Fajr Shahid Sepasi Shiraz Football Club (, ''Bashgah-e Futbal-e Fajr-e Sepasi-ye Shiraz''), commonly known as Fajr Sepasi Shiraz, or Fajr Sepasi, is an Iranian

football club In association football, a football club (or association football club, alternatively soccer club) is a sports club that acts as an entity through which association football teams organise their sporting activities. The club can exist either as ...

based in

Shiraz Shiraz (; ) is the List of largest cities of Iran, fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars province, which has been historically known as Pars (Sasanian province), Pars () and Persis. As of the 2016 national census, the popu ...

, Fars, that competes in the

Azadegan League The Azadegan League (, ''Lig-e Âzâdegân''), also known as League 1 (, ''Lig-e Yek''), is the second highest division of professional football in Iran. It was the top-level football league in Iran from its foundation in 1991 until 2001, when t ...

. The club was founded in 1988. The football team plays their home games at the

Pars Shiraz Stadium The Pars Stadium ( Varzešgâh''-è Pârs'', ) is a multi-use stadium in Shiraz, Iran. It is mostly used for football (soccer), football matches. The stadium holds 50,000 people. The stadium is the fourth largest stadium in Iran. It is currently u ...

which has a

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

of 50,000. The club is owned and supported by the

Basij The Basij (, lit. ''The Mobilization'') or Sâzmân-e Basij-e Mostaz'afin (, lit. ''Organization for Mobilization of the Oppressed''), is a paramilitary volunteer militia within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and one of its five ...

History

Establishment

In 1988, a group of youngsters, who were from

along with Jafar Jafari, established a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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 Iran–Iraq War, also known as the First Gulf War, was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. Active hostilities began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for nearly eight years, unti ...

, the team was renamed in Fajr Shahid Sepasi Shiraz Football Club. ''Shahid'' means ''martyr'' in

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

. The club was officially founded on 11 February 1988, the day of the

Islamic revolution The Iranian Revolution (, ), also known as the 1979 Revolution, or the Islamic Revolution of 1979 (, ) was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979. The revolution led to the replacement of the Im ...

. 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

. The club has remained in the highest level of

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

ian football since then, and won the

Hazfi Cup Hazfi Cup (, ) formerly known as Pahlavi Cup () is an Iranian knockout football competition held annually by the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran. The Iranian Football League, Iranian football league was not held during the 1980s, h ...

in 2001.

Takeover

In December 2006 Sepah Pasdaran sold its shares in sport to

, 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 Mohammad Ahmadzadeh (, born January 10, 1961, in Bandar-e Anzali) is an Iranian former football, basketball and tennis player and current football coach. He played most of his career for Malavan and is also the team's head coach for the third t ...

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

for the 2010–2011 season. Fajr rebounded gaining promotion to the

Iran Pro League The Persian Gulf Pro League (, ''Lig-e Bartar-e Xalij-e Fârs''), formerly known as the Iran Premier League (, ''Lig-e bartar-e Irân''), is a professional association football league in Iran and the highest level of the Iranian football league s ...

in 2011.

Azadegan League

At the end of the 2013–14 season Fajr Sepasi finished 14th and was relegated to the

. 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

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.

Honours

**Champions (2): 2020–21, 2024-25 *

**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

Former players

''For details on former players, see .''

Head coaches

* Mansour Pourheidari (1996–1998) * Mahmoud Yavari (1998–1999) * Gholam Hossein Peyrovani (1999–2009) * Davoud Mahabadi (2009–2010) *

(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
{{Persian Gulf Pro League Football clubs in Iran Association football clubs established in 1988 Sport in Shiraz 1988 establishments in Iran