Men of Steel Zob Ahan take Asia by storm

AFC – ESFAHAN, Iranian enigmas Zob Ahan created history by beating Al Hilal 2-0 on aggregate to reach the final of the 2010 AFC Champions League, where they will face Korea Republic’s Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma.

Their 1-0 second-leg victory over Al Hilal marked the first time an Iranian club had beaten the Saudis in front of their own fans, who numbered 70,000 on the night.

It adds to their impressive list of scalps in this year’s tournaments that also includes defending champions Pohang Steelers, Saudi giants Al Ittihad and Uzbeks Bunyodkor.

But who is this talented but relatively unknown club borne out of a steel melting company who are now on the threshold of Asian club glory?

Roughly translated, Zob Ahan means “steel melting” and is the name of the company that formed the club in Isfahan in 1969. At the time, the club had enough money to poach players from city rivals Sepahan and take part in the Iran League.

They hired Russian coach Yevgeny Lyadin, who at that time was one of the best tacticians in the Soviet Union and the coaching and disciplinary principles he laid down at the time are still being credited to success the club were to achieve in the future.
“Zob Ahan is a team without super stars,” experienced Iranian football journalist Pejman Rahbar told the-afc.com. “ They have no headline makers. Zob Ahan has a fewer pool of players compared to other teams but use them in the best possible way.”

Most of their success has been in recent years. Their first major honour was the 2003 Hafzi Cup, a feat they repeated in 2009 that enabled them to compete in the 2010 ACL.

They finished runners-up in the league in 2004-05, 2008-2009 and 2009-10  but, despite their emergence as a force in Iran, they were unable to build a strong fan base.

While Tehran giants such as Esteghlal and Perspolis can attract up to 100,000 for a major match, Zob Ahan may only lure 10,000, most of whom are in some way linked to the steel company.

Iranian neutrals who would like to see Zob Ahan succeed are simply unwilling to travel from different cities to Isfahan.

Still, they remain one of the strongest teams in Iran and are current league leaders. And they have done all this without a star-studded line-up.

Indeed, only Mohmmad Reza Khalatbari is a regular fixture in the Iran national team. Goalkeeper Shahab Gordan, Farshid Talebi and Ghasem Hadadifar have also been called up by national coach Afshin Ghotbi.

But coach Ebrahim Zadeh has skillfully played around with the talent at his disposal and the results have taken care of themselves.

The coach is also wary of who the club signs, a great example being that of Brazilian striker Igor Castro.

“He only agreed to sign him after he went to Brazil to watch the player for himself,” said Rahbar.

Castro and his teammates now have a glorious chance to put their club, company and city in the international spotlight as they travel to Tokyo for the final on November 13.

Victory against Seongnam would make them eligible to take part in the FIFA World Club Championship against some of the biggest names in the world.

They may not have many fans at the moment, but Zob Ahan are now known across Asia.

“Their fan-base is increasing all the time,” said Rahbar. “This shows they are on the right track.”