Iraqi Premier League

Iraqi Premier League

Countries	Iraq
Confederation	AFC (Asia)
Founded	1974
Relegation to	Iraq Division 1
Domestic cup(s)	Iraq FA Cup
Current champions	Al Zawraa (2010-11 Iraqi Premier League)
TV partners	Al Iraqiya
2011–12 Iraqi Premier League

Iraqi Premier League^[1] (Arabic: دوري النخبة العراقي, Dawri Al-Nokhba) is the highest league in the league system of Iraqi football 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

Main article: 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 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-Shirqat FC Al-Shorta

Al-Sinaa Al Taji Al-Talaba Al-Zawraa 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, while the third place team qualifies to the Arab Champions League.

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	Jalil Hanoon (11)
1978-79	Al Zawraa	Falah Hassan (7)
1979-80	Al Shurta	Ali Hussein Mahmoud (18)
1980-81	Al Talaba	Hussein Saeed (11)
1981-82	Al Talaba	Thamir Yosif (14)
1982-83	Salahaddin FC	Hussein Saeed (17)
1983-84	Al Jaish	Rahim Hameed (11)
1984-85	Abandoned due to Iran–Iraq War
1985-86	Al Talaba	Hussein Saeed, Ahmed Radhi and Rahim Hameed (9)
1986-87	Al Rasheed -Al Karkh	Rahim Hameed (14)
1987-88	Al Rasheed -Al Karkh	Rahim Hameed (14)
1988-89	Al Rasheed -Al Karkh	Karim Saddam (22)
1989-90	Al Quwa Al Jawiya	Karim Saddam and Majeed Abdul-Ridha (13)
1990-91	Al Zawraa	Karim Saddam (20)
1991-92	Al Quwa Al Jawiya	Ahmed Radhi (34)
1992-93	Al Talaba	Karim Saddam (33)
1993-94	Al Zawraa	Younis Abid-Ali (36)
1994-95	Al Zawraa	Muyad Joodi (30)
1995-96	Al Zawraa	Hussam Fawzi and Ali Hasan (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	Hashim Ridha (32)
2002-03	Abandoned due to 2003 invasion of Iraq
2003-04	Abandoned due to 2003 invasion of Iraq
2004-05	Al Quwa Al Jawiya	Mostafa Karim (16)
2005-06	Al Zawraa	Sahib Abbas (17)
2006-07	Arbil FC	Ahmad Salah (11)
2007-08	Arbil FC	Asaad Abdul-Nabi (14)
2008-09	Arbil FC	Ahmad Salah (15)
2009-10	Dohuk FC	Amjad Radhi (33)
2010-11	Al Zawraa	Luay Salah (17)

Performance by club

Club	Titles
Al Zawraa	12
Al Quwa Al Jawiya	5
Al Talaba	5
Arbil FC	3
Al Karkh	3
Al Shurta	2
Al Jaish	1
Al Minaa	1
Salahaddin FC	1
Dohuk FC	1

See also

• Iraqi Clubs in the AFC Champions League

References

1. ^ RSSSF

External links

• RSSSF
• Goalzz