Saipa Football Club (, Bashgah-e Futbal-e Saipa) is a football club from Tehran, Iran. The team is owned by SAIPA, an Iranian automobile manufacturer. The team has never had a large fanbase. In the 2006–07 season, under the guidance of Ali Daei, Saipa won their only Persian Gulf Cup title. Saipa has also won the Azadegan League twice and the Hazfi Cup once. Saipa is the football club of the multisport Saipa Cultural and Athletic Corporation.
History
Early days In 1989, SAIPA Company decided to start its own football team. They purchased a team playing in the 4th division of Tehran's city league, and renamed it Saipa F.C. After back to back promotions starting in the first year, the Karaj-based club was playing in the 2nd division by 1991. That same year they purchased the Shipping Department team's shares, and participated in the 1st division of Tehran's local league. In that year they won the Tehran city championship as well as the Tehran Super Cup, thus attaining the right to play in Iran's top league at the time, the Azadegan League.
Azadegan League In their first year in the Azadegan League they won the championship, as well as the Hazfi Cup. They won the league championship again in 1994. The team was relegated to the second division in 1995, but was promoted again in the following year. Since their second promotion to the top tier, the club has remained in the middle of the league table.
Persian Gulf Pro League Ali Daei era By 2001, the club's on-field performance remained stable, occupying mid-table position most years. Shortly following Iranian goalkeeper Ahmad Reza Abedzadeh's retirement, he was linked with the head coaching job at Saipa. It never materialized, but the club signed another Iranian, Ali Daei in a move from Saba Battery. The club had finished third in the previous season and now, with Werner Lorant as coach, the team aimed to work for the title. Shortly after the season began though, Littbarski was fired and Ali Daei took on the role of player/coach. Daei scored the winner in the title winning game. Daei extended his contract, this time as a full-time coach. He was appointed head coach of the national team but kept his role at Saipa until the end of the season.
Return to mid-table and relocation to Tehran Following the title winning year which saw the team play in the AFC Champions League, Saipa returned to the mid-table in the league standing. Before the start of the 2015–16 Persian Gulf Pro League season Saipa announced they had moved their home city from Karaj to nearby Tehran.
Season-by-season The table below chronicles the achievements of Saipa in various competitions since 1993.
Season Pos.Hazfi CupACL1993–94Azadegan League1stWinnersdid not qualify1994–951stSecond round1995–9616th4th Place1996–97Second Division2nddid not qualify1997–98Azadegan League7thNot held1998–994th1999–20003rdSemifinal2000–017thSemifinal2001–02Pro League11th2002–036thQuarterfinals2003–0413thSemifinal2004–0513thQuarterfinals2005–063rdRound of 162006–071stQuarterfinals2007–0811thRound of 16Quarterfinals2008–0910thRound of 16did not qualify2009–108thThird Round2010–1111thFourth Round2011–128thRound of 162012–139thRound of 162013–148thRound of 162014–157thRound of 162015–168thSemifinals2016–1713thSemifinals2017–184thRound of 162018–197thSemifinalsPlay-off2019–2014thQuarterfinalsdid not qualify2020–2115thRound of 162021-22Azadegan League14thThird Round2022-23
Honours Iran Pro League/First Division Champions: 1993–94*, 1994–95, 2006–07 Hazfi Cup Winners: 1993–94* Tehran Super Cup Champions: 1993 Tehran Province League Champions: 1992-1993 * Won League title and Hazfi Cup (double)
Players Current squad
Out on loan
Individual Records All Top Appearances # Name Nationality Apps1Ebrahim Sadeghi Iran4522Majid Ayoubi Iran3383Roozbeh Shahalidoost Iran2544Hamed Shiri Iran1665Mohsen Khalili Iran1566Ali Zeinali Iran1507Omid Sharifinasab Iran1498Javad Ashtiani Iran1439Hamed Fallahzadeh Iran13810Ebrahim Shakouri Iran133
All Top Scorers # Name Nationality Goals1Mohsen Khalili Iran622Karim Ansarifard Iran563Ebrahim Sadeghi Iran414Amin Manouchehri Iran255Hamed Shiri Iran226Sajjad Shahbazzadeh Iran217Mehdi Torabi Iran208Javad Kazemian Iran169Arman Ramezani Iran1510Omid Sharifinasab Iran14
Manager
Coaching staff StaffNameHead coach Faraz KamalvandFirst team coach Asghar MaziarAssistant coach Mehdi Zarei Kazem BorjlouGoalkeeping coach Farshad BakhtiarizadehFitness coach Ali Asghar GhorbanaliPourDoctor Mahyar MortazaviAnalyzer Mohammad PalizvanTechnical Manager Asghar HajilooB team Manager Kianoush Rahmati
The following managers had managed Saipa since 1993: NamePeriodTrophies Bijan Zolfagharnasab1993–972 Azadegan League, Hazfi Cup Nasrollah Abdollahi1997–00 Behtash Fariba2000–01 Hamid Alidoosti2001–02 Giovanni Mei2002–03 Mohammad Mayeli Kohan2003–04 Bijan Zolfagharnasab2004–06 Werner Lorant2006 Ali Daei2006–081 Persian Gulf Cup Pierre Littbarski2008 Mohammad Mayeli Kohan2008–11 Majid Saleh2011–12 Mojtaba Taghavi2012–13 Engin Firat2013–14 Majid Jalali2014–16 Hossein Faraki2016–17 Ali Daei2017–19 Ebrahim Sadeghi2019–21 Faraz Kamalvand2021
References
External links