Arbil FC

Football club infobox

current_season=Iraq Super League (2007-2008) clubname = Arbil


fullname = Arbil Football Club
nickname =
founded = 1958 as "Brusk"
ground = Franso Hariri Stadium
capacity = 40,000
chairman = flagicon|IRQ Dr. Abdallah Majid Dazabi
manager = flagicon|IRQ Thayer Ahmad
league = flagicon|IRQ Iraq Super League
season = 2007-08
position = 1st place
pattern_la1=_blackshoulders|pattern_b1=_blackshoulders|pattern_ra1=_blackshoulders
leftarm1=FFFF00|body1=FFFF00|rightarm1=FFFF00|shorts1=111111|socks1=FFFF00 |pattern_la2=_yellowshoulders|pattern_b2=_yellowshoulders|pattern_ra2=_yellowshoulders
leftarm2=FFFFFF|body2=FFFFFF|rightarm2=FFFFFF|shorts2=FFFFFF|socks2=FFFFFF

Arbil Football Club ( _ar. اربيل , _ku. یانه‌ی وه‌رزشی هه‌ولێر) is an Iraqi-Kurdish football club based in Arbil; The club is also known as Hewlêr, the Kurdish name for Arbil.For the first time in its history, Arbil FC became champion of the Iraq Super League after beating Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya (1-0) in the final game on Friday, July 6, 2007.They are the 9th team to win the Iraq Super League.

Arbil FC is the first Iraqi-Kurdish team to qualify for the Asian Champions League and the Arab Champions League.

Arbil is probably the best Iraqi team in the northern part of the country. In the summer of 2007 Arbil signed many young Iraqi players who are good prospects for the future. Many have had caps and have played for the Iraq national team.

In the last few years Arbil have become good enough to challenge top Iraqi teams like Al-Zawraa, Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya and Al-Shorta. The league has been dominated by the Baghdad sides but Arbil have managed to sign some good Iraqi players. On 24 August, 2008 Arbil retained their status as Iraqi Super League champions with a well deserved win over Baghdad based Al-Zawraa.

Club information

Franso Hariri Stadium

Franso Hariri Stadium is the staduim were Arbil FC play their home games at. is a multi-use stadium in Arbil, Iraq. The stadium holds 40,000, making it the second largest in Iraq after the Al Shaab Stadium in Baghdad. It was built in 1992.

After assassination of Franso Heriri on February 18, 2001, who activlely supported rebuilding the stadium, Kurdistan Regional Government renamed it to his name.

Honours

*Iraq Super League:

: Champions (2): 2006-07, 2007-08 : 3rd (1): 2005-06

*AFC Champions League:
2008: Group Stage

*Arab Champions League:
2007-2008: 1st Round

Iraq B National Team

Arbil FC participated in the 2007 King's Cup as Iraq B team.

Players

First-team squad

Iraqi League reserve

Statistics 2007/08

"Final statistics for the Iraq Super League 2007-08."

*Top Scorers:
**Ahmad Salah Alwan - 9 goals
**Louay Salah - 8 goals
**Muslem Mubarak - 5 goals
**Haidar Qaraman - 4 goals
**Salam Shakir - 2 goals

Recent History

* From 2004/05 season, the competition changed from League system to various rounds including table and knockout rounds.

Famous players

*flagicon|Iraq Ahmad Abd Ali
*flagicon|Iraq Ahmad Salah Alwan
*flagicon|Iraq Ali Rehema
*flagicon|Iraq Haitham Kadhim
*flagicon|Iraq Khaldoun Ibrahim
*flagicon|Iraq Luay Salah
*flagicon|Iraq Mostafa Karim
*flagicon|Iraq Rafid Badr Al-Deen
*flagicon|Iraq Salam Shakir
*flagicon|Iraq Samal Saeed
*flagicon|Iraq Samer Saeed
*flagicon|Iraq Yassir Raad

ee also

* Iraqi clubs at the AFC Champions League

External links

* [http://www.erbilclub.com/images/newses/thumbnails/Erbil_Logo_New4_228x0.jpgOfficial Logo]
* [http://Erbilclub.com Official Site]
* [http://www.the-afc.com/eng/competitions/team/squadList.jsp_ACL-2008-833-833IRQ-507.html Club squad on AFC official website]