Bargh Shiraz F.C.

In 1946, a group of youngsters under the leadership of Ebrahim Nematollahi, who worked in the Cheragh Bargh (lightbulb) factory and loved football, decided to create a football club. The factory sponsored their team, but for the first few years the team always had financial problems. For a brief period the club was sponsored by the city council, but after a couple of years the team's current sponsor, Shiraz Electrical Company, came along.

Bargh Shiraz club is documented as the oldest Iranian football club that is still on the list of FIFA "active clubs" and one of the oldest football clubs in Asia.[2] Esteghlal Tehran club was founded a few months earlier, but its football club was founded four years later than Bargh Shiraz football club.

Little if any record of corruption, collusion and darkness is available from 7 decades of activity of this football club, in Iranian leagues that face hundreds of collusion attempts each year; making this club representative of "fairplay" in Iran. In contrast, the club has been victimized by others in Iranian football; some examples over the last 15 years are listed below:

In 2001, Bargh Shiraz team was relegated from the first division to the second division. But for the first time in Iranian football history, the team was kept in the first division by the Iranian Football Federation because 22 points were unfairly taken from the team as a result of what was called "non-fair judgements". The number of teams in the first division was only 12 at that time.

Bargh Shiraz vs. Sepahan Isfahan 2004: In the mentioned match held in Isfahan, five clear offsides occurred in a period of half an hour with judges closing eyes to them. Finally one of them was charged against Sepahan F.C. Details of the misjudgement are available on the TV show 90. (Persian:برنامه نود).

In 2010 Bargh Shiraz could not achieve promotion to the Iran Pro League (Persian Gulf league) because they scored fewer goals than Damash Gilan. Their matches in the last week were required to start simultaneously, but Damash's match started with a delay of 15 minutes. Being aware of Bargh's victory in Arak, Damash managed to score in the last minute of its match and were promoted to the Iran Pro League. In the same year, 22 players of Damash were condemned for doping, but it did not lead to any penalty for the club.

Bargh's success is limited; however, in its own right they emerged as Shiraz's top team, participating in the Takht Jamshid Cup, as well as the Azadegan League and the IPL. The club has struggled at times, and over the years has had spells in the lower divisions. The club's highest honor is winning the Hazfi Cup in 1997. They have always been in the mid-table or avoiding relegation in recent years. The 2007–08 season was their best season, as they challenged strong teams with Mahmoud Yavari as manager and finished 7th in the league. But they were relegated in the 2008–09 season when they changed coaches three times.

In the 2011–12 Azadegan League season, Bargh experienced a poor season while the organization had a huge conflict over who should take authority over the club (normally, Iranian Ministry of Power and Electricity-Fars). In this year, the club's legal owner organization declined to continue sponsoring the club. Consequently, two volunteer businessmen called Shekari and Abehesht took responsibility for the football team and brought about the darkest year in the club's history ever. The football team was relegated to the second division. In 2012, the new owner of the club (Hosein Farsi) exchanged the legitimacy of the club with another club (Steel Azin F.C.) in the Azadegan League so the club could again participate in this division. In the same year, the futsal team of the club (Bargh Shiraz FSC) was promoted to the first division, winning the second division's cup with an impressive performance during the season.

The Shiraz derby (Persian: شهرآورد شیراز) is a football derby match between the two biggest clubs of Shiraz: Bargh Shiraz and Fajr Sepasi.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

• Hazfi Cup:
  • Winners (1): 1997
  • Runners-up (1): 1996
• Iran 2nd Division:
  • Winners (2): 1997, 2000

• Aga Khan Gold Cup[note 1]
  • Winners (1): 1970[3]

• https://www.instagram.com/barghshirazfc/
• https://telegram.me/barghshirazfc
• (in Persian) Official club website Archived 4 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine
• (in English) Players and results