Before the revolution In 1953, with the help of
Iran national football team player Mahmoud Hariri the
Shahin Isfahan football club was created. This club was one of the teams attached to the more popular and successful
Shahin F.C. of
Tehran. In 1963, Shahin as the representative of
Isfahan Province became champions of Iran after a 1–1 draw against
Tehran XI. In 1967, due to the problems that arose in the
Shahin F.C. organization in Tehran, the
Isfahan branch was forced to cease operations. The club changed its name to Sepahan. The club participated in the
Takht Jamshid Cup league from
1974 to
1978. In the club's first season in the Takht Jamshid Cup they finished in 10th place ahead of city rivals
Zob Ahan.
Post Revolution After the
Revolution, they played in the local Isfahan leagues for many years until 1993. That year the club was purchased by the Siman-e-Sepahan (Sepahan Cement) factory of Isfahan. It participated in the
Azadegan League until the year 2000, when
Foolad Mobarekeh (
Steel Mill of Mobarekeh
Isfahan) bought the team from the Siman factory. The team now plays under the name of Foolad Mobarakeh Sepahan, and has support from the club board.
Success years The club was able to demonstrate its worth when it captured the league title in the
2002–03 season of the
IPL, and qualified for the
AFC Champions League tournament with
Farhad Kazemi. It also won the
Hazfi Cup in 2004 and was able to qualify for another season of the ACL competition, though the club did not have much success in the continental tournaments of
ACL 2004 and
2005. With
Luka Bonačić, Sepahan was able to once again win the Hazfi Cup on 22 September 2006. With this win, they gained Iran's final and second spot in the
AFC Champions League 2007. They were impressive in continental stage as they finished top of their group and defeated
Kawasaki Frontale of Japan and
Al Wahda of the
UAE to reach the final of the newly established continental tournament for the first time. Although they lost the final to
Urawa Red Diamonds on aggregate, by reaching the final, Sepahan became the first Iranian club to qualify for the
FIFA Club World Cup. In the opening match of the
FIFA Club World Cup 2007, Sepahan defeated
Waitakere United of New Zealand to reach the quarter-final where they met
Urawa Red Diamonds for a spot in the semifinal match against
AC Milan. Urawa Reds managed to defeat Sepahan for the second time in just one month, reaching the semifinals of the FIFA Club World Cup. By winning the
Hazfi Cup once again in 2007, Sepahan also qualified for the
AFC Champions League 2008, but could not repeat their success of
2007. Sepahan has qualified for the
AFC Champions League for the third consecutive time in
2009, coming as the Runners-up in
Persian Gulf Cup 2007-08. Sepahan lost the title by only one point to
Persepolis F.C., who beat them 2–1 in the last match of the season with a winner six minutes into second half injury time. They tried to improve the team by sacking the Brazilian coach Viera and replacing him with the German coach Firat but they had a difficult season where they could not win anything in the 2008–09 season and changed the coach three times. In the next season Sepahan hired Turkish and former
Iran's assistant coach
Engin Firat, but he was fired after getting poor result in the league, and Hossein Charkhabi who was
Sepahan Novin head coach at that time replaced Firat. Despite getting good result with the team Charkahbi was replaced once again with
Farhad Kazemi who won the league title with Sepahan in the
2002–03 season. Finally Sepahan finished 4th in the league and qualified for the
2010 AFC Champions League Group stage. In the next season the club hired former Iran and
Esteghlal head coach
Amir Ghalenoei, at the helm of Sepahan's
2010 Season, the club sealed a championship title two weeks before the end of the season with a 2–2 tie against
F.C. Aboomoslem. In the
2010–11 Persian Gulf Cup, Sepahan dominated the league after a slow start and practically won the title two weeks before the season end. They also advanced to the knock out stage of the ACL competition, after finishing on top of the table in the group stage. Their group was arguably the group of death, consisting of Al-Hilal, Al Gharafa and Al-Jazira. They won their third championship and became the most successful team in
Iran Pro League.
Kranjčar Era They also repeated their league title in
2011–12 season, this time with Croatian manager,
Zlatko Kranjčar. Sepahan also made it to the quarter-finals of
2012 AFC Champions League after defeating the fellow Iranian club
Esteghlal. In 2013 however, Sepahan was placed in Group C of the
2013 AFC Champions League and was unable to get past the
2013 AFC Champions League group stage. Being placed in the same group as
Al-Gharafa Sports Club of Qatar,
Al-Ahli SC of Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates'
Al Nasr SC, they could not qualify as one of the top two teams of their group. Sepahan started the
2013 AFC Champions League with a great win at home against
Al Nasr SC, however heading for an away game against
Al-Gharafa Sports Club in Qatar, Sepahan only returned home humiliated by the Qatari team in a 3–1 lost game. That was not the end of Sepahan's poor performance in the AFC Champions League. About three weeks after their loss in Qatar, Sepahan hosted
Al-Ahli SC at
Foolad Shahr Stadium, losing poorly once again but this time with a score of 4–2. Sepahan still had a chance after those two losses, but all hopes were lost once they lost in front of the Saudi giants again, this time with a score of 4–1 thus having them bid farewell to the 2013 AFC Champions League. In the
2013–14 Iran Pro League season, Sepahan finished 4th, thus missing out on the
AFC Champions League for the first time in five years. At the end of the season,
Croatian manager
Zlatko Kranjčar announced that he would not be returning for the 2014–2015 season. Sepahan also struggled in the Champions League as well, failing to make it past the group stage with a 1–0 loss to
Al Hilal on the final match day. After originally announcing he was leaving the club, Sepahan announced that they had extended the contract of Kranjčar for another season.
Faraki years Sepahan started the
2014–15 season with three wins in a row. However, Sepahan did not win their next four matches. Kranjčar resigned on 8 September 2014 and was replaced with former
Foolad manager
Hossein Faraki. On 15 May 2015, with a 2–0 Sepahan victory over
Saipa and
Tractor drawing 3–3 with
Naft Tehran, Sepahan won their fifth league title with a one-point margin over runner up Tractor. With the league victory, Sepahan returned to the
AFC Champions League after a one-year absence. On 12 November 2015
Hossein Faraki left Sepahan for personal problems. Faraki left by saying "Things just don't seem to be working out for me and I decided to quit my job in the team, I have nothing more to say because I think Sepahan needs concentration at the moment since they will play in Iran's Hazfi Cup on Thursday,"
Štimac and Veisi years After
Hossein Faraki's resignation, the club signed former
Croatia national team manager
Igor Štimac. Igor Štimac won his first game against
Naft Tehran, but after not winning a game in 10 weeks made the situations harder for Sepahan. Sepahan got knocked out of the
Hazfi Cup by their rivals,
Zob Ahan in penalties at the semi-final. Sepahan also went out of the
AFC Champions League after losing five times in the first round. Igor Štimac resigned as Sepahan head coach on 20 April 2016, after a run of unsuccessful results which led the league champions Sepahan to end up in 11th place and out of both season's cups, Hazfi Cup and AFC Champions League. Before the start of the 2016–17 season,
Abdollah Veisi who had led
Esteghlal Khuzestan to the league title, was announced as the new manager of Sepahan but sepahans poor results continued so they announced
Zlatko Kranjčar as their new manager. Sepahan finished the season in the 5th place. ==Reserve team==