Malavan F.C.

"Malavan" redirects here. For the village in Iran, see Malavan, Iran.

Malavan Anzali FC
ملوان بندر انزلى

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Full name	Malavan Bandar Anzali Football Club
Nickname(s)	White Swans (Persian: قوی سپید‎‎)
Founded	1969; 46 years ago
Ground	Takhti Stadium, Bandar-e Anzali
Ground Capacity	8,000
Manager	Hamid Estili
League	Persian Gulf Pro League
2014–15	Persian Gulf Pro League, 13th
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours

Malavan Bandar Anzali Football Club (Persian: باشگاه فوتبال ملوان بندر انزلى‎‎) is an Iranian football club based in Bandar-e Anzali, Iran. It currently plays in Iran's top football league, the Persian Gulf Pro League. The team is known to have some of the most passionate and loyal fans in Iranian football, and is one of the successful teams not based in Tehran.

The club is owned by Iranian businessman, Sirous Mahjoob, and is known to have one of the best youth football programs in the country. Malavan is the football club of the multisport Malavan Sport and Cultural Club.

History

Establishment

Bahman Salehnia created the team in 1968 along with some young athletes from the port city of Anzali. After some time, the Iranian Navy decided to become the team's main sponsor and owner.

Early Years

The club never really had great success in the league but they were able to become the best non-Tehran based club and finishing third in the 1977 and 1989. Malavan has won the Hazfi Cup on one occasions, in 1990. In 1988 Malavan participated in Asian Club Championship but after beating Saunders SC in first round they withdrew from tournament due to the Iran–Iraq War.

Iran Pro League

In 2003 Malavan was relegated to the Azadegan League, they only stayed one year in the lower league as they were immediately promoted back to the Iran Pro League. Since then, they have been one of the most stable teams of the league in recent years where they only had few coaches during their history and always finished in mid table and challenge the big teams. They finished 12th in the 2008–09 and 2009–10 season. In 2010–11 season they finished 8th and reached the final of Hazfi Cup but lost to Persepolis. In the 2013–14 Iran Pro League season Malavan achieved a surprising 7th-place finish in the league, their highest ever.

Estili Era

In July 2015 Malavan hired famous Iranian coach Amir Ghalenoi who had won several league titles with Esteghlal and Sepahan. Player such as Arash Afshin, Hossein Mahini and Shahab Karami joined the squad to serve their conscription period. In Ghalenoi's first game in charge, Malavan defeated the Hazfi Cup holders, Zob Ahan 1–0. After only three games Ghalenoi left the club and was replaced by former Persepolis manager Hamid Estili.

El Gilano

Main articles: El Gilano

The match between Malavan and Damash or Sepidrood is known as the Gilan Derby or El Gilano. This match is one of Iran's most important and heated derby's. Malavan hold the record for most wins in the derby with four since the start of the Iran Pro League in 2001. Malavan also holds the largest margin of victor when they defeated Damash 3–0 in 2005 and again in 2013. The derby is also known for its fan violence. In 2008 after Malavan defeated Damash 2–1, Damash fans attacked Malavan's fans and tore up seats in the stadium. This again occurred when Malavan defeated Damash 3–0 in 2013.

Fans

File:Malavan & Esteghlal semi-final in 2010–11 Hazfi Cup.jpg

Fans of Malavan in play of Malavan & Esteghlal semi-final in 2010–11 Hazfi Cup

Malavan is known to have some of the most passionate and loyal fans in Iran. Their famous chant is Ghouye sepide khazari/Malavan bandar Anzali (Persian: قوی سپید خزری/ملوان بندر انزلی‎‎) which means the white swan of Malavan of Bandar Anzali.

Malavan fans are very passionate about former player Sirous Ghayeghran who passed away in a car accident in 1998 and have a special chant that they always sing when Malavan is behind to remind the legacy of Ghayeghran to players.

Malavan fans are known for their occasional violence, such as when Malavan lost to Persepolis in the final of the Hazfi Cup, a riot ensued after the match and the fans broke the fence, invaded the pitch and attacked riot police.

Season-by-season

The table below chronicles the achievements of Malavan in various competitions since the beginning of Iranian Pro league in 2001.

Year	Division	Position	Hazfi Cup
2001–02	Pro League	12th	1/8 Final
2002–03	Pro League	14th	1/4 Final
2003–04	Division 1	2nd Promoted to the Iran Pro League	1/8 Final
2004–05	Pro League	7th	1/8 Final
2005–06	Pro League	11th	Quarter final
2006–07	Pro League	14th	1/8 Final
2007–08	Pro League	16th	1/16 Final
2008–09	Pro League	12th	1/8 Final
2009–10	Pro League	12th	1/8 Final
2010–11	Pro League	8th	Final
2011–12	Pro League	15th	Fourth Round
2012–13	Pro League	13th	1/16 Final
2013–14	Pro League	7th	1/8 Final
2014–15	Pro League	13th	1/16 Final

For details on seasons, see List of Malavan F.C. seasons

Individual Records

Top scorers of the club in the Iran Pro League era, bold indicates present player.

Top Scorers

Player	Goals	Years
Jalal Rafkhaei	68	2005—10, 2011–
Mohammad Nozhati	23	2004–05, 2007–13
Mehrdad Oladi	20	2009–11, 2012–13, 2014
Pejman Nouri	18	2001–03, 2009–11, 2012–13, 2014–
Mehdi Daghagheleh	16	2010–12, 2013–14

Club officials

Presidents

Name Years Rashid Sazmand 1996–06 Saadollah Pourtahmasbi 2006–09 Ardeshir Pournemat 2009–11 Bahman Salehnia 2011–12 Sadegh Deroudgar 2012–14 Hossein Gholami 2014–

Current Coaching Staff

Position	Name
Head coach	Hamid Estili
Assistant coach	Payan Rafat
Assistant coach	Mohammad Ghadir Bahri
Goalkeeping coach	Mohammad Habibi
Doctor	Babak Sayyad
Technical director	Ghafour Jahani
Team manager	Hossein Gholami

Head Coaches

Below is a list of Malavan coaches from 1968 until the present day. Firouz Karimi carries the honor of being the first Iranian head coach to assume the title without rising from the Malavan football school.

Name Nationality Years Bahman Salehnia May 20, 1968–Feb 5, 1997 Nosrat Irandoost Feb 5, 1997–Dec 15, 2000 Mohammad Ahmadzadeh Dec 15, 2000–July 2, 2002 Bahman Salehnia May 15, 2002 – July 2, 2004 Nosrat Irandoost July 2, 2004 – July 5, 2006 Mohammad Ahmadzadeh July 5, 2006–Jan 1, 2010 Farhad Pourgholami Jan 1, 2010–Sept 29, 2012 Mohammad Ahmadzadeh Sept 29 2012–May 28, 2013 Dragan Skočić May 28, 2013 – June 1, 2014 Nosrat Irandoost June 1, 2014–Oct 8, 2014 Stevan Mojsilović Oct 8, 2014–Dec 5, 2014 Firouz Karimi Dec 6, 2014–June 1, 2015 Hamid Estili August 10, 2015–

Players

First-team squad

as of 12 January 2016
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 3 DF Hamed Noormohammadi 4 MF Mohammadreza Naghdipour U21 5 DF Ezzatollah Pourghaz 6 DF Ahmad Ahi 7 FW Arash Afshin (on loan from Foolad) 8 MF Pejman Nouri (Captain) 9 MF Maziar Zare (Vice captain) 10 FW Jalal Rafkhaei (2nd vice captain) 11 MF Shahab Karami (on loan from Foolad) 13 DF Hossein Mahini (on loan from Persepolis) 14 DF Aziz Maeboodi 15 DF Hossein Kanaani U23 (on loan from Persepolis) 16 DF Farzad Jafari U23 (on loan from Esteghlal Khuzestan) 17 MF Soheil Rahmani 19 MF Mohammad Razipour U23

No. Position Player 20 FW Ali Abedi U21 21 FW Amin Jahan Kohan U23 (on loan from Foolad) 22 GK Hossein Hosseini (on loan from Esteghlal) 23 FW Hesam Soltanpour U21 25 DF Sadegh Moharrami U21 26 MF Mahyar Zahmatkesh U23 28 FW Siavash Hagh Nazari U21 30 FW Reza Darvishi 32 MF Hossein Shenani U23 33 GK Mohammadreza Ghavidel U23 40 MF Saeid Yousefzadeh 44 GK Nima Mirzazad U21 99 MF Mohammad Abshak MF Mohammad Hossein Mehrazma FW Amir Mohammad Mazloum U21

Loan list

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player MF Mohammad Pour Rahmatollah (at Tractor Sazi until end of 2015–16 season) FW Shahin Saghebi (at Tractor Sazi until end of 2015–16 season)

For recent transfers, see List of Iranian football transfers winter 2015–16.

Notable players

1970s

• Manoochehr Darjezi
• Aziz Espandar
• Nosrat Irandoost
• Ghafour Jahani
• Akbar Misaghian
• Manocher Navran
• Manoochehr Navran
• Ali Niakani
• Mikhaeil Petrosyan
• Mahmoud Pishgah-Hadian
• Ghasem Soltanzadi

1980s

• Mohammad Ahmadzadeh
• Mahmoud Fekri
• Sirous Ghayeghran
• Farhad Pourgholami

1990s

• Mohammad Ghadirbahri
• Mohammad Habibi
• Aref Mohammadvand
• Payan Rafat

2000s

• Hassan Ashjari
• Mohammad Gholami
• Mohammad Hamrang
• Jalal Hosseini
• Pejman Nouri
• Babak Pourgholami
• Jalal Rafkhaei
• Hadi Ta'mini
• Maziar Zare
• Serghei Paşcenco

Honours

National titles

• Hazfi Cup

Winners (3): 1975–76, 1986–87, 1990–91

Runner Up (4): 1987–88, 1988–89, 1991–92, 2010–11

• Azadegan League

Runner Up (1): 2003–04

Minor titles

• Vahdat Cup

Third Place (1): 1982

• RCD Cup

Runner Up (1): 1974

References

• Malavan Stats
• Malavan

External links

• Persian League- Latest Iran League News - Iran Football News
• Malavan
• Official website (English) (Persian)