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Persian Gulf Pro League

Season	2015–16
Champions	Esteghlal Khuzestan 1st Pro League title 1st Iranian title
Relegated	Malavan Rah Ahan Esteghlal Ahvaz
Champions League	Esteghlal Khuzestan Persepolis Esteghlal Zob Ahan (Hazfi Cup champions)
Matches played	240
Goals scored	502 (2.09 per match)
Top goalscorer	Mehdi Taremi (16 goals)
Best goalkeeper	Fernando de Jesus (17 clean sheets)
Biggest home win	Rah Ahan 5–0 Est. Ahvaz (16 October 2015) Tractor Sazi 5–0 Est. Ahvaz (13 May 2016)
Biggest away win	Foolad 0–3 Zob Ahan (15 September 2015) Sepahan 0–3 Esteghlal (26 October 2015) Est. Ahvaz 0–3 Saba Qom (27 December 2015)
Highest scoring	Tractor Sazi 4–4 Zob Ahan (27 October 2015)
Longest winning run	5 matches Persepolis
Longest unbeaten run	21 matches Persepolis
Longest winless run	20 matches Est. Ahvaz
Longest losing run	6 matches Est. Ahvaz
Highest attendance	100,000[1] Persepolis – Esteghlal (15 April 2016)
Lowest attendance	0 (spectator ban) Foolad – Zob Ahan[2] (15 September 2015) Tractor Sazi – Saipa[3] (10 October 2015) Foolad – Naft Tehran[4] (13 December 2015) Malavan – Naft Tehran[5] (3 February 2016) Tractor Sazi – Foolad[6] (10 March 2016) Persepolis – Siah Jamegan[7] (3 April 2016) Est. Ahvaz  – Saipa[8] (8 May 2016)
Total attendance	1,875,293
Average attendance	8,048
← 2014–15 2016–17 →

The 2015–16 Persian Gulf Pro League (formerly known as Iran Pro League) was the 33rd season of Iran's Football League and 15th as Persian Gulf Pro League since its establishment in 2001. Sepahan were the defending champions. The season featured 14 teams from the 2014–15 Persian Gulf Cup and two new teams promoted from the 2014–15 Azadegan League: Siah Jamegan and Esteghlal Ahvaz. The league started on 30 July 2015 and ended on 13 May 2016. Esteghlal Khuzestan won the Pro League title for the first time in their history (total first Iranian title).

Teams

Stadia and locations

Note: Table lists in alphabetical order

Team	City	Venue	Capacity
Esteghlal	Tehran	Azadi	95,225
Esteghlal Ahvaz	Ahvaz	Takhti Ahvaz	10,000
Esteghlal Khuzestan	Ahvaz	Ghadir	38,960
Foolad	Ahvaz	Ghadir	38,960
Gostaresh	Tabriz	Bonyan Dizel	12,000
Malavan	Anzali	Takhti Anzali	8,000
Naft Tehran	Tehran	Takhti Tehran	30,122
Padideh	Mashhad	Samen	35,000
Persepolis	Tehran	Azadi	95,225
Rah Ahan	Tehran	Shahr-e Qods	25,000
Saba Qom	Qom	Yadegar-e Emam	10,610
Saipa	Tehran	Shahid Dastgerdi	8,250
Sepahan	Isfahan	Foolad Shahr	15,000
Siah Jamegan	Mashhad	Samen	35,000
Tractor Sazi	Tabriz	Sahand	66,833
Zob Ahan	Isfahan	Foolad Shahr	15,000

Number of teams by region

	Region	Number of teams	Teams
1	Tehran	5	Esteghlal, Persepolis, Naft Tehran, Rah Ahan, Saipa
2	Khuzestan	3	Esteghlal Ahvaz, Esteghlal Khuzestan, Foolad
3	East Azerbaijan	2	Gostaresh, Tractor Sazi
4	Khorasan	2	Padideh, Siah Jamegan
5	Isfahan	2	Sepahan, Zob Ahan
6	Gilan	1	Malavan
7	Qom	1	Saba Qom

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	Kit manufacturer
Esteghlal	Parviz Mazloumi	Mehdi Rahmati	361 Degrees
Est. Ahvaz	Siavash Bakhtiarizadeh	Adel Kolahkaj	Givova
Est. Khuzestan	Abdollah Veisi	Mohammad Tayyebi	Start
Foolad	Dragan Skočić	Leonard Mesarić	Uhlsport
Gostaresh	Faraz Kamalvand	Morteza Asadi	Merooj
Malavan	Mohammad Ahmadzadeh	Pejman Nouri	Givova
Naft Tehran	Alireza Mansourian	Alireza Ezzati	Uhlsport
Padideh	Mohammad Reza Mohajeri	Hossein Badamaki	Peak
Persepolis	Branko Ivanković	Alireza Nourmohammadi	Uhlsport
Rah Ahan	Ioannis Topalidis	Bahador Abdi	Givova
Saba Qom	Ali Daei	Abolfazl Ebrahimi	Daei Sport
Saipa	Saeid Rajabi (caretaker)	Ebrahim Sadeghi	Givova
Sepahan	Ghasem Zaghinejad (interim)	Moharram Navidkia	Joma
Siah Jamegan	Farhad Kazemi	Reza Enayati	Givova
Tractor Sazi	Amir Ghalenoei	Mehdi Kiani	Kelme
Zob Ahan	Yahya Golmohammadi	Mehdi Rajabzadeh	Legea

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing head coach	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming head coach	Date of appointment
Padideh	Alireza Marzban [9]	Resigned	5 July 2015	Pre-season	Mohammad Reza Mohajeri [10]	5 July 2015
Saba Qom	Mehdi Tartar	Sacked	16 July 2015		Ali Daei [11]	16 July 2015
Siah Jamegan	Rasoul Khatibi [12]	Resigned	21 August 2015	15th	Farhad Kazemi [13]	28 September 2015
Rah Ahan	Farhad Kazemi [14]	Sacked	19 September 2015	13th	Mehdi Tartar [15]	21 September 2015
Esteghlal Ahvaz	Siavash Bakhtiarizadeh [16]	Sacked	16 October 2015	15th	Ali Hanteh [17]	17 October 2015
Sepahan	Hossein Faraki [18]	Mutual consent	1 November 2015	6th	Igor Štimac [19]	12 November 2015
Tractor Sazi	Toni [20]	Mutual consent	8 December 2015	9th	Amir Ghalenoei [21]	9 December 2015
Esteghlal Ahvaz	Ali Hanteh [22]	Mutual consent	26 December 2015	16th	Siavash Bakhtiarizadeh [23]	26 December 2015
Malavan	Hamid Estili [24]	Resigned	15 February 2016	12th	Mohammad Ahmadzadeh [25]	9 March 2016
Rah Ahan	Mehdi Tartar [26]	Sacked	19 February 2016	15th	Ioannis Topalidis [27]	22 February 2016
Sepahan	Igor Štimac [28]	Resigned	20 April 2016	11th	Abdollah Veisi [29]	23 May 2016
Saipa	Majid Jalali [30]	Sacked	3 May 2016	10th	Hossein Faraki [31]	25 May 2016

Foreign players

The number of foreign players is restricted to four per Iran 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.

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Asian Player
Esteghlal	Hrayr Mkoyan	Pero Pejić	Adil Chihi
Esteghlal Ahvaz	Luiz Fernando	Sandi Šahman
Esteghlal Khuzestan	Fernando	Moussa Coulibaly	Eduardo Ferreira	Fellipe Bertoldo
Foolad	Leonard Mesarić	Mathias Chago	Dorge Kouemaha
Gostaresh	Magno Batista	Leo Pimenta	Georgi Georgiev
Malavan
Naft Tehran
Padideh
Persepolis	Luka Marić	Michael Umaña	Jerry Bengtson	Alexander Lobanov
Rah Ahan	Athos Solomou	Sebastian Strandvall
Saba Qom	Filipe Machado
Saipa	Ratko Dujković
Sepahan	Leandro Padovani	Luciano Pereira	Senijad Ibričić	Fozil Musaev
Siah Jamegan	Kyle Konwea	Alagie Sosseh	Korede Aiyegbusi
Tractor Sazi	Augusto	Carlos Cardoso	Aloys Nong
Zob Ahan	Ali Hamam			Walid Ismail

League table

Pos	Team [ v t e ]	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Est. Khuzestan (C)	30	15	12	3	33	14	+19	57	2017 AFC Champions League group stage
2	Persepolis	30	16	9	5	50	34	+16	57
3	Esteghlal	30	13	13	4	43	28	+15	52	2017 AFC Champions League play-off round
4	Tractor Sazi	30	13	12	5	43	27	+16	51
5	Naft Tehran	30	13	10	7	30	21	+9	49
6	Zob Ahan	30	11	13	6	38	26	+12	46	2017 AFC Champions League group stage[a]
7	Saba Qom	30	9	15	6	30	24	+6	42
8	Saipa	30	11	7	12	28	31	−3	40
9	Gostaresh	30	10	9	11	36	32	+4	39
10	Padideh	30	10	9	11	30	35	−5	39
11	Sepahan	30	8	14	8	29	30	−1	38
12	Foolad	30	9	8	13	26	37	−11	35
13	Siah Jamegan	30	7	6	17	23	34	−11	27
14	Malavan (R)	30	5	12	13	23	35	−12	27	Relegation to 2016–17 Azadegan League
15	Rah Ahan (R)	30	5	10	15	24	36	−12	25
16	Est. Ahvaz (R)	30	2	7	21	16	58	−42	13

Results

Home Away[1]

EST

ESA

ESK

FOL

GOS

MLV

NAF

PAD

PRS

RAH

SAB

SAP

SEP

SJA

TRK

ZOB

Esteghlal

1–1

1–1

3–0

2–1

2–0

2–1

0–0

1–1

3–3

1–0

1–1

0–0

3–1

2–3

0–2

Est. Ahvaz

1–2

0–1

1–2

0–2

1–1

0–1

2–3

0–2

1–0

0–3

1–2

1–1

1–0

0–2

1–1

Est. Khuzestan

1–1

4–0

0–1

1–0

0–0

0–0

3–0

2–1

3–1

1–1

1–0

1–1

2–1

1–1

2–0

Foolad

0–2

3–2

0–2

1–1

1–0

1–2

1–0

0–2

2–2

0–0

1–0

1–0

1–0

1–2

0–3

Gostaresh

0–2

4–0

0–0

1–1

3–1

1–1

4–1

2–4

3–2

2–0

0–1

1–0

1–0

1–3

4–3

Malavan

2–2

2–0

1–1

1–0

0–1

0–0

0–0

1–2

0–0

1–1

3–2

0–0

0–0

0–1

1–0

Naft Tehran

1–0

1–0

0–0

2–1

1–0

3–3

2–1

1–1

2–0

1–1

1–0

0–1

1–2

0–1

0–1

Padideh

1–1

2–0

0–1

1–1

2–1

1–0

1–2

2–2

1–0

0–0

1–0

1–1

1–0

1–0

0–1

Persepolis

4–2

1–0

2–0

1–0

1–0

2–0

0–2

2–2

2–1

1–1

1–2

2–2

3–2

1–1

1–2

Rah Ahan

0–1

5–0

0–1

1–1

0–0

0–1

0–1

3–1

0–2

2–1

0–2

1–0

0–0

0–0

1–1

Saba Qom

1–1

0–0

1–1

2–1

1–1

1–0

1–3

1–0

0–1

0–1

4–0

1–0

1–0

2–1

0–0

Saipa

1–2

4–1

0–1

1–0

0–0

2–1

0–0

2–1

1–1

1–0

0–0

0–2

1–1

0–1

0–1

Sepahan

0–3

1–1

1–0

1–1

2–1

2–2

2–1

0–2

4–2

0–0

2–2

1–2

1–1

0–0

1–1

Siah Jamegan

1–2

2–1

0–1

0–1

1–0

2–0

1–0

1–1

1–2

1–0

1–2

1–2

0–1

2–1

0–1

Tractor Sazi

0–0

5–0

0–0

3–2

1–1

4–2

0–0

1–2

0–1

1–1

1–1

2–0

2–1

0–0

4–4

Zob Ahan

0–0

0–0

0–1

1–1

0–0

1–0

0–0

3–1

2–2

4–0

1–1

1–1

0–1

3–1

1–2

Updated to games played on 13 May 2016.
Source: IPL Stats
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For coming matches, an a indicates there is an article about the match.

Positions by round

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	Leader and 2017 AFC Champions League Group stage
	2017 AFC Champions League Group stage
	2017 AFC Champions League Third qualifying round
	Relegation to 2016–17 Azadegan League

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Clubs season-progress

Season statistics

Clean Sheets

Rank	Player	Club	Clean Sheets
1	Fernando de Jesus	Esteghlal Khuzestan	17
2	Mohammad Rashid Mazaheri	Zob Ahan	13
3	Mohammadreza Akhbari	Tractor Sazi	12
4	Mehdi Rahmati	Esteghlal	11
5	Alireza Beiranvand	Naft Tehran	9
6	Mojtaba Roshangar	Padideh	8
	Sosha Makani	Persepolis
	Hamed Lak	Saba Qom
9	Georgi Georgiev	Gostaresh Foulad	7
	Mohsen Forouzan	Rah Ahan
11	Serghei Pașcenco	Malavan	6
	Hamed Fallahzadeh	Saipa
	Shahab Gordan	Sepahan

Last Update: 13 May 2016
Source: Iplstats.com

Scoring

• First goal of the season: Sajjad Shahbazzadeh for Esteghlal against Siah Jamegan (30 July 2015)


• Fastest goal of the season: 56 seconds,^[32]Jalaleddin Alimohammadi for Saba Qom against Naft Tehran (6 August 2015)


• Latest goal of the season: 96 minutes,^[33]Mohammad Ghazi for Saba Qom against Esteghlal Khuzestan (14 September 2015)


• Largest winning margin: 5 goals
  
  
  
  • Rah Ahan 5–0 Esteghlal Ahvaz (16 October 2015)
  
  
  • Tractor Sazi 5–0 Esteghlal Ahvaz (13 May 2016)
  
  
  
  


• Highest scoring game: 8 goals
  
  • Tractor Sazi 4–4 Zob Ahan (27 October 2015)
  
  


• Most goals scored in a match by a losing team: 3 goals
  
  • Gostaresh Foulad 4–3 Zob Ahan (31 March 2016)
  
  

Awards

Team of the Tournament

Goalkeeper: Mohammad Rashid Mazaheri (Zob Ahan)
Defence: Sadegh Moharrami (Perspolis), Majid Hosseini (Esteghlal), Jalal Hosseini (Perspolis), Mohammad Ansari (Perspolis)
Midfield: Server Djeparov (Esteghlal), Omid Ebrahimi (Esteghlal), Mohammad Reza Hosseini (Zob Ahan)
Attack: Mehdi Torabi (Saipa), Ali Alipour (Perspolis), Vahid Amiri (Perspolis)

Player of the Tournament

Mehdi Torabi was awarded as the best player of the season. Ali Gholizadeh was also awarded as the best young player of the season.

Other awards

Branko Ivankovic was awarded as the best coach of the season.
Mohammad Rashid Mazaheri won the best Goalkeeper award.
Jalal Hosseini won the best Defender award.
Omid Ebrahimi won the best Midfielder award.
Ali Alipour won the best Striker award.

Attendances

Average home attendances

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Persepolis	658,500	100,000	0	47,036	+198.3%†
2	Esteghlal	453,000	100,000	2,500	30,200	+84.1%†
3	Tractor Sazi	115,350	20,000	0	8,873	−67.7%†
4	Saipa	90,299	77,000	70	6,020	+133.2%†
5	Est. Khuzestan	76,460	35,000	200	5,097	+89.6%†
6	Siah Jamegan	64,109	25,000	120	4,274	n/a†
7	Padideh	58,367	22,000	200	3,891	−62.4%†
8	Malavan	57,909	10,000	0	4,136	−9.1%†
9	Rah Ahan	53,302	35,000	47	3,553	+123.5%†
10	Foolad	52,800	18,000	0	4,062	−39.4%†
11	Sepahan	45,150	12,500	250	3,010	−48.3%†
12	Gostaresh	35,107	15,000	60	2,340	+16.1%†
13	Saba Qom	34,840	15,000	100	2,323	+70.2%†
14	Zob Ahan	31,370	8,000	200	2,091	+9.8%†
15	Est. Ahvaz	24,820	10,800	0	1,773	n/a†
16	Naft Tehran	23,910	12,200	70	1,594	−17.3%†
	League total	1,875,293	100,000	0	8,048	+16.3%†

Attendances by round

Team/Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	Average
Esteghlal	A	30,000	35,000	A	14,000	A	11,000	A	2,500	A	90,000	A	11,000	A	6,500	5,000	A	A	12,000	A	70,000	A	28,000	A	38,000	A	15,000	A	85,000	A	30,200
Esteghlal Ahvaz	A	1,100	A	6,000	A	A	370	A	200	A	500	A	1,500	A	500	600	A	200	A	550	800	A	200	A	1,500	A	10,800	A	NC	A	1,773
Esteghlal Khuzestan	A	6,000	A	300	A	200	A	350	A	210	A	450	A	250	A	2,000	A	5,000	A	5,000	A	1,100	A	17,000	A	3,250	A	350	A	35,000	5,097
Foolad	3,100	A	2,000	A	13,000	NC	A	1,200	A	400	A	18,000	A	NC	A	A	200	A	6,000	A	A	4,000	A	2,500	A	2,000	A	350	A	50	4,062
Gostaresh	A	6,500	A	520	A	2,000	A	214	A	A	60	A	650	A	225	100	A	186	A	528	A	624	A	2,000	2,500	A	4,000	A	15,000	A	2,340
Malavan	4,656	A	4,200	A	1,600	A	2,832	A	5,000	A	700	A	5,000	A	1,200	A	5,300	A	NC	A	2,000	A	3,200	A	10,000	A	5,000	A	7,221	A	4,136
Naft Tehran	A	500	A	990	A	100	A	A	200	A	200	A	12,200	A	200	1,200	A	100	A	7,650	A	130	70	A	100	A	200	A	70	A	1,594
Padideh	A	2,500	A	5,000	A	3,000	A	22,000	A	550	A	700	A	A	1,500	18,000	A	1,500	A	2,000	A	351	A	230	A	250	A	200	586	A	3,891
Persepolis	18,000	A	A	25,000	A	11,000	A	35,000	A	9,000	A	9,000	A	4,500	A	A	40,000	77,000	A	80,000	A	80,000	A	NC	A	100,000	A	80,000	A	90,000	47,036
Rah Ahan	A	525	A	1,000	A	500	A	250	A	250	A	A	500	A	11,800	200	A	2,500	A	300	A	35,000	A	47	A	250	123	A	57	A	3,553
Saba Qom	890	A	200	A	1,500	A	4,000	A	350	A	2,500	2,500	A	200	A	A	1,000	A	100	A	1,850	A	15,000	A	500	A	A	250	A	4,000	2,323
Saipa	250	A	300	A	500	A	300	300	A	350	A	500	A	210	A	A	289	A	70	A	77,000	A	A	950	A	200	A	9,000	A	80	6,020
Sepahan	2,200	A	12,500	3,500	A	3,500	A	1,500	A	8,500	A	2,200	A	800	A	A	3,500	A	A	3,500	A	600	A	1,400	A	500	A	700	A	250	3,010
Siah Jamegan	25,000	A	2,000	A	1,500	A	1,830	A	18,000	A	120	A	450	200	A	A	268	A	900	A	3,580	A	600	A	411	A	1,250	A	A	8,000	4,274
Tractor Sazi	20,000	A	8,200	A	7,000	A	20,000	A	NC	2,500	A	9,500	A	7,000	A	A	1,350	A	5,000	A	10,000	A	NC	A	A	10,800	A	2,000	A	12,000	8,873
Zob Ahan	A	6,000	A	A	1,500	A	800	A	400	A	520	A	500	A	1,900	350	A	6,500	8,000	A	1,000	A	200	A	2,300	A	1,000	A	400	A	2,091
Total	74,096	53,125	64,400	42,310	40,600	20,300	41,132	60,814	26,650	21,760	94,600	42,850	31,800	13,160	23,825	27,450	51,907	92,986	32,070	99,528	166,230	121,805	47,270	24,127	55,311	117,250	37,373	92,850	108,334	149,380	1,875,293
Average	9,262	6,641	8,050	5,289	5,075	2,900	5,142	7,602	3,807	2,720	11,825	5,356	3,975	1,880	2,978	3,431	6,488	11,623	4,581	12,441	20,779	15,226	6,753	3,447	6,914	14,656	4,672	11,606	15,476	18,673	8,048

Notes:
Updated to games played on 13 May 2016. Source: Iranleague.ir
Matches with spectator bans are not included in average attendances
Esteghlal Ahvaz played their matches against Esteghlal and Siah Jamegan at Ghadir
Foolad played their match against Gostaresh at Takhti Ahvaz
Gostaresh played their matches against Persepolis and Tractor Sazi at Sahand
Rah Ahan played their match against Esteghlal at Azadi
Saipa played their match against Esteghlal at Takhti Tehran
Saipa played their match against Persepolis at Azadi

Highest attendances

Rank	Home team	Score	Away team	Attendance	Date	Week	Stadium
1	Persepolis	4–2	Esteghlal	100,000	15 April 2016 (2016-04-15)	26	Azadi
2	Esteghlal	1–1	Persepolis	90,000	30 October 2015 (2015-10-30)	11	Azadi
2	Persepolis	2–1	Rah Ahan	90,000	13 May 2016 (2016-05-13)	30	Azadi
4	Esteghlal	2–3	Tractor Sazi	85,000	8 May 2016 (2016-05-08)	29	Azadi
5	Persepolis	1–0	Foolad	80,000	12 February 2016 (2016-02-12)	20	Azadi
5	Persepolis	1–1	Tractor Sazi	80,000	6 March 2016 (2016-03-06)	22	Azadi
5	Persepolis	0–2	Naft Tehran	80,000	28 April 2016 (2016-04-28)	28	Azadi
8	Persepolis	2–2	Sepahan	77,000	2 February 2016 (2016-02-02)	18	Azadi
8	Saipa	1–1	Persepolis	77,000	18 February 2016 (2016-02-18)	21	Azadi
10	Esteghlal	2–1	Gostaresh	70,000	19 February 2016 (2016-02-19)	21	Azadi

Notes:
Updated to games played on 13 May 2016. Source: Iranleague.ir

See also

• Azadegan League 2015–16


• Iran Football's 2nd Division 2015–16


• Iran Football's 3rd Division 2015–16


• Hazfi Cup 2015–16


• Iranian Super Cup


• Futsal Super League 2015–16

References