F.C. Aboomoslem

Iranian football club

Football Club Abu Muslim (باشگاه فوتبال ابومسلم خراسان, Bashgah e Futbal e Abumislâm e Xerasan), commonly known as Abu Muslim, is an Iranian football club based in Mashhad, Razavi Khorasan, that competes in the League 3. The club was founded in 1970 and is named after Abbasid era Persian general Abu Muslim, who led the Abbasid Revolution that toppled the Umayyad dynasty. The football team plays its home games at the Samen Stadium which has a seating capacity of 27,000. The club is owned and supported by Mohammad Reza Abbasi. Abu Muslim won four League 2 trophies, three Khorasan League titles, and one final participation in the Hazfi Cup. Abu Muslim holds a long standing enmity with provincial rivals Payam Khorasan known as the Mashhad derby.

In 1970 a group of football players from Mashhad decided to create a new football team by the name of Abu Muslim. After defeat in the tournament, it was decided that for Khorasan to have a powerful football team, Abu Muslim and Aria must merge. Three brothers helped to merge the clubs, and Abu Muslim was able to make it to the 1975 Takht Jamshid Cup, which was the top football league in Iran before the Iranian revolution. The team originally only wore black, but red was added late on. Success was short lived and the team was relegated the next season, staying in the 2nd division until the revolution.

Like most sporting clubs in Iran, the revolution and the Iran–Iraq War severely limited the team's activities. From 1980 to 1984 the club participated in almost no meaningful competitions. This changed when in late 1984 local and provincial leagues were set up. In the late 1980s, Shahdiran Inc. sponsored the team. After the war the local and provincial leagues were scrapped in favor of nationwide leagues. Abu Muslim made it to the newly established Azadegan League and participated during the 1990–91 and 1991–92 seasons, but was relegated after only two years. Once relegated the club struggled dramatically, being relegated all the way to the third division, which was a local league. Shahdiran stopped sponsoring the team and was replaced by soft drink company, Khoshgovar. After several seasons in the lower leagues, Abu Muslim finally made it back to the top level of Iranian football, gaining promotion to the Azadegan League during the 1997–98 season. Abu Muslim had been in a poor financial situation that season, as Khoshgovar had stopped being its sponsor. Abu Muslim's only revenue came from advertisements and support from club fans, but surprisingly won promotion. Abu Muslim again only stayed in the league for two seasons and was relegated during the 1999–2000 season. Around the same time the club went back to its roots, once again being sponsored by the Iranian police.

They were promoted again in the next season and debuted in Iran's first fully professional league, the IPL, for the 2001–02 season. They have remained in the IPL since with two 5th place finishes being their best results. After the 2004–05 season Abu Muslim's new sponsor became Iran Khodro.

In 2006 Khodadad Azizi joined the club as an advisor, after retirement from playing. Akbar Misaghian the club's manager for the past two seasons resigned after the first week of the 2006–07 season due to financial disagreements with management. In January 2007, Khodadad Azizi was named manager of Abu Muslim. He was sacked less than a year later and replaced by Parviz Mazloomi in October 2007. The club had a very difficult season which they avoided the relegation in the last week and changed three head coaches and three chairmen but their instability continued for the 2009–10 season where they finished last and got relegated. In 2014 for the first time in the club's history the team was relegated to the 2nd Division.

Because of the financial problems suffered by the club, On 7 September 2014 the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports declared the bankruptcy of F. C. Abu Muslim. The new chairman Mehdi Biglari re established the club in 2014 as Toloe Nasl e Abu Muslim Football Club. Abu Muslim restarted operations in 2016 and started competing in the fourth tier.

The Mashhad derby also known as the Khorasan derby is a football local derby match between F. C. Abu Muslim and Payam Khorasan. Nowadays it has lost its status to more popular derbies such as Esfahan derby, Ahvaz derby and Shiraz derby.

The club currently plays in Samen Stadium after years of playing in Mashhad's Takhti Stadium. The club announced plans to construct their own stadium with the help of the provincial government. The land was awarded to the team during Karim Malahi's time as club chairman. Construction was planned to begin March 2007 in the Elahieh area of Mashhad.

Abu Muslim is the most popular club from Khorasan.

For details on former players, see :Category:Aboomoslem players.