Football Club Abu Muslim (Persian: باشگاه فوتبال ابومسلم خراسان, Bashgah-e Futbal-e Abumislâm-e Xorasan), commonly known as Abu Muslim, is an Iranian football club based in Mashhad, Razavi Khorasan, that competes in the League 3. The club was founded in 1970 and is named after Abbasid-era Persian general Abu Muslim, who led the Abbasid Revolution that toppled the Umayyad dynasty.[1][2]

Abu Muslim
ابومسلم
Full nameFootball Club Abu Muslim
Nickname(s)Black Pearl (Persian: مرواريد سياه, Morvarid-e Siyah)
Founded1970; 54 years ago (1970)
Dissolved2016
GroundSamen Stadium
Mashhad
Iran
Capacity27,000
Websitewww.aboumoslem.ir

The football team plays its home games at the Samen Stadium which has a seating capacity of 27,000.[3] The club is owned and supported by Mohammad Reza Abbasi.[4]

Abu Muslim won four League 2 trophies, three Khorasan League titles, and one final participation in the Hazfi Cup. Abu Muslim holds a long-standing enmity with provincial rivals Payam Khorasan known as the Mashhad derby.

History

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Establishment

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In 1970 a group of football players from Mashhad decided to create a new football team by the name of Abu Muslim. After defeat in the tournament, it was decided that for Khorasan to have a powerful football team, Abu Muslim and Aria must merge. Three brothers helped to merge the clubs, and Abu Muslim was able to make it to the 1975 Takht Jamshid Cup, which was the top football league in Iran before the Iranian revolution. The team originally only wore black, but red was added late on. Success was short lived and the team was relegated the next season, staying in the 2nd division until the revolution.

Post Revolution

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Like most sporting clubs in Iran, the revolution and the Iran–Iraq War severely limited the team's activities. From 1980 to 1984 the club participated in almost no meaningful competitions. This changed when in late 1984 local and provincial leagues were set up. In the late 1980s, Shahdiran Inc. sponsored the team. After the war the local and provincial leagues were scrapped in favor of nationwide leagues.

Abu Muslim made it to the newly established Azadegan League and participated during the 1990–91 and 1991–92 seasons, but was relegated after only two years. Once relegated the club struggled dramatically, being relegated all the way to the third division, which was a local league. Shahdiran stopped sponsoring the team and was replaced by soft drink company, Khoshgovar. After several seasons in the lower leagues, Abu Muslim finally made it back to the top level of Iranian football, gaining promotion to the Azadegan League during the 1997–98 season. Abu Muslim had been in a poor financial situation that season, as Khoshgovar had stopped being its sponsor. Abu Muslim's only revenue came from advertisements and support from club fans, but surprisingly won promotion. Abu Muslim again only stayed in the league for two seasons and was relegated during the 1999–2000 season. Around the same time the club went back to its roots, once again being sponsored by the Iranian police.

Iran Pro League

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They were promoted again in the next season and debuted in Iran's first fully professional league, the IPL, for the 2001–02 season. They have remained in the IPL since with two 5th-place finishes being their best results. After the 2004–05 season Abu Muslim's new sponsor became Iran Khodro.

Recent

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In 2006 Khodadad Azizi joined the club as an advisor, after retirement from playing. Akbar Misaghian the club's manager for the past two seasons resigned after the first week of the 2006–07 season due to financial disagreements with management. In January 2007, Khodadad Azizi was named manager of Abu Muslim. He was sacked less than a year later and replaced by Parviz Mazloomi in October 2007. The club had a very difficult season which they avoided the relegation in the last week and changed three head coaches and three chairmen but their instability continued for the 2009–10 season where they finished last and got relegated. In 2014 for the first time in the club's history the team was relegated to the 2nd Division.

Bankruptcy

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Because of the financial problems suffered by the club, On 7 September 2014 the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports declared the bankruptcy of F.C. Abu Muslim. The new chairman Mehdi Biglari re-established the club in 2014 as Toloe Nasl e Abu Muslim Football Club. Abu Muslim restarted operations in 2016 and started competing in the fourth tier.

Logo history

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Mashhad Derby

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The Mashhad derby also known as the Khorasan derby is a football local derby match between F.C. Abu Muslim and Payam Khorasan. Nowadays it has lost its status to more popular derbies such as Esfahan derby, Ahvaz derby and Shiraz derby.

Stadium

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The club currently plays in Samen Stadium after years of playing in Mashhad's Takhti Stadium. The club announced plans to construct their own stadium with the help of the provincial government. The land was awarded to the team during Karim Malahi's time as club chairman. Construction was planned to begin March 2007 in the Elahieh area of Mashhad.[5]

Supporters

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Fan base

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Abu Muslim is the most popular club from Khorasan.

Famous fans

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Season-by-season

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The table below chronicles the achievements of Abu Muslim in various competitions.

Season Division League Position Hazfi Cup Notes
1973–1974 2 2nd Division 7th Not held
1974–1975 2 2nd Division 1st Not held Promoted
1975–1976 1 Takht Jamshid Cup 5th 1/16 Final
1976–1977 1 Takht Jamshid Cup 16th 1/8 Final Relegated
1977–1978 2 2nd Division 1st Not held Promoted
1978–1979 1 Takht Jamshid Cup Did not finish Not held
1979–1984 Not held Not held
1984–1985 1 Mashhad Football League 1st Not held
1985–1986 1 Mashhad Football League 1st Not held
1987–1988 1 Khorasan Football League 1st 1/16 Final
1988–1989 1 Khorasan Football League 2nd 1/8 Final
1989–1990 1 Khorasan Football League 1st Did not qualify Promoted
1990–1991 2 2nd Division 1st 1/8 Final Promoted
1991–1992 1 Azadegan League 12th Not held
1992–1993 1 Azadegan League 8th Not held Relegated
1993–1994 3 Khorasan Football League 1st Did not qualify Promoted
1994–1995 2 2nd Division 4th Did not qualify
1995–1996 2 2nd Division 3rd Second round
1996–1997 2 2nd Division 5th Second round
1997–1998 2 2nd Division 4th Not held Promoted
1998–1999 1 Azadegan League 8th 1/8 Final
1999–2000 1 Azadegan League 11th 1/16 Final Relegated
2000–2001 2 2nd Division 1st 1/16 Final Promoted
2001–2002 1 Iran Pro League 5th 1/8 Final
2002–2003 1 Iran Pro League 12th
2003–2004 1 Iran Pro League 10th 1/8 Final
2004–2005 1 Iran Pro League 8th Final
2005–2006 1 Iran Pro League 5th 1/8 Final
2006–2007 1 Iran Pro League 6th
2007–2008 1 Iran Pro League 4th 1/16 Final
2008–2009 1 Iran Pro League 15th 1/16 Final
2009–2010 1 Iran Pro League 17th 1/8 Final Relegated
2010–2011 2 Azadegan League 5th 2nd round
2011–2012 2 Azadegan League 6th 1/8 Final
2012–2013 2 Azadegan League 6th 1/4 Final
2013–2014 2 Azadegan League 12th Third round Relegated
2014–2015 3 2nd Division 6th Fourth round
2015–2016 3 2nd Division 10th First round Relegated
2016–2017 4 3rd Division 8th Relegated
2017–2018 4 3rd Division 5th Relegated

Club chairmen

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Club managers

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Honours

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Club honours

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League

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  • 2nd Division
  • Khorasan Football League
    • Champions (3): 1987–88, 1989–90, 1993–94
    • Runners-up (1): 1988–89
  • Mashhad Football League
    • Champions (2): 1984–85, 1985–86

Individual honours

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top scorers in Iranian League

Season Player Goals
1998–99   Abduljalil Golcheshmeh 14
2001–02   Reza Enayati 17
2006–07   Daniel Olerum 17

Players

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As of 10 September 2013:[7]

First-team squad

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Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
DF   IRN Mohsen Neysani
DF   IRN Mehdi Kiani
DF   IRN Meisam Khosravi
DF   IRN Mohammad Rostami
DF   IRN Bijan Koushki
DF   IRN Seyed Mohammad Hosseini (captain)
MF   IRN Hadi Jafari
  IRN Mohammad Ahmadpour
MF   IRN Ali Haghdoost
MF   IRN Mohammad Mansouri
MF   IRN Hamid Sharafi
MF   IRN Farzad Hamidi
MF   IRN Davoud Daneshdoost
No. Pos. Nation Player
  IRN Mohammad Ghahreman
  IRN Mohammad Gholipour
  IRN Amir Mohebbi
  IRN Ali Molayi
  IRN Mostafa Bijani
  IRN Ali Nademi (U23)
  IRN Vahid Jalali (U23)
  IRN Adel Sarshar (U23)
  IRN Jamil Zobeidavi (U23)
  IRN Farzad Khanifar (U23)
  IRN Behzad Shiri (U23)
  IRN Saeed Jalalian (U23)

For recent transfers, see List of Iranian football transfers winter 2013–14.

Former players

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For details on former players, see Category:Aboomoslem players.

Aboomoslem Players at major tournaments

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The following players were selected for their national teams for major tournaments while playing for Aboomoslem:

Cup Players
  1976 AFC Asian Cup   Mehdi Asgarkhani
  2000 WAFF Championship   Hamid Reza Ebrahimi
  2001 FIFA World Youth Championship   Ershad Yousefi
  2002 WAFF Championship   Reza Enayati
  2005 Islamic Solidarity Games   Fereydoon Fazli
  Mojtaba Jabbari
  Andranik Teymourian
  2006 FIFA World Cup   Andranik Teymourian

References

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  1. ^ Bahramian, Ali; Sajjadi, Sadeq; Bernjian, Farhoud (2008). "Abū Muslim al-Khurāsānī". In Madelung, Wilferd; Daftary, Farhad (eds.). Encyclopaedia Islamica. Brill Online. doi:10.1163/1875-9831_isla_COM_0113. Abū Muslim al-Khurāsānī was a famous Persian dāʿī (missionary) and commander (ca. 100–137/ca. 718–754).
  2. ^ Encyclopedia.com "c.728–755, Persian leader of the Abbasid revolution."
  3. ^ "استادیوم | ورزشگاه | stadium on Instagram: "#اختصاصی ✅نصب صندلی های جدیدِ استادیوم ثامن مشهد آغاز شده است. ✅ تعداد 27000 صندلی در استادیوم نصب خواهد شد. 🗂بازنشر مطالب "کانال و پیج استادیوم 19" با ذکر منبع بلامانع می باشد. 🏟 @stadium19‌‌ #stadium19 #stadium #mashhad #iran #ورزشگاه_ثامن #مشهد #خراسان #مشهد #ورزشگاه #استادیوم #ایران #ابومسلم"".
  4. ^ "ابومسلم در آستانه احیای دوباره". 25 October 2020.
  5. ^ كلنگ ورزشگاه اختصاصي ابومسلم به زمين مي‌خورد (in Persian). IPNA. Retrieved 21 January 2007.[permanent dead link]
  6. ^ "كلوپ هواداران ابومسلم خراسان – فصل 1387-88 [بایگانی] – صفحه 4 – Parsfootball Forums-انجمنهای گفتگوی پارس فوتبال". anjoman.parsfootball.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
  7. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 July 2018. Retrieved 6 July 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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