esteghlal ahvaz football club (persian: باشگاه فوتبال استقلال اهواز, bashgah-e futbal-e esteqlâl ahvaz), commonly known as esteghlal ahvaz, was an iranian football club based in ahvaz, khuzestan, that competed in the khuzestan province league the club was founded in 1948 as taj ahvaz football club (persian: باشگاه فوتبال تاج اهواز).the football team played their home games at the takhti ahvaz which has a seating capacity of 10,000.the club was owned and supported by mohammad maleki.esteghlal ahvaz was the oldest existing football club in ahvaz alongside shahin ahvaz and has a large history in khuzestan football.the club was one of taj tehran branches at the time.from the beginning taj ahvaz was able to attract some of the best players of khuzestan.most clubs participated in championships of their city or province.in addition to that taj ahvaz played in the khuzestan premier league until 1970.the league included teams from all iran in different qualifying tournaments.taj ahvaz finished first in group a of their qualifying tournament.after losing the semifinal, taj ahvaz defeated javanan isfahan 2–0 in the third-place match.the club also participated in the 1971–72 local league season.taj ahvaz missed again qualification for the final stage after defeating 0–2 by sepahan in the semifinal of their qualifying tournament.once again, they achieved third place after a 2–1 win over tractor.in 1972, the takht jamshid cup was founded as the national league and included teams from all over the country.although taj ahvaz was promoted to the takht jamshid cup in 1973, the club had to play in the khuzestan premier league anymore.reason therefore was rule by the iran football federation.they allowed only one team of the same name to participate in the league at that time.taj tehran played in the league already.esteghlal means independence in persian.after the revolution, any sign of the previous monarchist regime was not tolerated.the war hit ahvaz and khuzestan hard.consequently, the people paid very little attention to the club and football in general at that time.in 1989 the qods league was created as the national football league, but esteghlal ahvaz did not participate.in 1991 the azadegan league was formed as the top flight of iranian football.esteghlal ahvaz played eight years in the league with average results.after they finished 13th in the 1997–98 azadegan league season, esteghlal ahvaz relegated to iran football's 2nd division.esteghlal ahvaz won the 2001–02 azadegan league season and promoted to iran pro league.due to investment by ali shafizadeh, the chairman of the club between 2002 and 2006, esteghlal ahvaz had a good team and remained in iran pro league.they grown in the following years and finished eighth in the 2003–04 iran pro league season and fifth one season later.after they achieved only 12th place in 2005–06 iran pro league, esteghlal ahvaz finished as runners-up in the 2006–07 season.they continued to be an average team in seasons 2007–08 and 2008–09.only one year later they relegated again due to a lot of instability in 2010–11 azadegan league as they finished 13th.esteghlal ahvaz returned to azadegan league in 2012.they won the 2011–12 iran 2nd division after a 4–3 win over pas novin hamedan.prior to this, they finished first in their group.past on two average seasons, esteghlal ahvaz relegated again to league 2.they lost their play-off match against shahrdari tabriz 3–3 on aggregate due to away goals.they get the licence from foolad novin, which was actually promoted.foolad novin could not promote to persian gulf pro league as they are the reserve side of foolad khuzestan.
esteghlal ahvaz fc | manager | adnan hamad
no related information