Sepahan FC

Sepahan shares Isfahan with Zob Ahan, and the two meet in what Iranian football calls the Naqsh-e Jahan derby, named for the square. Tehran gives Sepahan its other rivals, Persepolis and Esteghlal. In recent seasons Tractor of Tabriz has been added to the list.

The club did not start under this name. Founded on 5 October 1953, it was Shahin Isfahan, set up with the involvement of Iran international Mahmoud Hariri as a branch of the Tehran club Shahin. When the Tehran side folded in 1967, the Isfahan team took the name Sepahan, an old name for the city itself. Ownership moved again later: Sepahan Cement took charge in 1993, and in 2000 the steelmaker Foolad Mobarakeh bought the club, giving it the full name it carries today, Foolad Mobarakeh Sepahan, though Sepahan is what everyone calls it.

Between 2010 and 2013, under Croatian coach Zlatko Kranjčar, Sepahan won three league titles in a row. Emad Mohammed, the Iraqi forward, was the top scorer in the league in 2009/10 with 19 goals. Yellow and black are the club's colours, and they are the reason it is known as the Yellow Storm of Asia.

The furthest Sepahan has taken those colours came in 2007, when Luka Bonačić's side reached the AFC Champions League final and lost to Urawa Red Diamonds. The run qualified them for that year's FIFA Club World Cup, where Mahmoud Karimi scored against Corinthians of Brazil.

Home matches are played in front of up to 75,000 people.