The 2019–20 Persian Gulf Pro League (formerly known as Iran Pro League) was the 37th season of Iran's Football League and 19th as Persian Gulf Pro League since its establishment in 2001. Persepolis were the defending champions and won their record-extending 4th consecutive title and 13th title overall (6th in the Pro League era) on 24 July with four games to spare. The season featured 14 teams from the 2018–19 Persian Gulf Pro League and two new teams promoted from the 2018–19 Azadegan League: Shahin Bushehr and Gol Gohar Sirjan.
Effects of the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in Iran, the Persian Gulf Pro League temporally suspended all matches from 11 March to 24 June 2020.
Teams
Stadia and locations
TeamLocationStadiumCapacityEsteghlalTehranAzadi78,116FooladAhvazFoolad Arena30,655Gol Gohar SirjanSirjanImam Ali8,000Machine SaziTabrizQasem Soleimani12,000Naft Masjed SoleymanMasjed SoleymanBehnam Mohammadi8,000Nassaji MazandaranQaem ShahrVatani15,000Pars Jonoubi JamJamTakhti Jam15,000PaykanShahr-e QodsShahre Qods18,000PersepolisTehranAzadi78,116SaipaTehranDastgerdi8,250Sanat NaftAbadanTakhti Abadan10,000SepahanIsfahanNaghsh-e-Jahan75,000Shahin BushehrBushehrShahid Mahdavi15,000Shahr KhodroMashhadImam Reza27,700TractorTabrizYadegar-e Emam75,000Zob AhanFooladshahrFooladshahr15,000
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. TeamManagerCaptainKit manufacturerEsteghlal Farhad Majidi Voria Ghafouri UhlsportFoolad Javad Nekounam Ayoub Vali UhlsportGol Gohar Majid Jalali Mehran Golzari MeroojMachine Sazi Human Afazeli Aziz Maeboodi MeroojNaft MIS Mehdi Tartar Abbas Asgari MeroojNassaji Mahmoud Fekri Mohammad Abbaszadeh MeroojPars Jonoubi Sirous Pourmousavi Mohammad Nouri UhlsportPaykan Abdollah Veisi Ali Hamoudi Yousef JamePersepolis Yahya Golmohammadi Jalal Hosseini UhlsportSaipa Ebrahim Sadeghi Roozbeh Shahalidoost StartSanat Naft Behnam Seraj Hossein Baghlani MeroojSepahan Miguel Teixeira (caretaker) Rasoul Navidkia UhlsportShahin Bushehr Mehdi Pashazadeh Milad Saremi UhlsportShahr Khodro Sohrab Bakhtiarizadeh Reza Nasehi UhlsportTractor Saket Elhami Masoud Shojaei Adidas Zob Ahan Luka Bonačić Ghasem Haddadifar Talash
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing head coachManner of departureDate of vacancyPosition in tableIncoming head coachDate of appointment Nassaji Majid Jalali Resigned Pre-season Mohammad Reza Mohajeri Sanat Naft Paulo Sérgio Signed with Al-Taawoun Dragan Skočić Foolad Afshin GhotbiContract expired Javad Nekounam Tractor Georges Leekens Mustafa Denizli Pars Jonoubi Jam Mehdi Tartar Faraz Kamalvand Naft MIS Firouz Karimi Mehdi Tartar Esteghlal Farhad Majidi End of caretaker role Andrea Stramaccioni Machine Sazi Mohammad Reza Mohajeri Mutual Consent Rasoul Khatibi Persepolis Branko Ivanković Signed with Al-Ahli Gabriel Calderón Gol Gohar Sirjan Vinko Begović Sacked 15th Majid Jalali Shahin Bushehr Abdollah VeisiResigned 16th Mišo Krstičević Esteghlal Andrea Stramaccioni 1st Farhad Majidi Tractor Mustafa Denizli Sacked 8th Saket Elhami Pars Jonoubi Jam Faraz Kamalvand Resigned 13th Human Afazeli Zob Ahan Alireza Mansourian Mutual Consent 11th Miodrag Radulović Machine Sazi Rasoul Khatibi Signed with Aluminium 9th Ahad Sheykhlari Persepolis Gabriel Calderón Resigned 1st Yahya Golmohammadi Shahr Khodro Yahya Golmohammadi Signed with Persepolis 6th Mojtaba Sarasiaei Stefano Cusin Paykan Hossein Faraki Resigned 14th Abdollah Veisi Sanat Naft Dragan Skočić Signed with Iran national football team 6th Behnam Seraj Nassaji Mohammad Reza Mohajeri Resigned 11th Mahmoud Fekri Zob Ahan Miodrag Radulović Mutual Consent 11th Luka Bonačić Shahin Bushehr Mišo KrstičevićResigned 15th Mehdi Pashazadeh Machine Sazi Ahad Sheykhlari 10th Mohammad Reza Mohajeri Shahr Khodro Mojtaba Sarasiaei 3rd Sohrab Bakhtiarizadeh Machine Sazi Mohammad Reza Mohajeri 10th Human Afazeli Pars Jonoubi Jam Human Afazeli 13th Sirous Pourmousavi Sepahan Amir Ghalenoei 5th Miguel Teixeira (Caretaker) 1. Cusin became the official co-manager because Sarasiaei did not have AFC A-Licence.سرخابی سابق و یک ایتالیایی در کادر فنی در کادر شهرخودرو
Foreign players
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 Players Esteghlal Hrvoje Milić Cheick Diabaté Nikolay Bodurov Foolad Chimba Moussa Coulibaly Ayanda Patosi Anas Bani Yaseen Gol Gohar Sirjan Godwin Mensha Jefferson Tavares Kevin Jansen Uroš Delić Machine Sazi Eduardo Mancha Jefferson de Jesus Naft MIS Nassaji Pars Jonoubi Jam Fernando de Jesus Magno Batista Kakhaber Kakashvili Paykan Aram Ayrapetyan Marko Vukčević Persepolis Božidar Radošević Anthony Stokes Christian Osaguona Bashar Resan Júnior Brandão Saipa Sanat Naft Sepahan Kiros Giorgi Gvelesiani Vladimir Koman Muhsen Al-Ghassani Shahin Bushehr Maksime Kvilitaia Luka Gadrani Shahr Khodro Carlos Chavarría Myroslav Slavov Tractor Okacha Hamzaoui Yuri Matias Willyan Mimbela Mazola Kévin Fortuné Yukiya Sugita Zob Ahan Darko Bjedov Ivan Marković Mehdi Khalil Ebiabowei Baker Macauley Chrisantus
League table
Results
Positions by round
Clubs season-progress
Season statistics
Top scorers
RankPlayerClubGoals1 Cheick Diabaté Esteghlal152 Shahriar Moghanlou Paykan133 Ali Alipour Persepolis12 Issa Alekasir Sanat Naft5 Mehdi Torabi Persepolis116 Mehdi Ghaedi Esteghlal10 Amir Arsalan Motahari Zob Ahan / Esteghlal8 Younes Shakeri Shahr Khodro / Gol Gohar99 Faraz Emamali Paykan8 Hossein Maleki Shahin Bushehr Mohammad Nouri Pars Jonoubi Ahmad Reza Zendehrouh Gol Gohar
Hat-tricks
PlayerForAgainstResultDate Ali Alipour Persepolis Shahin Bushehr 5–0 (A) Cheick Diabaté Esteghlal Tractor 4–2 (A) Kiros Stanlley Sepahan Shahin Bushehr 5–0 (H)
Clean sheets
RankPlayerClubClean sheets1 Payam Niazmand Sepahan172 Mohammad Rashid Mazaheri Tractor143 Shahab Gordan Foolad134 Mehdi Rahmati Shahr Khodro125 Alireza Haghighi Nassaji116 Božidar Radošević Persepolis107 Hossein Hosseini Esteghlal78 Alireza Beiranvand Persepolis6 Hamed Fallahzadeh Saipa Milad Farahani Gol Gohar Hamed Lak Machine Sazi Sosha Makani Naft MIS
Scoring
Attendances
Average home attendances
Attendances by round Team/Round123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930AverageEsteghlalA20000A57000ANA15000A20000AA65000A1000015000P9000ACN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A26375Foolad6000A5000A4000AA2000A25000A1000A1000AAPA3000AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A5875Gol Gohar5000A3000A5000A5000A4000A3500A3000A5000A3000A4000AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A4050Machine Sazi4000A700A100A100200A600A100A2000AA500A100AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A840Naft MSJ1000A5000ANA3000A30004000A6000A2000AA5000A3000AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A3556NassajiA6000A8000A70008000A4000A15000A8000A70007000A6000A3000N/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A7182Pars JamA3000A50003000A1000A2000A3000A500A30006000A700AAN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A2720Paykan300AA200A100A300A200A6000A10000AA300100A300N/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A1780Persepolis25000A12000A20000ANA16000A800040000A30000AA40000A57000N/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A27556SaipaA500500A6000A2000A200A200A200A8000300AA400AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A1830Sanat NaftA5000A6000A1500A5000AA12000A3000A700012000A8000A5000N/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A6350SepahanA25000A10000A15000A20000A30000A45000AA100007000A10000AXN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A19111Shahin Bushehr7000A2000AA2000A10000A5000A2000A3000AA3000A10006000N/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A4100Shahr KhodroA7000A15000A23000A3500A8000A2000A7000A5000A2500ACN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A8111TractorA50000A17000A25000AA80000A20000A4000A200010000A7000A4000N/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A21900Zob Ahan2000A3000A5000A1000A500A500A50002000AA500A2000AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A2150Total503001165003120011820043100736002010056000109700928006220010210088700570005200062300N/A433007050019300N/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A71422Average62881456339001477561571051428717000137131160077751276311088712565007788N/A541388133860N/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A8737
Notes:Updated to games played on 23 February 2020. Source: Matches with spectator bans are not included in average attendances A=Away N=Spectator Ban C=No spectator due to CoronaVirus prevention X=Not played
Highest attendances Rank Home team Score Away team Attendance Date Week Stadium1 Tractor 2–4Esteghlal 80000 9 Yadegar-e Emam Stadium2 Esteghlal 1–0Shahr Khodro 65000 13 Azadi Stadium3 Esteghlal 0–1Persepolis 57000 4 Azadi StadiumPersepolis 2–2Esteghlal 57000 19 Azadi Stadium5 Tractor 1–0Persepolis 50000 2 Yadegar-e Emam Stadium6 Sepahan 2–2Esteghlal 45000 12 Naghsh-e Jahan Stadium7 Persepolis 1–0Nassaji 40000 12 Azadi StadiumPersepolis 2–0Tractor 40000 17 Azadi Stadium9 Sepahan 2–0Tractor 30000 10 Naghsh-e Jahan StadiumPersepolis 2–1Gol Gohar 30000 14 Azadi Stadium Notes:Updated to games played on 7 February 2020. Source:
See also 2019–20 Azadegan League 2019–20 League 2 2019–20 League 3 2019–20 Hazfi Cup 2019 Iranian Super Cup 2020 AFC Champions League
References