Establishment and first years (1971–1995) Foolad Khuzestan Football Club was founded on 2 March 1971 in
Ahwaz,
Iran by at that time, President of the Foolad Khuzestan Company Ali Akbar Davar. Foolad was a team that no one knew anything about until the dissolution of
Jonoub Ahwaz in 1996. Foolad won the
Ahwaz City Championship in 1991 and entered the 2nd division of the
Khuzestan football league two years later. Foolad won the first group in its debut season and was promoted to the Ahwaz's first league which they won in their debut season as well. This meant they would be promoted to the Khuzestan Provincial Leagues.
Road to the Highest Division (1995–2001) In 1995, which was Foolad's second year in the ''
Khuzestan's Second Division
, they became provincial champions. That same year Jonoub Ahvaz'', was contracted and Foolad took their place in
Iran Football's 2nd Division. In 1996, with
Homayoun Shahrokhinejad as manager, the team was promoted to the
1st division.
Frančić era (2004–2006) The team was eventually bought by the
Ahwaz Steel Mill. The team was finally able to win the
IPL in the
2004–05 season but due to some ensuing internal problems and coaching difficulties could not perform well in the
2006 Asian Champions League.
ACL and relegation (2006–2007) After a mediocre
2005–06, Foolad started the
2006–07 season with former Iranian national team coach
Mohammad Mayeli Kohan, but he resigned halfway through the season as Foolad had achieved poor results. Youth club coach
Nenad Nikolić temporarily replaced him and soon after Portuguese manager
Augusto Inácio was named head coach. Foolad went through a terrible
2006–07 season finishing 15th and being relegated to the lower
Azadegan League.
Return to First Division and Jalali years (2007–2012) Foolad start the
2007–08 season at
Azadegan League and won the playoff spot despite their strong leadership until the last weeks. In the playoff, they drew with
Payam Mashhad in a two-leg matches and missed the promotion via away goal. A few weeks later they bought the right to play in
Persian Gulf Cup from
Sepahan Novin and promoted to
IPL. Then
Majid Jalali was announced as the club's head coach with signing a three years contract where they had an average season with ending the season in the 7th place. On September 1, 2009, Seifollah Dehkordi was elected as the club's president after previous president Masoud Rezaeian resigned from his position. After the election of Dehkordi, Majid Jalali left the club despite good results.
Luka Bonačić was named as Jalali's successor but he could not please the club as he was not able to win a single match in first eight weeks and the club decided to bring
Majid Jalali back where they finished the league 10th. At the Jalali's final year as Foolad manager, the club ended the season at the 14th place, the worst since their promotion back to the league.
League success under Faraki (2012–2014) title in 2014 After Jalali's contract was not renewed,
Naft Tehran manager
Hossein Faraki was named as the club's new head coach. He led Foolad to the 4th rank in his first season as the club's manager, gaining an
AFC Champions League spot for the second time in the Foolad's history. In the
2013–14 Iran Pro League season, Faraki led the club to their second
Iran Pro League title, his team finished with 57 points. They finished 2 points clear of second place
Persepolis. Five days later, Foolad advanced to the Round of 16 of the
AFC Champions League for the first time after they defeated
El-Jaish of
Qatar. Foolad lost to
Al Sadd on away goals. On 23 May 2014, Faraki resigned as the manager of the club, due to knee problems, despite two good seasons with Foolad.
Dragan Skočić was named as his successor. ==Reserve team==