Persepolis has retained the Iran Pro League title in style, sealing the 2017-18 season of the Persian Pro League with three games to spare.
Persepolis defeated Padideh 1-0 at the Samen al-Aeme Stadium in Mashhad on Saturday with Vahid Amiri scoring the winner in the 77th minute.
Persepolis, which has sealed its place in the Round of 16 at the 2018 AFC Champions League, has been in sparkling form since missing out on the 2015-16 Iran Pro League title, the AFC reported.
Then, the club finished runner-up to Esteghlal due to an inferior goal difference but bounced back in style the following season to claim the title with three matches to spare.
The feat has been repeated in 2017-18 and Persepolis, semifinalists in the 2017 AFC Champions League, has now been the Iranian champion 11 times; seven in the old style of the league and four in the current Persian Pro league.
Since the establishment of Persian Pro League, the club has won the title four times which gives them the second place of all-time winner of the title. Sepahan FC with five and Esteghlal with three times are first and third in the all-time record of the league respectively.
Besides winning the title, the club also is the topscorer of the league. Striker Ali Alipour has scored 18 goals with three games to spare before closure of the league. Also Mohsen Mosalman with nine assists is in the first place for top assists and the second rank is for another player of Persepolis Vahid Amiri with six assists.
The Tehran based football club has now won two consecutive titles under the management of Croatian coach Branko Ivankovic.
Branko, 64, joined the club in 2015. Two titles of Persian Pro League, Semifinalist of AFC Champions League in 2017 and reaching the knock-out stage of the current AFC Champions League are among his achievements during his time with the Persepolis.
In his international career with Croatia’s national team, Ivanković was the assistant coach to Ćiro Blažević, who led the Croatian national team to a sensational third-place finish at the 1998 FIFA World Cup finals in France.
