Sanat Naft F.C.

Infobox Football club
clubname = Sanat Naft صنعت نفت


fullname = Sanat Naft Football Club
nickname = Iran's Brazil (PerB|برزیل ایران)
shortname =
founded = 1972
dissolved =
ground = Takhti Stadium
Abadan
Iran
capacity = 22,000
chairman = flagicon|IRN Hafez Ali Esnavandi
mgrtitle = Head Coach
manager = flagicon|IRN Mojtaba Taghavi
league = Azadegan League
season = 2007-08
position = Persian Gulf Cup, 17th
pattern_la1=_brazilhomefoot|pattern_b1=_brazilhomefoot |pattern_ra1= _brazilhomefoot
leftarm1=FFcc00|body1=FFcc00|rightarm1=FFcc00|shorts1=003399|socks1=FFFFFF
pattern_la2=_brazilawayfoot|pattern_b2=_brazilawayfoot|pattern_ra2=_brazilawayfoot
leftarm2=003399|body2=003399|rightarm2=003399|shorts2=FFFFFF|socks2=003399

Sanat Naft Football Club (PerB|باشگاه فوتبال صنعت نفت آبادان) is an Iranian football club based in Abadan, Iran. They currently play in the Iran Pro League. The team is sponsored by Iran's national petroleum industry and is part of the sports club "Sanat Naft Athletic Club".

Despite their lack of success in past years, they are still heavily supported by the people of Abadan, and have cemented a place in Iran's football history.

Club history

Prior to the establishment of the Takhte Jamshid League in 1972, The people of Abadan mostly followed two clubs, "Kargar FC" and "Jam FC". "Kargar" had been established by workers from Abadan's oil refinery. Ten years later, Parviz Dehdari along with some of his class mates at Razi School established "Jam FC". These teams had a large number of fans until 1972.When the Takhte Jamshid League was established, the city of Abadan was given one spot. The club was to be managed by Iran's oil industry. Fans were immediately drawn to the team, as it would be competing in Iran's top football league. Many of the better players from "Kargar" and "Jam" moved to Sanat Naft.The club's original kit colors were white, blue and black. The city of Abadan and the Khūzestān Province had very technical players and the club adapted a style of play similar to the Brazil of the 1970s after Parviz Dehdari became the chairman of the club. To emphasize their admiration for Brazilian football, the club changed its team colors to yellow, blue and white, exactly like the Brazilian national team. The clubs nickname, Iran's Brazil, soon appeared. Football was extremely popular in Abadan, and the number of fans was growing everyday, but everything stopped when the Iranian Revolution took place in 1978. Football was no longer a priority, and it was shoved even farther out of the limelight when the Iran–Iraq War began in 1980. Abadan and Khuzestan were heavily hit during the war. Abadan's massive refinery was shut down, and hundreds of thousands left the city, as it was extremely dangerous. From 1980 to 1988 the club was based in Shiraz. Once in Shiraz, the club had to start from Iran's third division, but was able to make it back to the top flight with the help of its players. Since many natives of Abadan had left the city during the war for other cities, fan support for the club was always good no matter where the team was playing.After the war the club went back to Abadan, but due to the war's negative effects on the city and poor management in the football club, Sanat Naft has not been able to have any major success.

Recent

They were present in Iran's Azadegan League until the 2001-02 season when they were relegated. They made it back to the IPL in 2002, but the club was relegated the same season.

Portuguese Acácio Casimiro signed a one-year deal as Head-coach of Sanat Naft on June 18, 2006 but was later replaced by Ebrahim Ghasempour. After Sanat Naft was moved to the IPL (see below), they were immediately relegated the same season under head coach Ahmad Tousi. Tousi took over for Ghasempour as he was sacked after 20 games. The club was in last place with only 16 point to show under Ghasempour with a record of 4 wins 4 ties and 12 losses. In the next 14 games under Tousi the club went 5 wins with 4 ties and 5 losses with a total of 19 point. Tousi has been offered a contract to stay with the club for the upcoming 2008 season.

2005 Promotion Controversy

Sanat Naft made it to the promotion playoffs in the 2004-05 season. Until the very last game of the promotion playoffs, Sanat Naft was in second place and head of Rah Ahan on goal difference. On the last day despite Sanat Naft's win versus Payam Mashhad F.C., Rah Ahan defeated Shahid Ghandi by a score of 6-1 to finish second, ahead of Sanat Naft on goal differential.

Sanat Naft officials immediately suggested that Shahid Ghandi had allowed Rah Ahan to win by such a huge score. Sanat Naft was not able to prove this with evidence though.Later Sanat Naft claimed that Rah Ahan had used an ineligible player; this went through several courts and Rah Ahan was found guilty.

Two seasons later Sanat Naft was automatically awarded a promotion spot, and was automatically moved up to the Persian Gulf Cup, starting in the 2007-08 season. [cite web
title=fa icon نحوه صعود و سقوط تيم ها در ليگ هاي دسته 1، 2 و 3
url=http://www.iriff.ir/news/files/show_news.asp?id=7490&rc=4
publisher="IRIFF Official Website"
accessdate=2007-04-10] .

Club managers

*flagicon|Iran Ebrahim Ghasempour (2001–2002)
*flagicon|Iran Mansour Pourheidari (July 18 2002 - 2003)
*flagicon|Iran Parviz Mazloomi (2003)
*flagicon|Turkmenistan Bayram Dordayev (2003–2005)
*flagicon|Iran Parviz Mazloomi (January 18 2005 - 2006)
*flagicon|Portugal Acácio Casimiro (June 18 2006 - 2007)
*flagicon|IRN Ebrahim Ghasempour (2007 - Feb 10 2008)
*flagicon|IRNflagicon|USA Ahmad Tousi (Feb 10 2008-Jun 2008)
*flagicon|IRN Mojtaba Taghavi (July 2008-Present)

Club management

Players

"As of August 16 2007."

First-team squad

2008/2009 Transfers

In:

Out:

Famous players

1972 to 1980s
* Ebrahim Ghasempour
* Hassan Nazari
*flagicon|Iraq Nouri Khodayari

1980s
* Abdolreza Barzegari

1990s
* Mojahed Khaziravi
* Behnam Seraj
* Omid Sharifinasab
* Mehdi Hasheminasab
* Mohanned Mehdi Al-Nadawi 2000s
* Esmail Halali
* Saber Mirghorbani
* Davoud Seyed Abbasi
* Masoud Shojaei
* Amir Hossein Yousefi
* Ahmad Ali Jaber
* Haider Abdul-Qader
* Ghaith Abdul-Ghani
* Ilgham Yadullayev
* Leonardo Andre Pimenta Faria
* Marcelo de Souza

Notes

External links

Official

* [http://www.sanatenaft.com/ Official club website]