Esteghlal Tehran vs Persepolis Tehran: 5 Classic Clashes Between the Iranian Giants

The Tehran Derby is part of 90min’s 50 Biggest Derbies in the World Series.

When the blue of Esteghlal and the red of Persepolis would meet 100,000 fans or more would squeeze into the Azadi Stadium, creating a cacophony of noise almost overshadowing the spectacle on the pitch which, inevitably, ended in a draw.

Yet, when players weren’t walking off or fans refrained from descending upon the pitch – both in response to the officials’ decisions – there have been some classic clashes between these two giants of the Asian game when a game of football does break out.

Persepolis 2-2 Esteghlal (2000)

In a fixture already played out in fractured conditions due to the intensity of the rivalry, tensions were heightened further due to the transfer of Mehdi Hasheminasab from Persepolis to, you guessed it, Esteghlal. Nevertheless, in his absence, Persepolis took a second-half lead but were pegged back to 1-1 ten minutes later.

Then the unthinkable happened. In a moment any cliché-ridden commentator would have followed with ‘you can’t write this,’ Hasheminasab popped up with a goal in the 86th minute to surely win the match and passionately celebrating – incidentally, his third goal in the last four league derbies.

But he and Esteghlal would be denied all three points three minutes later when Persepolis snatched an equaliser with one minute of the 90 remaining.

After an ill-tempered affair which saw a mass brawl between the players, hooligans took to the streets, destroying 250 city buses and damaging numerous shops. Three players from each side were arrested along with 60 fans.

Persepolis 2-1 Esteghlal (2010)

Prior to this meeting, the sides had somehow recorded six consecutive 1-1 draws which not only incensed supporters but drew suspicion of match fixing with the stalemates considered a way to placate both sets of fans.

Incredibly, going into the final five minutes the scores were again locked at 1-1 before Karim Bagheri slammed home the winner in the 87th minute. The defensive midfielder was taking full advantage of his newfound scoring touch with that strike one of 19 league goals he scored between 2008 and 2010 after registering 19 in the preceding nine campaigns.

Esteghlal 2-3 Persepolis (2012)

Having lost the previous four competitive meetings, Persepolis had conspired to lose a fifth after falling 2-0 behind and a man down going into the final ten minutes.

But up stepped the Irish-Libyan forward Éamon Zayed who, after coming off the bench, scored a ten-minute hat-trick – only the second ever player to score three in the fixture – to win the derby. The Dublin-born forward scored two more hat-tricks that campaign for Persepolis and despite staying only one full season in Tehran, remains fondly remembered by those in red.

Persepolis 4-2 Esteghlal (2016)

With both sides vying for top spot in the Iranian league this fixture took on added importance and was made all the more emotional by the passing of Persepolis’ captain, Hadi Norouzi.

The forward had died of a heart attack in his sleep at the age of 30 and in the second Tehran derby since his passing the Persepolis players and fans dedicated the victory to him, referring to the scoreline as 2-4 in honour of his squad number, 24.

Esteghlal 3-2 Persepolis (2017)

Persepolis had begun to exert an unprecedented dominance in the fixture as they went unbeaten in ten meetings with Esteghlal between 2012 and 2017. But almost five years to the day since Zayed had scored that famous hat-trick, the blue half of Tehran would enjoy some long-awaited revenge in the derby.

Persepolis took an early lead inside five minutes but Esteghlal bounced back with three goals before the interval. Jalal Hosseini scored a not so consolatory consolation goal in the third minute of stoppage time but this day would belong to Esteghlal.

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