Malavan F.C.

Establishment

Bahman Salehnia, founder of Malavan FC

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.

Malavan FC 1970-71 in the first National League

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.

Relegation

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.

On 13 May 2016 after a 2–0 loss to Siah Jamegan, who were behind Malavan before the match started, the clubs was relegated to the Azadegan League for the second time in their history.

Before the start of the 2016–17 season it was announced that controversial manager Mohammad Mayeli Kohan had been named Malavan's manager. Despite achieving good results and being in or near a promotion spot the entire season, Mayeli Kohan was involved in several confrontations with the supporters, which led to many supporters boycotting the team's games.

Top scorers

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

Presidents

Sources: ^[1][2]

Name Years Rashid Sazmand 1996–06 Saadollah Pourtahmasbi 2006–09 Ardeshir Pournemat 2009–11 Bahman Salehnia 2011–12 Sadegh Deroudgar 2012–14 Hossein Gholami 2014–15 Dr Ahmad Donyamali 2015–2017 Dr Mehran Nasiri 2017-18 Current coaching staff Source: [3] Position Name Head coach Farhad Pourgholami Assistant coach Nader Ezatollahi 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 20 May 1968 – 5 February 1997 Nosrat Irandoost 5 February 1997 – 15 December 2000 Mohammad Ahmadzadeh 15 Dec 2000 – 2 July 2002 Bahman Salehnia 15 May 2002 – 2 July 2004 Nosrat Irandoost 2 July 2004 – 5 July 2006 Mohammad Ahmadzadeh 5 July 2006 – 1 January 2010 Farhad Pourgholami 1 January 2010 – 29 September 2012 Mohammad Ahmadzadeh 29 September 2012 – 28 May 2013 Dragan Skočić 28 May 2013 – 1 June 2014 Nosrat Irandoost 1 June 2014 – 8 October 2014 Stevan Mojsilović 8 October 2014 – 5 December 2014 Firouz Karimi 6 December 2014 – 1 June 2015 Hamid Estili 10 August 2015 – 20 February 2016 Mohammad Ahmadzadeh 1 March 2016 – 15 July 2016 Mohammad Mayeli Kohan 22 July 2016 – 27 May 2017 Nader Dastneshan 28 May 2017 – 1 June 2018 Farhad Pourgholami 1 June 2018 – Present Players First-team squad As of 13 March 2017[4] 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 Vahid Heydarieh 4 DF Mahyar Nouri 5 DF Saeb Mohebi 6 DF Mehdi Karbalaei 8 MF Pejman Nouri (Captain) 10 FW Shahriar Moghanlou U23 11 FW Babak Moradi 12 FW Mohammadreza Naghdipour 14 FW Ali Fatemi 15 MF Mohammad Bakhtiari 16 MF Mohammad Pour Rahmatollah 17 MF Pouria Gholami U23 No. Position Player 19 MF Abbas Amraei 24 MF Hesam SoltanpourU21 26 DF Mahyar Zahmatkesh U23 31 GK Hojjat Sedghi 32 DF Amin Jahan Kohan 34 MF Iman Basafa 39 DF Mohammad RoshandelU23 70 FW Bahman Salari 77 FW Milad Ahmadi 99 DF Mehdi Rostami DF Danial Mahini FW Hamid Khodabandelou 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 For recent transfers, see List of Iranian football transfers summer 2017. Notable players Bahman Salehnia Nosrat Irandoost Aziz Espandar Ghafour Jahani Sirous Ghayeghran Pejman Nouri Maziar Zare Jalal Rafkhaei Mehrdad Oladi 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 Notes ↑ "Salehnia return to Malavan". PersianLeague.com. 2002-07-13. Retrieved 2016-07-19. ↑ ↑ حمید استیلی قراردادش را امضا کرد/ پایان رافت در کادرفنی ملوان (in Persian). Mehr News Agency. Retrieved 12 August 2015. ↑ "Malavan ملوان انزلی – IPL 2012–2013". PersianLeague.com. 16 May 2016. Archived from the original on 5 July 2012. Retrieved 19 July 2016. References Malavan Stats Wikimedia Commons has media related to Malavan F.C.. External links Persian League- Latest Iran League News – Iran Football News Official website (in English) (in Persian)