Fajr Sepasi Shiraz F.C.

Fajr
فجر

Full name	Fajr Shahid Sepasi Shiraz Football Club
Nickname(s)	Tâlâyiha-ye Shiran (The golden ones from Sharan) Zerd Parsi (Persian yellow)
Founded	11 February 1988 (1988-02-11)
Ground	Hafezieh Stadium
Capacity	50,000
Owner	Basij
Chairman	Rasoul Fallah
Head Coach	Pirouz Ghorbani
League	Azadegan League
2023-24	Azadegan League, 3rd
Website	http://fajrfc.ir/
Home colours Away colours

Fajr Shahid Sepasi Shiraz Football Club (Persian: باشگاه فرهنگى ورزشى فجر شهید سپاسی شیراز, Bashgah-e Futbal-e Fajr-e Sepasi-ye Shiraz), commonly known as Fajr Sepasi Shiraz, or Fajr Sepasi, is an Iranian football club based in Shiraz, Fars, that competes in the Azadegan League. The club was founded in 1988.

The football team plays their home games at the Pars Shiraz Stadium which has a seating capacity of 50,000. The club is owned and supported by the Basij.

History

Establishment

In 1988, a group of youngsters, who were from Shiraz along with Jafar Jafari, established a football team named Behzad. They started playing in the 2nd division of Shiraz's local city league. After the death of Majid Sepasi during the Iran–Iraq War, the team was renamed in Fajr Shahid Sepasi Shiraz Football Club. Shahid means martyr in Persian. The club was officially founded on 11 February 1988, the day of the Islamic Revolution. In 1991 the club had been bought by Sepah Pasdaran completely.

1990s

In 1995 they became champions of Fars province, and in 1996 were promoted to the Azadegan League. The club has remained in the highest level of Iranian football since then, and won the Hazfi Cup in 2001.

Takeover

Moghavemat Shahid Sepasi emblem (2007–2011)

In December 2006 Sepah Pasdaran sold its shares in sport to Basij, therefore all Fajr teams were renamed to Moghavemat teams. Fajr Sepasi are now officially known as Moghavemat Shahid Sepasi Shiraz, although the name is not in common use yet. Jafar Jafari is the club's chairman since the establishment of the club in 1988.

They kept the coach Gholam Hossein Peyrovani till 2009 where he was appointed as Iran's olympics team head coach and had to leave the club so Peyrovani left the club after 10 years being in charge and he was finished his last season in mid table and was replaced by Davoud Mahabadi and after poor results he was replaced by Mohammad Ahmadzadeh and got relegated in the first season without Peyrovani.

In 2010 for the first time in the club's history, the team was relegated to the Azadegan League for the 2010–2011 season. Fajr rebounded gaining promotion to the Iran Pro League in 2011.

Azadegan League

At the end of the 2013–14 season Fajr Sepasi finished 14th and was relegated to the Azadegan League. In their first season back in the second tier Fajr finished 14th and missed out on promotion.

Shiraz Derby

The Shiraz Derby is played between Fajr Sepasi and Bargh Shiraz, but due to Bargh's relegation to the Azadegan League and then the 2nd Division, the derby has not been played in over 5 years.

Season-by-season

The table below chronicles the achievements of Fajr Sepasi in various competitions since 1995.

Season	Division	League	Position	Hazfi Cup	Notes	AFC Champions League
1995–96	3	Fars Province League	1st	Did not qualify	Promoted	Did not qualify
1996–97	2	2nd Division	1st	1/16 Final	Promoted
1997–98	1	Azadegan League	4th	Not held
1998–99	1		10th	1/16 Final
1999–00	1		3rd	1/8 Final
2000–01	1		9th	Cup
2001–02	1	Iran Pro League	10th	Final		First round
2002–03	1		4th	Final		Did not qualify
2003–04	1		11th	1/8 Final
2004–05	1		11th	1/16 Final
2005–06	1		10th	1/8 Final
2006–07	1		10th	1/16 Final
2007–08	1		14th	1/8 Final
2008–09	1		9th	1/16 Final
2009–10	1		16th	1/16 Final	Relegated
2010–11	2	Azadegan League	2nd	1/32 Final	Promoted
2011–12	1	Iran Pro League	13th	1/8 Final
2012–13	1		12th	1/4 Final
2013–14	1		14th	1/16 Final	Relegated
2014–15	2	Azadegan League	5th	1/8 Final
2015–16	2		4th	Did not enter
2016–17	2		14th	Round of 64
2017–18	2		4th	Round of 16
2018–19	2		9th	Round of 64
2019–20	2		10th	Round of 16
2020–21	2		1st	Did not enter	Promoted
2021-22	1	Iran Pro League	15th	Round of 32	Relegated
2022-23	2	Azadegan League	4th	Round of 32

Honours

• Azadegan League
  • Champions (1): 2020–21
• Hazfi Cup
  • Champions (1): 2000–01
  • Runners-up (2): 2001–02, 2002–03
• Iranian 2nd Division
  • Champions (1): 1997
• AK Pipe International Cup
  • Runners-up (1): 2001

Players

First team squad

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
1	GK	IRN	Ali Gholamzadeh
2	DF	IRN	Mehran Feizabadi
3	MF	IRN	Ali Najafi
4	DF	IRN	Sasan Jafari Kia
5	DF	IRN	Sina Shahabbasi
6	DF	IRN	Mohammadreza Shirzadi
7	FW	IRN	Saeid Zare
8	MF	IRN	Ali Nabizadeh
9	FW	IRN	Yousef Key Shams
10	MF	IRN	Sajjad Jafari
11	DF	IRN	Meysam Moradi
12	GK	IRN	Mehdi Tayefeh
13	FW	IRN	Amir Mohammad Monsef
14	MF	IRN	Reza Amaninejad
15	DF	IRN	Mohammadreza Yousefi
16	GK	IRN	Hossein Khatir

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
17	FW	IRN	Hossein Shahabi
18	MF	IRN	Sajjad Tamimi
20	FW	IRN	Mohammadhossein Golpour
21	DF	IRN	Mohammad Azhir
23	FW	IRN	Farshad Firooz
25	MF	IRN	Soheil Lashgari
26	FW	IRN	Mohammadreza Sharokhabadi
30	DF	IRN	Amir Taher
33	DF	IRN	Alireza Saadipour
37	DF	IRN	Hossein Saki
44	FW	IRN	Omid Afsoon
56	MF	IRN	Aliakbar Davani
66	FW	IRN	Nima Fereydouni
69	FW	IRN	Hossein Maleki
88	MF	IRN	Ali Rostami
99	FW	IRN	Amirmohammad Amiri

For recent transfers, see List of Iranian football transfers summer 2021.

Former players

For details on former players, see Fajr Sepasi Shiraz F.C. players.

Head coaches

• Mansour Pourheidari (1996–1998)
• Mahmoud Yavari (1998–1999)
• Gholam Hossein Peyrovani (1999–2009)
• Davoud Mahabadi (2009–2010)
• Mohammad Ahmadzadeh (2010)
• Ali Kalantari (2010–2011)
• Mahmoud Yavari (2011–2013)
• Gholam Hossein Peyrovani (2013)
• Mahmoud Yavari (2013–2014)
• Ali Kalantari (2014–2018)
• Majid Saleh (2018–2019)
• Davoud Mahabadi (2019–2020)
• Ali Kalantari (2020–present)

References

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydACiq1Y_Ks
• https://web.archive.org/web/20151004210809/http://video.varzesh3.com/iran/premier-league/%D9%81%D8%AC%D8%B1-%D8%B3%D9%BE%D8%A7%D8%B3%DB%8C1-1%D9%BE%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%BE%D9%88%D9%84%DB%8C%D8%B3/
• https://web.archive.org/web/20151004210850/http://video.varzesh3.com/iran/premier-league/%D9%BE%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%BE%D9%88%D9%84%DB%8C%D8%B3-2-3-%D9%81%D8%AC%D8%B1-%D8%B3%D9%BE%D8%A7%D8%B3%DB%8C/

External links

• Official club website