The Sa’adatmand dismissal came only hours after he had confirmed that the club reached agreement with Alexander Nouri to appoint the former Werder Bremen and Hertha Berlin manager as the new head coach of the Tehran-based Blues.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the club board underlined Sa’adatmand’s “abrupt” and “ineffective” trip to Italy, in an effort to lure back ex-Esteghlal manager Andrea Stramaccioni, as one of the reasons for his ouster.

The timing of Sa’adatmand’s trip – on the eve of Esteghlal’s Hazfi Cup semifinal match against archrival Persepolis in late August – drew criticism from many at the club, most notably then-manager Farhad Majidi who resigned after the shootout victory over Persepolis.

Majidi then reversed his decision but stepped down a week later following the cup final 3-2 defeat against Tractor.

The axed CEO was also blamed for his mismanagement of the former German head coach Winfried Schäfer’s financial case, which eventually led to the club’s suspension of three transfer windows by the international football governing body, FIFA.

Sa’adatmand’s expelling, however, leaves the club in further uncertainty regarding the new head coach.

Under caretaker manager Majid Namjoo Motlaq, Esteghlal was knocked out of the AFC Champions League after suffering a 2-1 defeat against Uzbekistan’s Pakhtakor at the round of 16.

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Navidkia, a five-time league champion with the Isfahan-based club, will take over from the Portuguese interim manager Miguel Teixeira, who had replaced Amir Qalenoei in early August.

Qalenoei stepped down from his role following a Hazfi Cup defeat against Esteghlal.

Navidkia, hugely adored by the Sepahan faithful, made 282 appearances for the club, scoring 41 goals.

The 37-year-old will be faced with a mammoth task straight away as his team will resume its AFC Champions League campaign in mid-October.

Sepahan sits third in Group C with three points after two games, trailing Qatar’s Al Sadd and Saudi side Al Nassr by one point.

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Navidkia came through the ranks in the Sepahan’s youth system before joining the club’s first team in 1998.

Best known for his vision and sublime passes in the middle of the park, Navidkia won the Iranian league with Sepahan in 2003 and left for the Bundesliga side VfL Bochum a year later.

An injury-hit spell saw the Iranian making only 10 appearances for the German club in two seasons.

Ex-Iranian international rejoined his boyhood club in 2006 where he went on to lift the league trophy on four more occasions, before hanging up his boots in 2017.

Embarking on a new chapter in his career, Navidkia will surely have the supporters’ backing to bring back silverware to the club.

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Stramaccioni, 44, stepped down from his role as the Blues head coach last December – after six months into his job – over a financial dispute with the club.

The Italian website said that Esteghlal CEO Ahmad Sa’adatmand traveled to Rome last week to offer a new one-year contract to the ex-Inter manager.

Stramaccioni, the website wrote, is now taking a few days before replying to the Iranian club’s offer.

The news of Esteghlal negotiating with Stramaccioni led to a rollercoaster of events for the Tehran giant, which will have to play Tractor in the Hazfi Cup final on Thursday.

Blues’ manager Farhad Majidi, who replaced the Italian last January, resigned via an Instagram post after his team beat archrival Persepolis in the penalty shootouts in the Hazfi Cup semifinals last Wednesday, slamming the club’s decision to negotiate with Stramaccioni on the eve of the Tehran derby.

Majidi, however, overturned his decision on Friday, insisting Thursday’s final will be his last game as Esteghlal’s boss.

Iran Football Federation last week had banned all Iranian clubs from acquiring new foreign players and coaches.

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Aref Aqasi scored the all-important winner in the seventh minute as the southern Iranian club – fifth in the table prior to the game – overtook Tractor and Sepahan – which was held to a 1-1 draw at Paykan – for the final berth in the Asian elite club competition.

Tractor, however, has a second chance of securing a place in the Champions League through Hazfi Cup, where the Tabriz-based side takes on Naft Masjed Soleyman in the semifinals on Tuesday, with archrivals Persepolis and Esteghlal playing the other last-four tie.

Should either one of Persepolis, Esteghlal, or Tractor win the cup, Saket Elhami’s side will be handed an ACL place.

Meanwhile, a 1-0 defeat against Naft Masjed Soleyman meant that Pars Jonoubi Jam joined other Bushehr-based club Shahin Shahrdari in relegation to the Iranian football second tier.

Omid Singh scored in the 88th-minute to dash former club’s slight hope of survival.

The result also secured Paykan and Saipa – which both failed to win on the final day – a place in next season’s top flight.

Ebrahim Sadeqi’s Saipa was beaten 3-0 at the hands of champion Persepolis, courtesy of goals by Vahid Amiri, Christian Osaguona, and Ali Alipour.

The victory meant that Yahya Golmohammadi’s men, in a season that they clinched a record-fourth consecutive title, also set a new record for most wins in a season (21).

The Reds also equaled the highest points-tally of a single campaign (67), a figure which only Sepahan had reached in the 18-team 2011-12 season.

Elsewhere, Cheick Diabaté put a fitting end to his impressive debut season by scoring a brace in Esteghlal’s 4-1 win at Shahin, helping Farhad Majidi’s Blues to a runner-up finish.

Malian striker scored 15 goals in a stellar campaign for the Golden Boot Award – finishing two goals clear of Paykan’s Shahryar Moghanlou.

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With the title secured by Persepolis for a record fourth consecutive time and Shahin Shahrdari Blusher already relegated, 10 sides in the 16-team table will still have something to play for, heading into the final day of the season – which kicked off on August 22, 2019.

The season would have finished in late April, had it not been for a four-month halt forced by the coronavirus outbreak.

Four teams – Esteghlal, Tractor, Sepahan, and Foolad Khuzestan – will be eyeing a top-three finish and a place in next year’s AFC Champions League.

At the other end of the table, meanwhile, six sides – Zob Ahan, Golgohar Sirjan, Saipa, Paykan, Mashinsazi Tabriz, and Pars Jonoubi Jam – will be seeking to maintain their place in next season’s top-flight football.

Second-placed Esteghlal looks set to claim the runner-up spot as Farhad Majidi’s men play away to the rock-bottom side Shahin.

The decisive match in the top-three battle, however, will probably be played in Ahvaz with the third-placed Tractor – equal on points with Esteghlal (50pts) – taking on Foolad – fifth in the table with 48 points.

A home victory might still not be enough for Javad Nekounam’s Foolad to finish in the top three as Sepahan – only in fourth place by virtue of a superior goal difference over Foolad – has a rather easier task when playing struggler Paykan.

Any result other than a victory could see Abdollah Veisi’s Paykan – fall down to the lower tier.

Paykan sits 13th before Thursday’s fixtures, leading Mashinsazi on GD and 15th-placed Pars by a single point.

The 12th-placed Saipa – unbeaten after the league resumption in June – will have its fate in its own hands against Persepolis, having a two-point advantage over Pars.

Mashinsazi – which has the best goal difference among the relegation candidates – will play at home against San’at Naft – which won’t probably have extra motivation for the game as it has already been secured a seventh-spot finish.

Sirius Pourmousavi’s Pars – currently in the bottom two – will play at Naft Masjed Soleyman – which has only lost six all season – desperately needing a victory and will still have to wait for other results to be played out in its favor.

Zob Ahan and Golgohar Sirjan – equal on 30 points – will square off in a do-or-day battle in Isfahan.

A draw will see both sides stay in the league as they are three points clear of the relegation zone.

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