Mehdi Ghaedi and his wife

While they were in the shadow of Piroozi in the 1990s, professionalism across the board football has meant that Esteghlal now face competition from a variety of clubs whose private funding has given them the ability to compete at the highest level. Their greatest recent success was the 2009 league title but a club the size of Esteghlal will be looking to make their presence felt again on the continental stage.