaeinejhad ^U23
17	MF	IRN	Mahmoud Ghaed Rahmati
18	FW	IRN	Mehdi Rezaei ^U21
20	DF	IRN	Armin Sohrabian
27	GK	BRA	Luan Polli
28	MF	IRN	Mohsen Karimi


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
30	MF	FRA	Kevin Yamga
32	MF	IRN	Saber Hardani
52	MF	KAZ	Alexander Merkel
55	DF	IRN	Mersad Seifi ^U23
65	GK	IRN	Siavash Amiri ^U21
66	MF	IRN	Mohammad Reza Torabi ^U21
68	DF	IRN	Amir Mohammad Houshmand
70	MF	IRN	Amir Hossein Mahjori ^U23
76	MF	IRN	Mohammad Reza Hosseini
80	MF	IRN	Hassan Emdadi
81	FW	IRN	Aria Barzegar ^U23
84	DF	IRN	Amir Reza Rezapour ^U21
88	MF	IRN	Siamak Nemati
90	FW	IRN	Ahad Jamshidi ^U21
96	FW	IRN	Mohammadreza Abbasi
98	GK	IRN	Alireza Rezaei

For recent transfers, see List of Iranian football transfers summer 2023.

Staff

Current coach staff

Position	Staff
Head coach	Saket Elhami
Assistant coach	Mostafa Sedaghat Shahrokh Bayani Farhad Kouchakzadeh Hamed Shiri Mohammad Mehdi Nazari
Goalkeeper coach	Ashkan Namdari
Fitness coach	Hamid Reza Joudaki Mohammad Reza Molaei
Tactical analyst	Sadegh Moghaddam Payam Kazemi
Team Manager	Nasrollah Khajegiri

Head coaches

Rahim Dastneshan (1983–94)
Fereydoon Asgarzadeh (1994)
Abolfazl Mozdastan (1994–95)
Rahim Dastneshan (1995–96)
Nader Dastneshan (1996–02)
Hossein Mesgar Saravi (2002–04)
Rahim Dastneshan (2004–05)
Ebrahim Talebi (2005–06)
Nasser Hejazi (2006– 07)
Morteza Sadeghi (2007)
Hossein Ghazal Seflou (2007)
Ebrahim Talebi (2007–08)
Morteza Sadeghi (2008)
Hassan Khourdestan (2008)
Morteza Sadeghi (2008–2009)
Rahim Dastneshan (2009)
Esmaeil Esmaeili (2009)
Nader Dastneshan (2009–2010)
Reza Forouzani (2010)
Farhad Kouchakzadeh (2010)
Yahya Golmohammadi (2010–11)
Esmaeil Esmaeili (2011–13)
Younes Geraeili (2013)
Nader Dastneshan (2013–15)
Paulo Alves (2015)
Kourosh Mousavi (2015–16)
Mahmoud Fekri (2016)
Hossein Mesgar Saravi (2016–17)
Saket Elhami (2017)
Hossein Mesgar Saravi (2017)
Mehdi Pashazadeh (2017)
Davoud Mahabadi (2017–18)
Javad Nekounam (2018)
Majid Jalali (2019)
Mohammad Reza Mohajeri (2019–20)
Mahmoud Fekri (2020)
Vahid Fazeli (2020–21)
Majid Jalali (2021)
Saket Elhami (2021–22)
Esmaeil Esmaeili (2022)
Hamid Motahari (2022–23)
Carlos Inarejos (2023)
Mehdi Rahmati (2023)
Vahid Rezaei (2023)
Lucas Alcaraz (2023–2024)
Saket Elhami (2024–Present)

Sponsorship

Shirt sponsors and manufacturers


Period	Kit Manufacturer	Shirt Sponsor
2014–15	Uhlsport	Samsung Group Kosar FCI MCI Yamaha Corporation/ Varesh Airlines Dariush Grand Hotel
2016–17	Uhlsport
2018–	Majid

Managers

Owners

Kourosh Rahmani (2007–2009)
Mehdi Parham (2009–2013)
Hossein Ghasemnejhad (2013–2014)
Mehdi Parham (2014–2017)
Mehdi Parham, Farhad Sanieifar (2017)
Farhad Sanieifar (2017–2018)
Farhad Sanieifar, Reza Haddadian (2018–2019)
Reza Haddadian (2019–Present)

Chairmans

Kourosh Rahmani (2004–2007)
Abed Mahzoun (2007)
Kourosh Rahmani (2007–2009)
Mohammad Ali Ghanbari (2009)
Mehdi Parham (2009–2010)
Mohammad Hassan Heydarzadeh (2010)
Saeed Azari (2010–2011)
Mohammad Hassan Heydarzadeh (2011)
Yousef Daftari (2011)
Mohammad Hassan Heydarzadeh (2011)
Ahmad Sahadatmand (2011–2013)
Mohammad Hassan Heydarzadeh (2013)
Mohammad Ali Ghanbari (2013)
Mohammad Reza Ranjbar (2013)
Mohammad Ali Ghanbari (2013–2014)
Sadegh Dorudgar (2014–2015)
Mohammad Hassan Heydarzadeh (2015–2016)
Hamed Ebrahimi (2016)
Abdolhamid Ramezani (2016–2017)
Ali Amiri (2017–2019)
Mohammad Kazemi (2019–2019)
Mohammad Ali Ghanbari (2019)
Ali Reza Asadi (2019)
Izad Seyfollahpour (2019–2020)
Ali Amiri (2020–2021)
Izad Seyfollahpour (2021–2023)
Sadegh Dorudgar (2023)
Hamid Reza Bayandorian (2023–2024)
Ali Khatir (2024–Present)

Individual Records

All Top Appearances

#	Name	Nationality	Position	Apps
1	Hamed Shiri	Iran	Defender	185
2	Hossein Zamehran	Iran	Midfielder	140
3	Mehrdad Abdi	Iran	Midfielder	127
4	Saeid Gholamalibeygi	Iran	Midfielder	122
5	Mohammad Abbaszadeh	Iran	Striker	122
6	Hassan Najafi	Iran	Defender	106
7	Amir Mehdi Janmaleki	Iran	Defender	98
8	Ayoub Kalantari	Iran	Midfielder	92
9	Karim Eslami	Iran	Striker	91
10	Mojtaba Mamashli	Iran	Midfielder	91
11	Alireza Haghighi	Iran	Goalkeeper	88
12	Mohammad Mehdi Nazari	Iran	Forward	84
13	Saber Hardani	Iran	Midfielder	78
14	Mohammad Ghaseminejad	Iran	Midfielder	72
15	Ali Shojaei	Iran	Midfielder	71

All Top Scorers

#	Name	Nationality	Position	Goals
1	Mohammad Abbaszadeh	Iran	Striker	66
2	Hamed Shiri	Iran	Defender	26
3	Hamid Kazemi	Iran	Forward	16
4	Karim Eslami	Iran	Striker	15
5	Mojtaba Ramezani	Iran	Midfielder	14
6	Mojtaba Mamashli	Iran	Defender	14
7	Ayoub Kalantari	Iran	Midfielder	12
8	Mohammad Mehdi Nazari	Iran	Midfielder	12
9	Mohammad Reza Azadi	Iran	Forward	12
10	Hassan Najafi	Iran	Defender	10
11	Hossein Zamehran	Iran	Midfielder	10
12	Rahman Jafari	Iran	Forward	9
13	Mehrdad Abdi	Iran	Midfielder	9
14	Shahin Majidi	Iran	Midfielder	7
15	Mohammad Ghaseminejad	Iran	Midfielder	7

Club captains

Name	Nat	Captaincy
Nader Dastneshan		1986–1999
Aziz Zare		1999–2002
Morteza Arabnejad		2002–2003
Nasrollah Nourbakhsh		2003–2004
Farid Yaghoubnia		2004–2009
Hadi Khodadadi		2009–2010
Mohsen Pourhaji		2009–2012
Fereydoon Fazli		2011
Meysam Khodashenas		2012–2013
Mohsen Rahimi		2013–2014
Mohsen Hosseini		2014
Issa Parto		2014–2015
Meysam Baou		2015–2016
Meysam Khodashenas		2016
Mohammad Abbaszadeh		2016–2017
Morteza Gholamalitabar		2017
Mohammad Abbaszadeh		2017–2020
Hamed Shiri		2020–2023
Masoud Shojaei		2021–2022
Mehrdad Abdi		2023–2024
Mohammad Abbaszadeh		2024
Hossein Zamehran		2024–

Supporters

Behdad Salimi^[5] (Olympic gold medallist)
Hanif Omranzadeh^[6] (Footballer)
Mohsen Bengar^[7] (Footballer)
Shoja Khalilzadeh^[8] (Footballer)

References

^ "FC Nassaji Mazandaran - Soccer - Team Profile - Results, fixtures, squad, statistics - Global Sports Archive". Archived from the original on 2022-09-23. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
^ "Naft Masjed Soleyman, Nassaji Mazandaran win promotion to IPL". 29 April 2018. Archived from the original on 13 June 2023. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
^ "Javad Nekounam Steps Down as Nassaji Coach - Sports news". Archived from the original on 2021-11-05. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2019-08-15. Retrieved 2021-09-27.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ "سليمي: طرفدار سرسخت نساجي هستم". Archived from the original on 2023-08-24. Retrieved 2015-07-20.
^ Fars News ^{[dead link‍]}
^ "محسن بنگر: با قرارداد صفر تومان دوست دارم یک روز در نساجی حضور داشته باشم". 31 May 2020. Archived from the original on 16 November 2021. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
^ خلیل‌زاده: از صعود نساجی خوشحالم Archived 2022-10-31 at the Wayback Machine Dana

External links

[1] "FC Nassaji Mazandaran - Soccer - Team Profile - Results, fixtures, squad, statistics - Global Sports Archive". Archived from the original on 2022-09-23. Retrieved 2021-11-02.

[2] "Naft Masjed Soleyman, Nassaji Mazandaran win promotion to IPL". 29 April 2018. Archived from the original on 13 June 2023. Retrieved 2 November 2021.

[3] "Javad Nekounam Steps Down as Nassaji Coach - Sports news". Archived from the original on 2021-11-05. Retrieved 2021-11-02.

[4] "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2019-08-15. Retrieved 2021-09-27.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[5] "سليمي: طرفدار سرسخت نساجي هستم". Archived from the original on 2023-08-24. Retrieved 2015-07-20.

[6] Fars News ^{[dead link‍]}

[7] "محسن بنگر: با قرارداد صفر تومان دوست دارم یک روز در نساجی حضور داشته باشم". 31 May 2020. Archived from the original on 16 November 2021. Retrieved 22 December 2021.

[8] خلیل‌زاده: از صعود نساجی خوشحالم Archived 2022-10-31 at the Wayback Machine Dana

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