Mes Rafsanjan

Mes Rafsanjan spent most of its life below Iran's top division, and the 2019–20 season is the one that changed that. Sixty-six points took them to the top of the Azadegan League table, and the promotion itself was sealed with a win over Fajr Sepasi, Hamid Golzari scoring the goal that sent the club into the Persian Gulf Pro League for the first time. Mehdi Taremi and Alireza Beiranvand were both on the books that year.

Four years later came the closest run at a trophy: a run to the final of the Hazfi Cup in 2023–24, ending as runners-up. It was not the first time the cup had taken them further than expected — back in 2008–09 they reached the semi-finals, beating Foolad and Esteghlal Tehran along the way before Zob Ahan stopped them.

Staying in the top flight proved harder than reaching it. The 2024–25 season ended with a 16th-place finish and a relegation play-off lost 0–3 to Sanat Naft Abadan, and Mes Rafsanjan dropped back down in 2025.

The club carries the name of the industry that built it. NICICO, the National Iranian Copper Industries Company, founded the side in 1995 and still owns it — "Mes" is simply the Persian word for copper. That ownership also defines the club's fiercest fixture: Mes Kerman, another NICICO-owned side in the same province, and the meetings between them are known locally as the Kerman Derby. On the pitch at the 10,000-capacity Mes Rafsanjan Stadium, the players turn out in orange and green, which is where the nickname Narenji-pushan, the Orange-clad, comes from.