Persian Gulf Pro League:
Tractor to begin title defense against Esteghlal
Tractor will begin its Persian Gulf Pro League title defense at home against Iranian Hazfi Cup champion Esteghlal on August 18.
The game will be a second encounter between the two in seven days, following the Iranian Super Cup match at Isfahan’s Naqsh-e Jahan Stadium.
The opening day of the new Iranian top-flight season will also see Sepahan – runner-up to Tractor last season – play away to Malavan FC, while Persepolis, which finished third last term, will begin its bid for an eighth league trophy in a decade at home against newly-promoted Fajr Sepasi – in head coach Vahid Hashemian’s debut on the Tehran Reds’ bench.
Persepolis will be chasing their first league victory over Sepahan since December 2021 when the two domestic rivals face off in Isfahan on the second matchday.
The two sides met on four occasions across different competitions last season, with Sepahan achieving a clean sweep of victories.
Persepolis will then host Foolad Khuzestan on matchday three and Sepahan will visit Sirjan to face Mahdi Tartar’s Golgohar.
Elsewhere on matchday one, Esteghlal Khuzestan will host Shams Azar in Ahvaz, with Zob Ahan and Paykan, which also won promotion last season, squaring off in Isfahan.
Last season’s surprise package Chadormalou will welcome Yahya Golmohammadi’s Foolad Khuzestan, which will be looking to improve on the fourth-place finish last term.
Golgohar and Iralco will meet in Sirjan, while Mes Rafsanjan will visit Khaybar.
A second league game for Tractor will come at Mes Rafsanjan, before Dragan Skocic’s side play at home against Iralco in the third round of fixtures.
Esteghlal, meanwhile, which has Portuguese coach Ricardo Sa Pinto back in charge, will face Zob Ahan in its first home game of the campaign, followed by a trip to Ahvaz, where the Tehran Blues will meet Esteghlal Khuzestan on matchday three.
The first Tehran Derby of the season will come on matchday twelve, as Esteghlal will be desperate to end a seven-year winless streak against archrival Persepolis in the league.