At 7:35 pm local time, and followig the opening of Iran’s 15th Premier League of soccer in Mashhad, along with two other matches of the first day Sepahan of Isfahan lined up against Esteghlal of Khuzestan.
The referee was Hassan Akrami who along with his two linesmen Saeed Aslinejadian and Ghahreman Najafi judged the match booking three cards to the blues and two to the golds.
The only goal of the match was scored by Sepahan’s Sharifi to reward the hosts with three points in their first performance of the 15th IPL.
In another game in Ghavvamin Stadium, Saipa took on Gostaresh hoping to garner 3 points from the home game but ended with sharing the points with their guests.
Assisted by Ali Mirzabeygi and Arman As’adi, Mohsen Torki officiated the match and issued a yellow card at 40 punishing Kiani of Gostaresh.
Maenwhile, in holy city of Qom, Saba of Qom played versus Estghlal Ahvaz ending with the same result of 0-0. In Yadegar Imam Stadium with only 700 spectators, the blues of Ahvaz bagged one point in an away game to be happier than their hosts who expected more with their new Head Coach Ali Daei.
The referee of the game Bijan Heidari issued 6 yellow cards during the match to hit the record for the first day with three for each side of the pitch.
Highlight of the round undoubtedly will be Tractorsazi versus Naft of Tehran, the rematch of the dramatic 3-3 draw in the final round of last season, which eventually cost both teams the league title.
On Friday, giants Persepolis will kick off the season versus Padideh, Foolad Khuzestan will host Rah-Ahan and Malavan will entertain Zowbahan.