Esteghlal lost the league after a defeat to Esteghlal Ahvaz, team Ghalenoei coached in 2002 in the final match. 2004–05 Ghalenoei began his second year as the head coach of Esteghlal, which his side was again in the championship race but ended the season at the third place with a goal difference with Zob Ahan in the second rank. One of the best days of Ghalenoei in this season was seen in Tehran derby, when Esteghlal defeated its rival 3–2 with a late goal from Pirouz Ghorbani. Esteghlal forward Reza Enayati was the top scorer of the league and Esteghlal had the best attacking style between the teams of the league. 2005–06 At the next and final season at Esteghlal in the first spell, Ghalenoei earn the Iran Pro League title for the first time with fifty-nine points ahead of Pas Tehran. Reza Enayati also became the league top scorer for the second constitutive time and Esteghlal had the best defense style. Ghalenoei left the Esteghlal at the end of the season to succeed Branko Ivanković as the head coach of Iranian national football team. 2008–09 Ghalenoei returned to Esteghlal in May 2008 after two seasons. Esteghlal saw a bad season in the last year after ending 13th with the management of Nasser Hejazi and Firouz Karimi. Ghalenoei led the team in the remaining matches of Hazfi Cup which Esteghlal won the trophy after defeating Pegah Gilan in the final. Esteghlal won the league at the final day after defeating Payam Mashhad and Zob Ahan lose to Foolad. Arash Borhani was also the team and league's top scorer. Esteghlal have a bad starting in AFC Champions League, eliminating in the group stage. At the end of the tournament, Ghalenoei resigned from his post after did not agree with a new contract with club chairman. 2012–13 After spending one season at Tractor, he signed a two years contract with Esteghlal on 29 May 2012. He named former Saipa head coach Majid Saleh as his assistant. Esteghlal also bought many stars like Amir Hossein Sadeghi, Rodrigo Tosi and Siavash Akbarpour from Tractor, Amin Manouchehri from Saipa, Fabio Januario from Sepahan, Javad Nekounam from Osasuna and Liam Reddy from Sydney FC. They also kept their players except Andranik Teymourian who was sold to Al-Kharitiyath and Goran Jerković to Buriram United. His side started the league disappointing in the early weeks but soon obtain