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

Stadia and locations
Locations of clubs in 2020–21 Persian Gulf Pro League
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
Machine Sazi Tabriz Qasem Soleimani 12,000
Mes Rafsanjan Rafsanjan Shohadaye Mes 10,000
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 8,000
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

Number of teams by region
Region Number of teams Teams
Tehran 4 Esteghlal, Persepolis, Paykan, Saipa
Khuzestan 3 Foolad, Sanat Naft, Naft Masjed Soleyman
East Azarbaijan 2 Tractor, Machine Sazi
Isfahan 2 Sepahan, Zob Ahan
Kerman 2 Gol Gohar Sirjan, Mes Rafsanjan
Markazi 1 Aluminium
Mazandaran 1 Nassaji
Razavi Khorasan 1 Shahr Khodro

Personnel and kits

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
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
See also: List of foreign footballers in the Persian Gulf Pro League

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

Standings
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Persepolis (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 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
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, IranLeague
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored.[4]
(C) Champion; (R) Relegated

Results
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
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: Iran Football League Organization

Season statistics
As of 31 July 2021

Top scorers
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
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

Top assists
Soroush Rafiei
Rank Player Club Assists
1 Soroush Rafiei Sepahan 9
2 Ahmad Reza Zendehrouh Gol Gohar 8
3 Omid Alishah Persepolis 6
Mehdi Ghayedi Esteghlal
5 Ahmad Nourollahi Persepolis 5
6 Saeid Aghaei Persepolis 4
Vahid Amiri Persepolis
Karim Eslami Nassaji
Amin Ghaseminejad Padideh
Mohammad Reza Hosseini Sepahan
Milad Jahani Zob Ahan
Mehdi Torabi Persepolis

Clean Sheets
Hamed Lak
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

References
  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. "Persian Gulf Pro League/2020-21". Soccerway.com. Retrieved 7 November 2020.


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