Morais to stay on as Sepahan manager, club confirms
Portuguese head coach Jose Morais will spend a third season at Sepahan, the Persian Gulf Pro League club confirmed on Sunday.
The news ends weeks of speculation swirling around the Sepahan bench following the final victory over Mes Rafsanjan in the Iranian domestic cup, Khorramshahr Liberation Memorial, in June – a first trophy for the top-flight side in nine years.
The Portuguese is to return from vacation in the coming days as Sepahan’s first training session for the new season will begin by the end of the week, the Isfahan-based side said in a statement.
The club’s first game of the new campaign will come on August 6 at Isfahan’s Naqsh-e Jahan Stadium, where Morais’s men will host Emirati side Shabab Al-Ahli in the preliminary round of the inaugural AFC Champions League Elite season.
The winner of the tie will play away to Qatar Stars League’s Al-Gharafa a week later for a place in the 12-team league phase of the competition in the West region.
Morais, 58, led his team to the runner-up spot in the Iranian league in his first season in charge, before a controversy-laden campaign saw Sepahan finish third behind Tehran archrivals Persepolis and Esteghlal last term.
Widely regarded as the favorite to lift the league trophy after some emphatic victories in the early stages of the season, Sepahan had to part ways with several new signings midway through the season due to the Iranian Football Federation’s financial rules and fell short in the title race in the second half of the campaign.
Morais faces the prospect of being without two instrumental figures in his squad for the next season as Iranian international striker Shahriar Moghanlou, the leading marksman in the league with 16 goals, is on the verge of joining Ittihad Kalba in the UAE Pro League, while prolific fullback Ramin Rezaeian, who bagged 14 goals and 12 assists across all competitions, has announced the cup final against Mes was his last appearance in the Sepahan shirt.