Baharvand said that the league will begin on on August 22 but didn’t comment on exact dates of the remaining matchdays.

Iranian Football Federation has urged clubs to reach the standards of a professional football level. The body says that equipping stadiums with surveillance cameras and selling tickets online are among prerequisites of any professional league which need to be met.

Baharvand further said that those clubs whose stadiums have not yet fulfilled the standards will play their games in a neutral venue without their fans in presence.

The competition will begin with the reigning champion Persepolis taking on Pars Jonoubi at Azadi Stadium, while Esteghlal will go to Tabriz to face off Machin Sazi.

Tehran’s Derby, Esteghlal vs Persepolis, will be held on Matchday 4.

The Iran Professional League is the highest division of professional football in Iran. The league was also known as the Persian Gulf Cup from 2006. It is the top-level football league in Iran since its foundation on Nov. 2, 2001.

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The goal was scored by Ali Alipour in the 22nd minute from a wonderful free-kick.

Alipour was invited to Iran national football team by Marc Wilmots at the end of the match.

The match was originally scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. local time but was delayed for about two hours because Damash fans had failed to enter to the 30,000 capacity stadium after the seats were captured by Persepolis fans.

Persepolis had beaten Navad Urmia, Sepidrood, Padideh and Sepahan on their way to the final match.

Damash came into the match as the dark horses but a convincing 2-1 win over Saipa FC in the semi-finals gave them much to be confident about and they began brightly against Persepolis.

Persepolis completed a domestic double since the team had won Iran Professional League in May.

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Former Inter Milan coach showed that he knows the Iranian team very well and is aware of interesting technical details about the team’s players, noted the report, adding that Stramaccioni will reveal the results of talks on June 1.

Esteghlal suspended the German Winfried Schäfer in late April due to team’s failure in the Iran Professional League (IPL) and also in the 2019 AFC Champions League. Assistant Farhad Majidi, a former striker of the team, replaced him till the season end. According to reports, the German coach has signed a contract with UAE’s Baniyas SC.

Esteghlal finished this season’s IPL no better than the 3rd place with 57 points, while their arch-rival Persepolis, with 61 points, claimed the title for the third consecutive year.

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Farhad Majidi, a fans’ favorite and Schäfer’s assistant, is going to be the caretaker coach of the team in the remaining games of the season both in Iran Professional League and in the AFC Champions League.

Hours after the news broke out, Esteghlal FC President Amirhossein Fathi denied it as ‘media speculations’, saying that the club has not yet decided on the case. “We have lost an important game but no decision has been adopted by us about dismissing Schäfer and his replacement with Majidi.”

Esteghlal has almost lost hope to gain IPL title with a 1-0 Saturday loss to 5th ranked Padided. The Blues now have 50 points and stand third in the table, 6 points behind their arch-rival Persepolis.

The Tehran-based team has been eliminated from this season’s Hazfi Cup. Esteghlal is also seated third in Group C of ACL with 4 points, having a faint hope to advance to the round of 16.

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Kevin Constant, former AC Milan midfielder has signed a 3.5-year contract with Iran’s Tractor Sazi FC on Friday in Istanbul.

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