Iraq Super League
Encyclopedia
Iraqi Premier League is the highest league in the league system of Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

i football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 and currently contains the top 20 Iraqi football clubs. It is translated into English as "The Premier League". It was founded in 1974 and is controlled by the Iraq Football Federation.

League of the Institutes

Prior to 1974, the league contained only Baghdad based teams. The league was named League of the Institutes and began its first season in 1962. During its 11 years, the Baghdad league was dominated by the Al-Shorta
Al-Shorta
Al-Shorta is an Iraqi football club based in Baghdad. They are widely regarded as Iraq's best team, as they are only one of two Iraqi teams to ever win any competition outside of Iraq -History:Al Shorta have won 14 trophies...

 club as it won over half of the championships.

Clubs 2011/12

  • Al Hedood
  • Al-Kahrabaa
  • Al-Karkh
  • Al-Masafi FC
  • Al-Minaa
  • Al-Naft
  • Al-Najaf FC
  • Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
    Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
    Air Force Club or Nadi Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya is a football club based in Baghdad, Iraq. "Al Quwa Al Jawiya" is Arabic for "Air Force". It was the first club to be found in Iraq on July 4, 1931 under the name of "Gipsy Moth," by a group of Iraqi flight policemen from the RAF Base of Hinaidi...

  • Al-Shirqat FC
  • Al-Shorta
    Al-Shorta
    Al-Shorta is an Iraqi football club based in Baghdad. They are widely regarded as Iraq's best team, as they are only one of two Iraqi teams to ever win any competition outside of Iraq -History:Al Shorta have won 14 trophies...


  • Al-Sinaa
  • Al Taji
  • Al-Talaba
  • Al-Zawraa
    Al-Zawraa
    Al-Zawra'a Sport Club is an Iraqi football club based in Karkh, Baghdad. Al-Zawraa is considered to be one of the best Iraqi football clubs in history, as it has won 12 national titles...

  • Arbil FC
  • Baghdad FC
  • Dohuk FC
  • Karbalaa FC
  • Kirkuk FC
  • Zakho FC


Current competition

Since the toppling of the Saddam Hussein regime, the Iraqi league has made some dramatic changes. The league now starts in October and ends in July. Unlike the upper division of most countries' football leagues, Iraq's first league are split into 3 groups as planned in the beginning of the season. But by February 15, 2007, the league split the Baghdad group into two groups since teams could not coordinate games due to violence in the capital. In the first postwar year, the league split 28 teams into 4 groups of seven, based on region: North, South, and 2 Baghdad groups. In the 2006 - 2007 season, the league shrunk to 4 groups with a total of 23 teams.

The top 4 teams from each group moves on to the next round, while the last team of each group is relegated to the Iraq's 2nd division league (in the 2004-05 season, each group was forced to relegate 3 teams because the league had too many teams (35)).
The 12 advancing teams are then split into 4 groups of 3, where each team plays the other twice, once home and once away.
The first team in each of the 4 groups advances to the next round (the semi-finals.)
Each of the 4 remaining teams is then paired with another team, where they will play a home and away match.
The 2 winners advance to the championship for a single Baghdad venue match, while the two losing teams play for 3rd place.

The two finalist teams also advance to play in the AFC Cup
AFC Cup
The AFC Cup is an annual international association football competition between domestic clubs sides run by the Asian Football Confederation . Qualification to the competition is to clubs from AFC-affiliated countries which fall into the AFC's 'developing nations' category as laid out in their...

, while the third place team qualifies to the Arab Champions League
Arab Champions League
The Arab Champions League is a football tournament for clubs in the Arab world. It was inspired by the UEFA Champions League.The Arab Champions League was first known as the Arab Club Champions Cup, and established in 1982. In 2001, it merged with the Arab Cup Winners' Cup to form the new Prince...

.


Iraqi Premier League Winners

Year Team Top Goal Scorer
1974-75  Al Quwa Al Jawiya - Al Tayran   Thamir Yosif (13)
1975-76  Al Zawraa   Thamir Yosif (13)
1976-77  Al Zawraa   Zahrawi Jabir (6)
1977-78  Al Minaa
Al Minaa
Al Minaa football club is an Iraqi football club based in Basra. The 1st team from outside Baghdad to win the Iraqi Premier League in 1978.-Current squad:-Famous players:...

  Jalil Hanoon (11)
1978-79  Al Zawraa   Falah Hassan
Falah Hassan
Falah Hassan is a former Iraqi international football player.Early lifeFalah Hassan was born in 1951 in the village of Mimouna, in a district of Qalat Salih...

 (7)
1979-80  Al Shurta   Ali Hussein Mahmoud (18)
1980-81  Al Talaba
Al Talaba
Talaba Sport Club is an Iraqi football club based in Baghdad. The word Talaba means Students in the Arabic language...

  Hussein Saeed
Hussein Saeed
Hussein Saeed Mohammed is a former Iraqi football player. Hussein Saeed is in 10th place in FIFA’s list of most international matches at 126 matches. He was also in the Iraq national football team's golden team in 1986. He competed for Iraq at the 1980, 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics.Saeed is also...

 (11)
1981-82  Al Talaba
Al Talaba
Talaba Sport Club is an Iraqi football club based in Baghdad. The word Talaba means Students in the Arabic language...

  Thamir Yosif (14)
1982-83  Salahaddin FC
Salahaddin FC
Salahaddin FC , is an Iraqi football team based in Tikrit, Salahaddin Governorate.-Honours:*Iraqi Premier League:-External links:*...

  Hussein Saeed
Hussein Saeed
Hussein Saeed Mohammed is a former Iraqi football player. Hussein Saeed is in 10th place in FIFA’s list of most international matches at 126 matches. He was also in the Iraq national football team's golden team in 1986. He competed for Iraq at the 1980, 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics.Saeed is also...

 (17)
1983-84  Al Jaish   Rahim Hameed
Rahim Hameed
Abdul-Rahim Hamed Aufi is an Iraqi football forward who played for Iraq in the 1986 FIFA World Cup. He also played for Al-Jaish.-External links:*...

 (11)
1984-85 Abandoned due to Iran–Iraq War
1985-86 Al Talaba
Al Talaba
Talaba Sport Club is an Iraqi football club based in Baghdad. The word Talaba means Students in the Arabic language...

  Hussein Saeed
Hussein Saeed
Hussein Saeed Mohammed is a former Iraqi football player. Hussein Saeed is in 10th place in FIFA’s list of most international matches at 126 matches. He was also in the Iraq national football team's golden team in 1986. He competed for Iraq at the 1980, 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics.Saeed is also...

,   Ahmed Radhi 
and   Rahim Hameed
Rahim Hameed
Abdul-Rahim Hamed Aufi is an Iraqi football forward who played for Iraq in the 1986 FIFA World Cup. He also played for Al-Jaish.-External links:*...

 (9)
1986-87 Al Rasheed -Al Karkh
Al Karkh
Al-Karkh Sport Club is an Iraqi football club based in Karkh, Baghdad. The team was known as Al-Rasheed Club until 1991. They were runners-up to Qatari club Al-Sadd SC in the 1989 Asian Champions Cup having narrowly lost on the away goals rule...

 
  Rahim Hameed
Rahim Hameed
Abdul-Rahim Hamed Aufi is an Iraqi football forward who played for Iraq in the 1986 FIFA World Cup. He also played for Al-Jaish.-External links:*...

 (14)
1987-88 Al Rasheed -Al Karkh
Al Karkh
Al-Karkh Sport Club is an Iraqi football club based in Karkh, Baghdad. The team was known as Al-Rasheed Club until 1991. They were runners-up to Qatari club Al-Sadd SC in the 1989 Asian Champions Cup having narrowly lost on the away goals rule...

 
  Rahim Hameed
Rahim Hameed
Abdul-Rahim Hamed Aufi is an Iraqi football forward who played for Iraq in the 1986 FIFA World Cup. He also played for Al-Jaish.-External links:*...

 (14)
1988-89 Al Rasheed -Al Karkh
Al Karkh
Al-Karkh Sport Club is an Iraqi football club based in Karkh, Baghdad. The team was known as Al-Rasheed Club until 1991. They were runners-up to Qatari club Al-Sadd SC in the 1989 Asian Champions Cup having narrowly lost on the away goals rule...

 
  Karim Saddam
Karim Saddam
Karim Saddam Minshid is an Iraqi football forward who played for Iraq in the 1986 FIFA World Cup. He also played for many Iraqi clubs : Al Jaish , Al Zawraa , Al Shorta & Al Sinaa , Karim Saddam holds an Iraqi record for number of goals in one season when he scored 35 goals in 1992-1993 Iraqi...

 (22)
1989-90 Al Quwa Al Jawiya   Karim Saddam
Karim Saddam
Karim Saddam Minshid is an Iraqi football forward who played for Iraq in the 1986 FIFA World Cup. He also played for many Iraqi clubs : Al Jaish , Al Zawraa , Al Shorta & Al Sinaa , Karim Saddam holds an Iraqi record for number of goals in one season when he scored 35 goals in 1992-1993 Iraqi...

 and   Majeed Abdul-Ridha (13)
1990-91 Al Zawraa   Karim Saddam
Karim Saddam
Karim Saddam Minshid is an Iraqi football forward who played for Iraq in the 1986 FIFA World Cup. He also played for many Iraqi clubs : Al Jaish , Al Zawraa , Al Shorta & Al Sinaa , Karim Saddam holds an Iraqi record for number of goals in one season when he scored 35 goals in 1992-1993 Iraqi...

 (20)
1991-92 Al Quwa Al Jawiya   Ahmed Radhi (34)
1992-93 Al Talaba
Al Talaba
Talaba Sport Club is an Iraqi football club based in Baghdad. The word Talaba means Students in the Arabic language...

  Karim Saddam
Karim Saddam
Karim Saddam Minshid is an Iraqi football forward who played for Iraq in the 1986 FIFA World Cup. He also played for many Iraqi clubs : Al Jaish , Al Zawraa , Al Shorta & Al Sinaa , Karim Saddam holds an Iraqi record for number of goals in one season when he scored 35 goals in 1992-1993 Iraqi...

 (33)
1993-94 Al Zawraa   Younis Abid-Ali (36)
1994-95 Al Zawraa   Muyad Joodi (30)
1995-96 Al Zawraa   Hussam Fawzi
Hussam Fawzi
Hussam Fawzi Naji is an Iraqi footballer who is a forward, and former captain of the Iraq national football team.-International career:...

 and   Ali Hasan
Ali Hasan
Ali Hasan is a Kuwaiti fencer. He competed in the team épée event at the 1984 Summer Olympics.-References:...

 (11)
1997-98 Al Shurta   Mahmoud Majid (22)
1996-97 Al Quwa Al Jawiya   Ali Hashim (19)
1997-98 Al Shurta   Mahmoud Majid (22)
1998-99 Al Zawraa   Hashim Ridha (19)
1999-00 Al Zawraa   Haidar Ayad (28)
2000-01 Al Zawraa   Hussein Abdullah (22)
2001-02 Al Talaba
Al Talaba
Talaba Sport Club is an Iraqi football club based in Baghdad. The word Talaba means Students in the Arabic language...

  Hashim Ridha (32)
2002-03 Abandoned due to 2003 invasion of Iraq
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...

2003-04 Abandoned due to 2003 invasion of Iraq
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...

2004-05 Al Quwa Al Jawiya   Mostafa Karim
Mostafa Karim
Mustafa Karim Abdullah is an Iraqi footballer. He currently plays for El-Ittihad El-Iskandary in Egypt. He plays as striker, and is known for his ability to score with both feet.-Youth Team:...

 (16)
2005-06 Al Zawraa    Sahib Abbas (17)
2006-07 Arbil FC    Ahmad Salah
Ahmad Salah Alwan
Ahmad Salah Alwan is an Iraqi footballer who last played for Arbil FC.On 16 September he was released along with 7 other players by Arbil FC.-The Beginning and the Youth Teams:...

 (11)
2007-08 Arbil FC    Asaad Abdul-Nabi (14)
2008-09 Arbil FC    Ahmad Salah
Ahmad Salah Alwan
Ahmad Salah Alwan is an Iraqi footballer who last played for Arbil FC.On 16 September he was released along with 7 other players by Arbil FC.-The Beginning and the Youth Teams:...

 (15)
2009-10 Dohuk FC    Amjad Radhi
Amjad Radhi
Amjad Radhi Al-Janabi is an Iraqi professional footballer who currently plays for Arbil FC in the Iraqi Premier League. He has played in the Iraqi Premier League for Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya. and won the 2009–10 Iraqi Premier League top scorer award with 33 goals....

 (33)
2010-11
2010–11 Iraqi Premier League
The 2010-11 season was the 37th edition of the Iraqi Premier League. The season began on 26 November 2010, and ended on 15 August 2011. Dohuk FC were the defending champions....

Al Zawraa    Luay Salah
Luay Salah
Luay Salah Hassan is an Iraqi football player. He plays for Arbil FC.-Info:After helping Al Quwa Al Jawiya to the Iraq league title in 2005, Louay Salah Hassan moved to Iran Pro League side Persepolis the following season. The 25-year-old striker gained AFC Champions League experience with Al...

 (17)

Performance by club

Club Titles
Al Zawraa 12
Al Quwa Al Jawiya 5
Al Talaba
Al Talaba
Talaba Sport Club is an Iraqi football club based in Baghdad. The word Talaba means Students in the Arabic language...

5
Arbil FC 3
Al Karkh
Al Karkh
Al-Karkh Sport Club is an Iraqi football club based in Karkh, Baghdad. The team was known as Al-Rasheed Club until 1991. They were runners-up to Qatari club Al-Sadd SC in the 1989 Asian Champions Cup having narrowly lost on the away goals rule...

3
Al Shurta  2
Al Jaish 1
Al Minaa
Al Minaa
Al Minaa football club is an Iraqi football club based in Basra. The 1st team from outside Baghdad to win the Iraqi Premier League in 1978.-Current squad:-Famous players:...

1
Salahaddin FC
Salahaddin FC
Salahaddin FC , is an Iraqi football team based in Tikrit, Salahaddin Governorate.-Honours:*Iraqi Premier League:-External links:*...

1
Dohuk FC 1

External links

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