Esteghlal Khuzestan

The Ghadir Stadium is in Ahvaz, and Esteghlal Khuzestan have played there since 2012, a year after the club itself came into being.

It began with a licence bought from Esteghlal Jonub, a Tehran side that had just dropped into the second tier. For two seasons the team played under a different name, Esteghlal Sanati Khuzestan, before promotion to the Persian Gulf Pro League in 2013 gave it the identity it carries now.

Home form is blue shirts, blue shorts, white socks, which earned the side its nickname, the Southern Blues. Relegation arrived in 2018–19 after six years among Iran's elite, but the club found its way back, finishing as Azadegan League runners-up in 2022–23 to earn an immediate return.

Veisi is the name still attached to what the club became.