| Competition: | Persian Gulf Cup |
| Season: | 2012–13 |
| Winners: | Esteghlal 3rd Pro League title 8th Iranian title |
| Relegated: | Aluminium Hormozgan Sanat Naft Paykan Gahar Zagros |
| Continentalcup1: | Champions League |
| Continentalcup1 Qualifiers: | Esteghlal Tractor Sazi Sepahan Foolad |
| League Topscorer: | Jalal Rafkhaei (19 goals) |
| Best Goalkeeper: | Mehdi Rahmati (21 clean sheets) |
| Matches: | 306 |
| Total Goals: | 694 |
| Biggest Home Win: | Persepolis 6–0 Paykan (31 October 2012) Fajr Sepasi 6–0 Aluminium Hormozgan (2 March 2013) Zob Ahan 6–0 Sanat Naft (5 May 2013) |
| Biggest Away Win: | Paykan 0–5 Foolad (26 September 2012) Fajr Sepasi 0–5 Esteghlal (15 February 2013) |
| Highest Scoring: | Damash 5–3 Paykan (31 July 2012) Sanat Naft 2–6 Naft Tehran (6 August 2012) |
| Highest Attendance: | 100,000 Esteghlal – Persepolis (25 January 2013) Esteghlal – Damash (10 May 2013) |
| Lowest Attendance: | 0 (spectator ban) Persepolis – Fajr Sepasi (24 July 2012) Persepolis – Aluminium Hormozgan (27 September 2012) Damash – Zob Ahan (1 October 2012) Damash – Saba Qom (23 February 2013) Esteghlal – Gahar Zagros (12 April 2013) |
| Attendance: | 2,397,100 |
| Average Attendance: | 7,964 |
| Longest Wins: | 5 matches Sepahan |
| Longest Unbeaten: | 19 matches Foolad |
| Longest Winless: | 21 matches Sanat Naft |
| Longest Losses: | 7 matches Paykan Gahar Zagros |
| Prevseason: | 2011–12 |
| Nextseason: | 2013–14 |
The 2012–13 Persian Gulf Cup (also known as Iran Pro League) was the 30th season of Iran's Football League and 12th as Iran Pro League since its establishment in 2001. Sepahan were the defending champions. The season featured 15 teams from the 2011–12 Persian Gulf Cup and three new teams promoted from the 2011–12 Azadegan League: Paykan as champions, Aluminium Hormozgan and Gahar Zagros. The league started on 19 July 2012 and ended on 10 May 2013. Esteghlal won the Pro League title for the third time in their history (total eighth Iranian title).
After the 2012–13 Iran Pro League season, it was planned that the number of teams would be reduced from 18 to 16 for the next season, so 4 team was directly relegated to the Azadegan League, while one team was played against the 3rd ranked team from the second division league team in a play-off. 2 teams also are directly promoted from current Azadegan league to the next pro league season and one team played against the 14th placed pro league team in a play-off.
The Iranian Football Clubs who participate in 2012–13 Iran Pro League are allowed to have up to maximum 35 players (including up to maximum 4 non-Iranian players) in their player lists, which will be categorized in the following groups:[1]
Based on the fact that the Season is started from 19 July 2012.
| Team | City | Venue | Capacity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15,459 | ||||
| 11,000 | ||||
| 84,412 | ||||
| Hafezieh Dastgheib | 14,560 7,000 | |||
| 50,199 | ||||
| Takhti Doorood | 10,052 | |||
| Takhti Anzali | 8,000 | |||
| 15,430 | ||||
| 8,250 | ||||
| Peykanshahr | 30,000 | |||
| 84,412 | ||||
| 12,922 | ||||
| 10,610 | ||||
| 30,000 | ||||
| Takhti Abadan | 25,256 | |||
| Foolad Shahr | 31,439 | |||
| 66,833 | ||||
| Foolad Shahr | 31,439 |
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| width=100 | Team | width=180 | Outgoing head coach | width=150 | Manner of departure | width=110 | Date of vacancy | width=60 | Position in table | width=180 | Incoming head coach | width=110 | Date of appointment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paykan | Farhad Kazemi | Contract expired | Pre-season | Abdollah Veisi | |||||||||
| Damash | Mehdi Tartar | End of caretaker spell | Omid Harandi | ||||||||||
| Foolad | Majid Jalali | Contract expired | Hossein Faraki | ||||||||||
| Zob Ahan | Mansour Ebrahimzadeh | Rasoul Korbekandi | |||||||||||
| Saba | Abdollah Veisi | Yahya Golmohammadi | |||||||||||
| Naft Tehran | Hossein Faraki | Signed by Foolad | Mansour Ebrahimzadeh | ||||||||||
| Esteghlal | Parviz Mazloomi | Sacked | Amir Ghalenoei | ||||||||||
| Tractor Sazi | Amir Ghalenoei | Signed by Esteghlal |  Toni | ||||||||||
| Gahar Zagros | Davoud Mahabadi | Resigned | Mehdi Tartar | ||||||||||
| Persepolis |  Mustafa Denizli | Mutual agreement | Manuel José de Jesus |
| width=100 | Team | width=180 | Outgoing head coach | width=150 | Manner of departure | width=110 | Date of vacancy | width=60 | Position in table | width=180 | Incoming head coach | width=110 | Date of appointment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gahar Zagros |  Mehdi Tartar | Resigned | 17th | Mohammad Mayeli Kohan | |||||||||
| Damash | Omid Harandi | Sacked | 11th | Hamid Derakhshan | |||||||||
| Saba | Yahya Golmohammadi | Resigned | 7th | Samad Marfavi | |||||||||
| Sanat Naft | José Alberto Costa | Sacked | 17th | Acácio Casimiro | |||||||||
| Malavan | Farhad Pourgholami | Resigned | 9th | Mohammad Ahmadzadeh | |||||||||
| Zob Ahan | Rasoul Korbekandi | Sacked | 15th | Farhad Kazemi | |||||||||
| Persepolis | Manuel José de Jesus | 12th | Yahya Golmohammadi | ||||||||||
| Mes Kerman | Ebrahim Ghasempour | 8th | Luka Bonačić | ||||||||||
| Paykan | Abdollah Veisi | 16th | Firouz Karimi | ||||||||||
| Aluminium | Akbar Misaghian | 14th | Parviz Mazloomi | ||||||||||
| Damash | Hamid Derakhshan | 13th | Afshin Nazemi | ||||||||||
| Tractor Sazi[2] | Toni | 2nd | Majid Jalali |
Zob Ahan as 14th-placed team faced play-off winner of 2012–13 Azadegan League, Pas Hamedan in a two-legged play-off.
----
Zob Ahan won 5–3 on aggregate and retained its Iran Pro League spot for the 2013–14 season.
| Position | Player | Club | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jalal Rafkhaei | Malavan | 19 |
| 2 | Mehdi Seyed Salehi | Tractor Sazi | 16 |
| 3 | Mohammad Reza Khalatbari | Sepahan | 14 |
| Mostafa Shojaei | Mes Kerman | ||
| 5 |  Chimba | Foolad | 12 |
| 6 | Saeid Daghighi | Saipa | 11 |
| Reza Enayati | Mes Kerman | ||
 Xhevahir Sukaj | Sepahan | ||
| 9 | Arash Borhani | Esteghlal | 10 |
| Yaghoub Karimi | Naft Tehran | ||
| Flávio Paixão | Tractor Sazi | ||
| 12 | Farzad Hatami | Esteghlal | 9 |
| 13 | Karim Ansarifard | Persepolis | 8 |
| Omid Ebrahimi | Sepahan | ||
| Alireza Jahanbakhsh | Damash | ||
| Total goals (Including technical loses) | 686 | ||
| Total games | 306 | ||
| Average per game | |||
| Player | For ! | Against | Result | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Malavan | Saba Qom | ||
| | Naft Tehran | Sanat Naft | ||
| | Fajr Sepasi | Damash Gilan | ||
| | Persepolis | Paykan | ||
| | Saba Qom | Sanat Naft | ||
| | Mes | Gahar | ||
Goalkeeper: Mehdi Rahmati (Esteghlal)
Defence: Mehrdad Jama'ati (Foolad), Pejman Montazeri (Esteghlal), Amir Hossein Sadeghi (Esteghlal), Khosro Heydari (Esteghlal)
Midfield: Reza Haghighi (Perspolis), Bakhtiar Rahmani (Foolad), Moharram Navidkia (Sepahan), Yaghoub Karimi (Naft.t)
Attack: Jalal Rafkhaei (Malavan), Mohammad Reza Khalatbari (Sepahan)
Moharram Navidkia was awarded as the best player of the season among Mehdi Rahmati and Pejman Montazeri became second and third. Saeid Ezzatollahi was also awarded as the best young player of the season and Alireza Jahanbakhsh was ranked second.
Amir Ghalenoei was awarded as the best coach of the season, Zlatko Kranjčar becomes second and Hossein Faraki third. Saeid Mozafarizadeh awarded best referee, Fair Play Award was given to the Fajr Sepasi and Esteghlal was the team of the season. Mehdi Mahdavikia, Ali Parvin, Homayoun Behzadi and Ali Jabari were also awarded for their service to the Iranian football.
| Rank | Home team | Score | Away team | Attendance | Date | Week | Stadium | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| align=center rowspan="2" | 1 | Esteghlal | align=center | 0–0 | Persepolis | align=center | 100,000 | 23 | Azadi | |
| Esteghlal | align=center | 1–2 | Damash | align=center | 100,000 | 34 | Azadi | |||
| align=center | 3 | Persepolis | align=center | 0–0 | Esteghlal | align=center | 90,000 | 6 | Azadi | |
| align=center | 4 | Esteghlal | align=center | 1–0 | Tractor Sazi | align=center | 75,000 | 29 | Azadi | |
| align=center rowspan="2" | 5 | Gahar Zagros | align=center | 1–1 | Persepolis | align=center | 65,000 | 3 | Azadi | |
| Persepolis | align=center | 0–2 | Saba Qom | align=center | 65,000 | 4 | Azadi | |||
| align=center | 7 | Esteghlal | align=center | 1–1 | Sepahan | align=center | 60,000 | 30 | Azadi | |
| align=center rowspan="2" | 8 | Esteghlal | align=center | 1–0 | Aluminium Hormozgan | align=center | 50,000 | 1 | Azadi | |
| Tractor Sazi | align=center | 2–0 | Esteghlal | align=center | 50,000 | 12 | Sahand | |||
| align=center | 10 | Saipa | align=center | 2–1 | Esteghlal | align=center | 40,000 | 2 | Azadi | |
https://web.archive.org/web/20150621212129/http://www.guilaneno.com/%D8%B5%D9%81%D8%AD%D9%87%20%D9%86%D8%AE%D8%B3%D8%AA
Riad Demic
Fousseyni Sidibé