Major Surprise in Football Cup: Shahrdari Fars Eliminates Persepolis

In the Iranian Football Cup, the second division team Shahrdari Fars managed to eliminate Persepolis in a penalty shootout, creating a historic surprise in Iranian football and advancing to the next round. After a draw at 120 minutes, the match went to penalties where the hosts performed better, defeating Persepolis 7-6. With this victory, Shahrdari Fars will face Bargh in the next match, marking a local derby in Shiraz. The match, coached by Asghar Akbari, took place in the Round of 32 of the Cup at Hafezieh Stadium in Shiraz, attended by 15,000 spectators. The starting lineup for Shahrdari Fars included Ali Asadi, Mohsen Razavi, Mohammad Sharifzadeh, Hamid Sefidgari, Soheil Niknam, Hadi Moradi, Mehdi Shiri, Ali Negarandeh, Hadi Khadem, Mohammad Javad Zarei, and Hossein Koushki. On the other side, Persepolis was without its national team players, but Bozhidar Radosevic, Hossein Mahini, Mohsen Rabiei-Khah, Sadegh Moharrami, Amin Aram-Taba (Shahab Zahedi), Kamal Kamyabinia, Ahmad Noorollahi, Omid Alishah (Farshad Ahmadzadeh), Mohsen Muslim, Vladimir Primov, and Ali Alipour (Ehsan Alavanzadeh) formed a lineup that was not inexperienced, with some having national team experience. In the 10th minute, Mohammad Javad Zarei opened the scoring against Radosevic, allowing his team to go into halftime with the lead. In the second half, with a cross from Mohsen Muslim, Primov equalized with a header. In the remaining minutes of the game, as well as in two extra periods, no goals were scored, leading to a decisive penalty shootout. The first penalty was taken by Mohammad Javad Zarei, which went in despite Radosevic's dive. Then, Hossein Mahini scored for Persepolis. The second penalty was taken by Asadi for Shahrdari Fars, which hit the post despite Radosevic's misjudgment. Ahmad Noorollahi scored the next penalty for Persepolis, and Chabok also scored for Shahrdari Fars. Primov scored the third penalty for his team. The next penalty for Shahrdari Fars was also a goal, and then Mohsen Muslim scored the fourth and crucial penalty with a chip shot. Mehdi Shiri, an experienced player for Shahrdari Fars who played for the national team 15 years ago and is a former Persepolis member, converted his penalty into a goal. It was Kamal Kamyabinia's turn, and if his shot had gone in, Persepolis would have advanced, but the experienced Persepolis midfielder was outdone by the Shahrdari Fars goalkeeper. It came down to the sixth penalty. Moradi scored for the Shiraz representative, and Farshad Ahmadzadeh scored for the Tehran representative. In the seventh penalty, Mohammad Sharifzadeh deceived Radosevic, and then it was Shahab Zahedi's turn for the Reds, who failed to score. Thus, the Shahrdari Fars players celebrated their advancement at Hafezieh. Mehdi Shiri commented on the absence of Persepolis's national team players, stating: 'Persepolis is a big name and is always a lion, whether the main players are present or any player wearing this team's jersey.' The 38-year-old star of the match recalled: 'It was a bad draw, but we had high motivation. Now my wish is for Persepolis to be champions in the league. Our best player was our goalkeeper. If we play Persepolis 10 more times, we would lose. This result was our luck, and the players showed their best performance.' Asghar Akbari, head coach of Shahrdari Fars, also said: 'We wanted to put Shiraz football, which is not seen, on the map. Before the game, I told my players that you are local players who have not received their due, and now you must take your right to revive Fars football.' On the other side, Branko Ivankovic did not agree to an interview and apologized to reporters, stating he was not in a condition to talk about the game. Persepolis players were also banned from interviews by the club's public relations.