2020–21 Persian Gulf Pro League

The 2020–21 Persian Gulf Pro League (formerly known as Iran Pro League) were the 38th season of Iran's Football League and 20th as Persian Gulf Pro League since its establishment in 2001. Persepolis were the defending champions. The season featured 14 teams from the 2019–20 Persian Gulf Pro League and two new teams promoted from the 2019–20 Azadegan League: Mes Rafsanjan and Aluminium Arak.[1][2]

Persian Gulf Pro League
Season2020–21
Dates6 November 2020 – 30 July 2021
ChampionsPersepolis
7th Pro League title
14th Iranian title
RelegatedMachine Sazi
Saipa
Champions LeagueSepahan
Foolad
Matches played240
Goals scored476 (1.98 per match)
Top goalscorerSajjad Shahbazzadeh
(20 goals)
Best goalkeeperHamed Lak
(17 clean sheets)
Biggest home winSepahan 5–1 Mes
(16 May 2021)
Biggest away winAluminium Arak 1–6 Sepahan
(6 March 2021)
Highest scoringAluminium Arak 1–6 Sepahan
(6 March 2021)
Longest winning runPersepolis . Sepahan
(6 matches)
Longest unbeaten runPersepolis
(20 matches)
Longest winless runMachine Sazi
(14 matches)
Longest losing runNaft Masjed Soleyman . Aluminium Arak
(5 matches)
Total attendance0

The 2020–21 season started on 6 November 2020 and was ended on 30 July 2021.[3] Persepolis won their record-extending 5th consecutive title and 14th title overall (7th in the Pro League era)

Teams

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Stadia and locations

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Team Location Stadium Capacity
  Aluminium Arak Arak Imam Khomeini 15,000
  Esteghlal Tehran Azadi 78,116
  Foolad Ahvaz Foolad Arena 30,655
  Gol Gohar Sirjan Sirjan Imam Ali
Qasem Soleimani
8,000
9,000[4]
  Machine Sazi Tabriz Qasem Soleimani 12,000
  Mes Rafsanjan Rafsanjan Shohadaye Mes 2,000[5]
  Naft Masjed Soleyman Masjed Soleyman Behnam Mohammadi 8,000
  Nassaji Mazandaran Qaem Shahr Vatani 15,000
  Paykan Shahr-e Qods Shahr-e Qods 25,000
  Persepolis Tehran Azadi 78,116
  Saipa Tehran Dastgerdi 8,250
  Sanat Naft Abadan Takhti Abadan 10,000[6]
  Sepahan Isfahan Naghsh-e-Jahan 75,000
  Padideh Mashhad Imam Reza 27,700
  Tractor Tabriz Yadegar-e Emam 66,833
  Zob Ahan Fooladshahr Fooladshahr 15,000

Personnel and kits

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Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Team Manager Captain
Aluminium Arak   Alireza Mansourian   Meysam Majidi
Esteghlal   Farhad Majidi   Voria Ghafouri
Foolad   Javad Nekounam   Ayoub Vali
Gol Gohar   Amir Ghalenoei   Mehran Golzari
Machine Sazi   Alireza Akbarpour   Habib Gordani
Mes Rafsanjan   Mohammad Rabiei   Hamed Noormohammadi
Naft MIS   Mahmoud Fekri   Abbas Asgari
Nassaji   Saket Elhami   Hamed Shiri
Paykan   Mehdi Tartar   Ali Hamoudi
Persepolis   Yahya Golmohammadi   Jalal Hosseini
Saipa   Faraz Kamalvand   Sadegh Barani
Sanat Naft   Sirous Pourmousavi   Hossein Baghlani
Sepahan   Moharram Navidkia   Ehsan Hajsafi
Shahr Khodro   Mehdi Rahmati   Reza Nasehi
Tractor   Firouz Karimi   Mohammad Reza Akhbari
Zob Ahan   Mojtaba Hosseini   Ghasem Haddadifar

Managerial changes

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Team Outgoing head coach Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming head coach Date of appointment
Sepahan   Miguel Teixeira End of Caretaker Spell 10 August 2020 Pre-season   Moharram Navidkia 5 September 2020
Machine Sazi   Human Afazeli Resigned 18 August 2020   Vahid Bayatloo 26 August 2020
Naft MIS   Mehdi Tartar 13 August 2020   Mojtaba Hosseini 16 August 2020
Zob Ahan   Luka Bonačić Sacked 15 August 2020   Rahman Rezaei 4 September 2020
Shahr Khodro   Sohrab Bakhtiarizadeh 30 August 2020   Mehdi Rahmati 31 August 2020
Gol Gohar Sirjan   Majid Jalali 3 September 2020   Amir Ghalenoei 3 September 2020
Esteghlal   Farhad Majidi Resigned 5 September 2020   Mahmoud Fekri 7 October 2020
Tractor   Saket Elhami 5 September 2020   Alireza Mansourian 17 September 2020
Sanat Naft   Behnam Seraj Sacked 22 September 2020   Sirous Pourmousavi 22 September 2020
Nassaji   Mahmoud Fekri Signed with Esteghlal 6 October 2020   Vahid Fazeli 8 October 2020
Paykan   Abdollah Veisi Resigned 30 October 2020   Mehdi Tartar 4 November 2020

Foreign players

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The number of foreign players is restricted to four per Persian Gulf Pro League team, including a slot for a player from AFC countries. A team can use four foreign players on the field in each game, including at least one player from the AFC country.
In bold: Players that have been capped for their national team.

Club Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 Asian Player Former Player
Aluminium Arak
Esteghlal   Hrvoje Milić   Cheick Diabaté
Foolad   Chimba   Moussa Coulibaly   Ayanda Patosi
Gol Gohar   Godwin Mensha
Machine Sazi
Mes Rafsanjan
Naft MIS
Nassaji
Paykan
Persepolis   Božidar Radošević   Bashar Resan
Saipa
Sanat Naft
Sepahan   Kiros   Giorgi Gvelesiani
Shahr Khodro
Tractor   Okacha Hamzaoui
Zob Ahan   Darko Bjedov   Ivan Marković

League table

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Standings

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Persepolis[a] (C) 30 19 10 1 47 14 +33 67
2 Sepahan 30 19 8 3 53 24 +29 65 Qualification for 2022 AFC Champions League group stage
3 Esteghlal[a] 30 16 8 6 36 19 +17 56
4 Tractor 30 12 9 9 35 29 +6 45
5 Gol Gohar 30 13 6 11 33 32 +1 45
6 Foolad 30 10 14 6 27 18 +9 44 Qualification for 2022 AFC Champions League group stage[b]
7 Paykan 30 9 13 8 32 30 +2 40
8 Mes Rafsanjan 30 10 9 11 23 29 −6 39
9 Padideh 30 10 8 12 27 31 −4 38
10 Sanat Naft 30 9 10 11 24 29 −5 37
11 Aluminium Arak 30 8 13 9 25 33 −8 37
12 Nassaji Mazandaran 30 9 6 15 27 34 −7 33
13 Naft Masjed Soleyman 30 7 10 13 21 29 −8 31
14 Zob Ahan 30 5 11 14 28 39 −11 26
15 Saipa (R) 30 5 11 14 19 34 −15 26 Relegation to 2021–22 Azadegan League
16 Machine Sazi (R) 30 2 8 20 19 52 −33 14
Updated to match(es) played on 30 July 2021. Source: IPL Table, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored.[7]
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. ^ a b Persepolis and Esteghlal did not obtain an AFC license. Therefore, even if they earn the right to play in Asian competitions based on league position, they will not be able to participate.
  2. ^ Foolad qualified to AFC Champions League by winning the Hazfi Cup


Results

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Home \ Away ALU EST FOL GOL MST MES MIS NSJ PAY PRS SAP SNA SEP SHK TRC ZOB
Aluminium Arak 0–0 0–0 0–0 4–1 0–0 0–1 0–3 1–1 2–1 1–1 1–0 1–6 1–0 1–3 2–2
Esteghlal 2–0 1–0 2–0 1–0 2–0 1–0 1–0 0–0 2–2 0–1 1–1 1–2 2–0 2–1 0–2
Foolad 0–0 2–1 1–0 1–0 1–1 2–0 1–0 0–0 0–0 3–0 2–0 0–0 2–0 1–1 1–0
Gol Gohar 2–1 1–2 1–1 3–1 0–0 0–0 2–2 1–2 0–5 1–0 1–0 3–1 3–1 1–2 1–0
Machine Sazi 1–1 0–2 0–1 0–1 3–0 0–1 0–2 0–5 0–5 2–2 1–0 3–3 1–1 0–1 1–1
Mes Rafsanjan 0–1 1–1 2–1 0–2 1–0 2–0 0–1 1–1 0–1 1–0 0–0 1–2 2–1 0–1 3–1
Naft MIS 1–2 1–1 1–0 1–2 1–0 1–0 0–2 0–1 0–0 1–1 1–2 3–1 3–1 1–1 2–3
Nassaji 1–1 1–3 1–0 1–2 1–1 0–1 1–0 0–1 1–1 1–0 0–1 0–1 1–0 1–1 2–3
Paykan 0–0 0–0 1–1 0–2 2–2 2–3 1–1 2–1 0–2 1–1 2–0 1–1 1–0 1–1 1–0
Persepolis 2–0 1–0 2–1 3–1 2–1 1–0 2–1 2–0 1–0 1–0 1–0 0–0 3–0 3–1 1–1
Saipa 1–0 0–2 2–1 0–1 0–0 0–0 0–0 1–0 1–2 0–0 1–1 0–1 1–2 1–2 2–1
Sanat Naft 0–1 0–1 1–1 2–1 2–1 1–1 2–0 1–1 2–1 0–0 1–0 1–2 0–0 2–1 1–0
Sepahan 1–0 2–0 1–1 1–0 1–0 5–1 0–0 4–0 2–1 1–1 1–1 4–1 1–3 2–0 2–0
Shahr Khodro 2–2 0–2 0–0 1–0 3–0 0–1 1–0 1–0 2–0 1–1 1–0 1–1 0–1 2–1 1–1
Tractor 0–1 1–3 0–0 1–0 2–0 0–0 0–0 2–1 3–1 0–1 5–1 1–1 0–1 0–0 1–0
Zob Ahan 1–1 0–0 2–2 1–1 2–0 0–1 0–0 1–2 1–1 1–2 1–1 1–0 1–3 0–2 1–2
Updated to match(es) played on 30 July 2021. Source: IPL Stats, Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Positions by round

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Team ╲ Round123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930
Persepolis946224462223111112211121111111
Sepahan13936106523442432221122212222222
Esteghlal462541241111223333333333333333
Tractor11111310128377555677655567777585464
Gol Gohar3111151158910889988844446746545
Foolad634773756776554444455665674656
Paykan127995710108668111111101111111191111111099777
Mes Rafsanjan1416161615141314141412121298877788991212111111108
Shahr Khodro258118101413129131391212121010101011888857889
Sanat Naft581046263433434576667101212991010101110
Aluminium Arak15151514131289101111117665999965544689911
Nassaji127339111213131414151515151515151514141414141313121212
Naft MIS1013121311139891087101010111212121212101010111212131313
Zob Ahan71011121415151515151515141414141414141413151515151414141414
Saipa8125891112111112109131313131313131315131313131515151515
Machine Sazi161414151616161616161616161616161616161616161616161616161616
Leader : 2022 AFC Champions League Group stage
2022 AFC Champions League qualifying play-off round
Relegation to 2021-22 Azadegan League
Updated to match(es) played on 30 July 2021 (2021-07-30). Source: IPL Table

Season statistics

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As of 31 July 2021

Top scorers

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Sajjad Shahbazzadeh 20 goals in the Persian Gulf Pro League.
Rank Player Club Goals
1   Sajjad Shahbazzadeh Sepahan 20
2   Godwin Mensha Gol Gohar 14
3   Mohammad Abbaszadeh Tractor 12
4   Amin Ghaseminejad Padideh 11
5   Hamed Pakdel Aluminium Arak 10
  Ahmad Nourollahi Persepolis
7   Mehdi Abdi Persepolis 9
  Taleb Reykani Sanat Naft
9   Younes Shakeri Gol Gohar 8
10   Sasan Hosseini Naft MIS 7
  Amir Arsalan Motahari Esteghlal

Hat-tricks

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Player For Against Result Date
  Godwin Mensha Gol Gohar Shahr Khodro 3–1 (H) 18 December 2020
  Peyman Babaei Machine Sazi Sepahan 3–3 (H) 29 December 2020
  Younes Shakeri Gol Gohar Machine Sazi 3–1 (H) 5 April 2021

Clean sheets

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Hamed Lak won the Persian Gulf Pro League Golden Glove after keeping 17 clean sheets for Persepolis.
Rank Player Club Clean sheets
1   Hamed Lak Persepolis 17
2   Payam Niazmand Sepahan 14
3   Hossein Pour Hamidi Aluminium Arak 11
4   Rashid Mazaheri Esteghlal 10
5   Mohsen Forouzan Foolad 9
6   Mohammad Reza Akhbari Tractor 8
7   Hossein Akbar Monadi Saipa 6
  Milad Farahani Padideh
  Alireza Haghighi Gol Gohar
  Farhad Kermanshahi Naft Masjed Soleyman
  Davoud Noushi Soufiani Mes Rafsanjan

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Aluminium Arak secure promotion to IPL". 2020-08-17. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  2. ^ "Mes Rafsanjan promoted to Iran Professional League". 2020-08-02. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  3. ^ "2020/21 IPL to kick off as scheduled: official". 2020-11-01. Retrieved 2020-11-06.
  4. ^ "بلیت بازی گل‌گهر پرسپولیس تمام شد!".
  5. ^ "جزئیات فروش بلیط بازی مس رفسنجان-استقلال تهران". 21 May 2022.
  6. ^ "10 درصد ورزشگاه آبادان در اختیار استقلالی‌ها".
  7. ^ "Persian Gulf Pro League/2020-21". Soccerway.com. Retrieved 7 November 2020.