Rah Ahan Sports Club (, ''Bashgah-e Vârzeshi-ye Rahâhen''), commonly known as Rah Ahan Football Club, was an Iranian professional

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 ...

club based in

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

. They last played 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 ...

. Rah Ahan is one of the oldest Iranian football clubs.

History

Establishment

Rah Ahan was formed in 1927 in

by Iran Railways but were bought by Mehr Afarin Holding. They are one of the oldest Iranian football clubs still in existence. In 1939 Rah Ahan participated in the Tehran Local League for the first time. Their first official match was on 4 January 1940 against Bazargani F.C.; they won the game 11–0. Rah Ahan is currently owned by Mehrafarin Holding.

1950s

During the

World War A world war is an international War, conflict that involves most or all of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World War I ...

in the 1940s Rah Ahan dissolved its football operations, and did not restart its team until the 1950s. After its re-establishment the club under the name of ''Pirouz'' played on the dirt pitches near the railway station. The players of the team were railway workers. In 1955 with the arrival of Rasoul Madadnavi from

Tabriz Tabriz (; ) is a city in the Central District (Tabriz County), Central District of Tabriz County, in the East Azerbaijan province, East Azerbaijan province of northwestern Iran. It serves as capital of the province, the county, and the distric ...

, the club was again renamed to ''Rah Ahan'' and began to attract players from outside the railway company. After achieving good results in the 1958 season Rah Ahan was promoted to the 1st Division Tehran League. However, due to new restrictions regarding private clubs in the Tehran Local Leagues, the club was denied the right to compete and eventually ceased its operations.

Pre-Revolution

In 1963 Rah Ahan was again re-established and were placed in the 2nd Division Tehran Local League. In 1966 Rah Ahan was finally promoted to the top division of the Tehran Local Leagues. In 1973 the Takht Jamshid Cup, Iran's first national league, was founded. In their first two years in the Cup, Rah Ahan finished a respectable 7th and 9th. In 1976 they were relegated to the 2nd Division. In their only season in the 2nd Division, Rah Ahan finished 1st in the league and were again promoted to the Takht Jamshid Cup. In 1978 they were again relegated to the 2nd Division, but they could not finish the 2nd Division season because of the

Iranian 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 Impe ...

Iran Pro League

After the establishment of the Iran Pro League in 2001, Rah Ahan was placed in the second tier

. In 2005 Rah Ahan was promoted to the Iran Pro League after a second-place finish in the

. Since then they have mostly been an average team and have finished in the mid-table, but since the arrival of Ansarifard as the chairman they have looked more stable. They finished 11th in the 2008–09 season and avoided relegation in the season after the last week.

Ali Daei

In the 2012–13 season, under

Ali Daei Ali Daei ( ; born 21 March 1969) is an Iranian Association football, football manager and former professional footballer. A Striker (association football), striker, he was the captain (association football), captain of the Iran national footbal ...

, the team got out to an early start, and were 4th in the Iran Pro League after the opening few weeks. After that the team had an average year, dropping to 8th by the season's end. In the same year they went on tour in Turkey, beating Galatasaray A2 4–1, and losing to Super Lig side Istanbul BB 3–2. At the end of the 2012–13 season

left Rah Ahan to sign with

Persepolis Persepolis (; ; ) was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire (). It is situated in the plains of Marvdasht, encircled by the southern Zagros mountains, Fars province of Iran. It is one of the key Iranian cultural heritage sites and ...

Trouble years

Mansour Ebrahimzadeh was announced as Rah Ahan's new manager for the 2013–14 season. With him in charge Rah Ahan finished an average 11th place. At the end of the season, Ebrahimzadeh announced that he was stepping down as Rah Ahan's manager. Former Persepolis manager Hamid Estili was named as his replacement. Rah Ahan encountered severe financial problems and under Estili the club performed poorly. Estili was soon fired and replaced with former Rah Ahan player Farhad Kazemi. In the 2015–16 season, Rah Ahan ran into financial troubles, finished 15th in the Persian Gulf Pro League and were relegated. This was the first time Rah Ahan would play in the

in 12 years.

Season-by-season

The table below chronicles the achievements of Rah Ahan F.C. every season, from 1968 to the present day.

Reserves

The table below shows the achievements of the club's reserve team in various competitions.

Managers

IPL managers

Coaching staff

References

External links

{{Football in Iran Football clubs in Tehran Association football clubs established in 1927 1927 establishments in Iran