2007–08 Iraqi Premier League

Iraqi Premier League
Season	2007–08
Champions	Arbil
Promoted	Al-Bareed (Baghdad) Al-Ramadi (Baghdad) Al-Shuala (Baghdad) Peris (North) Zaxo (North) Al-Samawa (South) Kufa (South)
Relegated	Al-Adala (Baghdad) Al-Jaish (Baghdad) Al-Shuala (Baghdad) Sirwan (North) Zaxo (North) Al-Forat (South) Al-Shatra (South)
AFC Cup	Arbil Al-Zawraa
Arab Champions League	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
Goals scored	678
Top goalscorer	Asaad Abdul-Nabi (Al-Kahraba), 14
Biggest home win	Karbalaa 5-0 Al-Forat
Biggest away win	Al-Jaish 1-8 Al-Kahraba Al-Shuala 0-7 Al-Jawiya
Highest scoring	Al-Jaish 1-8 Al-Kahraba Al-Ramadi 2-7 Al-Jawiya Al-Jawiya 6-3 Kirkuk
← 2006–07 2008–09 →

The 2007–08 Iraqi Premier League season started on 26 November 2007 and ended on 24 August 2008. The season saw Arbil crowned as champions.

For security reasons the league was divided into three groups; Baghdad, North and South, The top six clubs from the Baghdad group and the top four clubs from the North and South groups qualified for the Elite Stage. The Elite Stage consisted of three groups, from which the winners and one runner-up qualified for the Golden Stage, a knockout tournament. The Golden Stage matches were held in Al-Shaab Stadium in Baghdad.

The champions and runners-up (Al-Zawraa) qualified for the 2009 AFC Cup (Iraq is excluded from the AFC Champions League due to not fulfilling the AFC demand of having a fully professional league), while third-placed Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya qualified for the 2008–09 Arab Champions League.

Primary stage

The Primary Stage formation

30 clubs in 3 divisions: Baghdad (12), North (9) and South (9).
14 teams qualify to the Elite stage: Baghdad (6), North (4) and South (4).
7 teams relegate to the lower division: Baghdad (3), North (2) and South (2).
Mosul withdrew from the North division.

The Primary Stage clubs

Al-Adala

Al-Bareed

Al-Jaish

Al-Shorta

Al-Sinaa

Al-Talaba

Al-Zawraa

Al-Ramadi

Duhok

Peris

Zaxo

Arbil

Mosul

Sirwan

Sulaymaniyah

Samaraa

Al-Shatra

Al-Samawa

Al-Minaa

Naft Al-Janoob

Baghdad Division - Blue

Al-Adala
Al-Bareed
Al-Jaish
Al-Kahraba
Al-Naft
Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
Al-Ramadi
Al-Shorta
Al-Shuala
Al-Sinaa
Al-Talaba
Al-Zawraa

North Division - Orange

Arbil
Duhok
Kirkuk
Mosul - withdrew
Peris
Samaraa
Sirwan
Sulaymaniyah
Zaxo

South Division - Purple

Al-Forat
Al-Minaa
Al-Samawa
Al-Shatra
Karbalaa
Kufa
Maysan
Naft Al-Janoob
Najaf

	Qualified to the Elite stage
	Relegated to the 2nd division
(C)	Current League title holder
(N)	Promoted to Iraqi Premier League in this season

Baghdad Division

	Team	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Al-Shorta	22	13	8	1	40	14	26	47	Qualified to the Elite stage
2	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	22	14	4	4	42	13	29	46	Qualified to the Elite stage
3	Al-Kahraba	22	10	8	4	30	10	20	38	Qualified to the Elite stage
4	Al-Zawraa	22	10	7	5	24	12	12	37	Qualified to the Elite stage
5	Al-Talaba	22	9	9	4	25	17	8	36	Qualified to the Elite stage
6	Al-Sinaa	22	9	8	5	24	16	8	35	Qualified to the Elite stage
7	Al-Bareed (N)	22	8	6	8	25	29	-4	30
8	Al-Naft	22	6	9	7	18	24	-6	27
9	Al-Ramadi (N)	22	5	6	11	26	42	-16	21
10	Al-Jaish	22	3	6	13	14	39	-25	15	Relegated
11	Al-Shuala (N)	22	3	4	15	14	44	-30	13	Relegated
12	Al-Adala	22	3	3	17	10	33	-22	12	Relegated

Results

	ADL	BRD	JSH	KAH	NFT	JAW	RAM	SHO	SHL	SIN	TAL	ZAW
Al-Adala		2-1	0-2	0-3	0-0	0-1	0-2	0-1	0-1	0-2	2-3	1-1
Al-Bareed	2-0		1-0	1-0	1-0	0-2	3-3	1-4	1-1	3-2	0-0	2-2
Al-Jaish	1-0	0-1		1-8	2-2	0-3	1-3	0-0	0-3	0-1	0-0	0-2
Al-Kahraba	1-1	4-2	2-0		0-1	1-0	1-0	1-1	1-0	0-1	2-0	0-0
Al-Naft	2-1	1-0	2-2	0-0		0-0	3-1	1-1	2-1	0-0	0-2	1-2
Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	0-1	1-1	1-0	0-1	2-0		3-1	1-1	3-0¹	2-0	1-1	1-0
Al-Ramadi	1-0	2-1	1-2	0-4	2-2	2-7		1-1	1-2	0-2	0-1	0-0
Al-Shorta	3-1	2-0	4-1	0-0	3-0	2-0	4-2		2-1	0-0	1-2	1-0
Al-Shuala	1-2	0-1	1-1	1-0	0-1	0-7	2-3	0-3		1-3	1-3	0-5
Al-Sinaa	2-0	1-2	1-0	1-1	3-0	0-2	0-0	1-1	1-1		2-2	1-0
Al-Talaba	2-0	2-1	1-1	0-0	1-0	1-2	1-1	0-0	3-0	0-0		0-1
Al-Zawraa	1-0	0-0	2-0	0-0	0-0	1-3	2-0	1-2	1-0	1-0	2-0

¹ Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya awarded 3-0 victory over Al-Shuala as a penalty for not coming to the match.

North Division

	Team	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Arbil (C)	14	9	4	1	21	5	16	31	Qualified to the Elite stage
2	Duhok	14	9	3	2	16	6	10	30	Qualified to the Elite stage
3	Peris (N)	14	6	4	4	20	16	4	22	Qualified to the Elite stage
4	Kirkuk	14	6	3	5	18	17	1	21	Qualified to the Elite stage
5	Sulaymaniyah	14	4	7	3	16	17	-1	19
6	Samaraa	14	3	5	6	10	16	-6	14
7	Sirwan	14	2	4	8	9	14	-5	10	Relegated
8	Zaxo (N)	14	0	4	10	5	24	-19	4	Relegated
9	Mosul	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Withdrew

Results

	ARB	DUH	KRK	PER	SMR	SIR	SUL	ZXO
Arbil		0-1	2-0	1-0	4-1	1-0	4-0	0-0
Duhok	1-2		0-1	2-1	0-0	2-1	2-1	1-0
Kirkuk	0-2	0-1		2-3	1-0	3-1	2-2	2-0
Peris	1-1	0-2	1-1		2-0	0-0	3-3	3-0¹
Samaraa	1-2	0-1	1-1	2-0		0-2	1-1	3-2
Sirwan	0-0	0-0	0-1	0-1	0-1		1-2	3-0
Sulaymaniyah	0-0	0-0	3-1	1-3	0-0	2-0		1-0
Zaxo	0-2	0-3²	1-3	1-2	0-0	1-1	0-0

^{1, 2} Both Duhok FC and Peris FC awarded 3-0 victory over Zaxo FC as a penalty for using a banned player,

Duhok vs. Zaxo match would be ended 0-0.

Peris vs. Zaxo match would be ended 1-1.

South Division

	Team	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Karbalaa	16	12	2	2	27	12	15	38	Qualified to the Elite stage
2	Najaf	16	9	5	2	23	9	14	32	Qualified to the Elite stage
3	Al-Minaa	16	8	6	2	19	10	9	30	Qualified to the Elite stage
4	Naft Al-Janoob	16	5	6	5	16	14	2	21	Qualified to the Elite stage
5	Maysan	16	4	7	5	16	17	-1	19
6	Kufa (N)	16	4	5	7	13	15	-2	17
7	Al-Samawa (N)	16	3	7	6	11	18	-7	16
8	Al-Forat	16	4	2	10	17	33	-16	14	Relegated
9	Al-Shatra	16	2	2	12	12	26	-14	8	Relegated

Results

	FOR	MIN	SAM	SHT	KRB	KUF	MAY	JAN	NJF
Al-Forat		1-0	3-0	2-1	2-4	1-4	1-3	0-2	1-2
Al-Minaa	2-0		2-0	1-0	2-1	2-0	2-1	3-3	0-0
Al-Samawa	2-1	0-0		1-0	0-0	1-0	1-1	1-1	1-1
Al-Shatra	2-3	1-1	2-2		0-2	1-0	0-2	0-1	1-3
Karbalaa	5-0	2-1	1-0	1-0		2-1	1-0	2-1	0-0
Kufa	0-0	0-1	1-0	3-2	1-2		2-2	1-0	0-1
Maysan	1-1	1-1	1-1	0-1	0-1	0-0		1-0	2-1
Naft Al-Janoob	2-0	0-0	2-1	3-0	1-2	0-0	0-0		0-0
Najaf FC	3-1	0-1	2-0	1-0	2-1	0-0	4-1	3-0

Elite stage

Elite Stage formation

14 clubs in 3 groups.
4 teams qualify to the Golden stage.

The group winners (3 teams) qualify directly to the Golden stage.

The groups' runners-up qualify to the Play-off to decide the 4th qualified team to the Golden Stage.

Elite Stage clubs

Group A

Arbil (North Champion)
Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya (Baghdad 2nd place)
Al-Minaa (South 3rd place)
Kirkuk (North 4th place)
Al-Sinaa (Baghdad 6th place)

Group B

Karbalaa (South Champion)
Duhok (North 2nd place)
Al-Kahraba (Baghdad 3rd place)
Naft Al-Janoob (South 4th place)
Al-Talaba (Baghdad 5th place)

Group C

Al-Shorta (Baghdad Champion)
Najaf (South 2nd place)
Peris (North 3rd place)
Al-Zawraa (Baghdad 4th place)

	Qualified to the Golden stage
	Runners-up's Round-robin
(C)	Current League title holder
(N)	Promoted to the Iraqi Premier League in this season

Group A

	Team	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Arbil (C)	8	4	2	2	9	5	4	14	Qualified to the Golden Stage
2	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	8	4	1	3	10	8	2	13	Qualified to the Play-Off
3	Kirkuk	8	3	1	4	8	10	-2	10
4	Al-Minaa	8	2	3	3	6	8	-2	9
5	Al-Sinaa	8	2	3	3	5	7	-2	9

Results

	MIN	JAW	SIN	ARB	KRK
Al-Minaa		1-0	1-1	0-0	1-0
Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	1-0		1-0	2-1	6-3
Al-Sinaa	2-1	0-0		0-3	2-0
Arbil	2-2	1-0	1-0		1-0
Kirkuk	2-0	2-0	0-0	1-0

Group B

	Team	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Duhok	8	5	3	0	12	3	9	18	Qualified to the Golden Stage
2	Karbalaa	8	4	4	0	9	4	5	16	Qualified to the Play-Off
3	Al-Talaba	8	1	4	3	4	7	-3	7
4	Naft Al-Janoob	8	2	1	5	6	11	-5	7
5	Al-Kahraba	8	1	2	5	10	16	-6	5

Results

	KAH	TAL	DUH	KRB	JAN
Al-Kahraba		0-1	0-4	1-2	3-1
Al-Talaba	2-2		0-1	0-0	0-1
Duhok	2-2	2-0		0-0	1-0
Karbalaa	2-1	1-1	0-0		2-0
Naft Al-Janoob	2-1	0-0	1-2	1-2

Group C

	Team	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Al-Zawraa	6	4	1	1	11	5	6	13	Qualified to the Golden Stage
2	Najaf	6	3	2	1	7	4	3	11	Qualified to the Play-Off
3	Al-Shorta	6	1	2	3	5	9	-4	5
4	Peris (N)	6	0	3	3	1	6	-5	3

Results

	SHO	ZAW	NJF	PER
Al-Shorta		1-3	0-1	2-1
Al-Zawraa	1-1		0-1	2-0
Najaf	3-1	2-3		0-0
Peris	0-0	0-2	0-0

Semifinal qualification playoff

3 clubs in 1 group.

The Elite Stage groups' runners-up.

1 team qualify to the Golden stage.
The Play off is from one round-robin in Al-Shaab Stadium, Baghdad, to decide the 4th qualified team to the Golden Stage.

The Playoff qualified teams

Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya (Group A runner-up)
Karbalaa (Group B runner-up)
Najaf (Group C runner-up)

Playoff group

	Team	GP	W	L	GF	GA	Pts
1	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	2	1	1	3	3	3
2	Najaf	2	1	1	3	3	3
3	Karbalaa	2	1	1	1	1	3

Results

	JAW	KRB	NJF
Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya		0-1
Karbalaa			0-1
Najaf	2-3

Golden stage

Golden Stage formation

4 clubs in a knockout stage.

The Elite stage groups' winners (3 teams) and the winner of the Play off.

The semifinals, 3rd place match and the final match is from a one-leg match and it will be held in Al-Shaab Stadium, Baghdad.
The League winner and runner-up qualify to the AFC Cup 2009, while the 3rd place qualify to the 2008–09 Arab Champions League

Golden Stage qualified teams

Arbil (Group A winner)
Duhok (Group B winner)
Al-Zawraa (Group C winner)
Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya (Play-off winner)

Results

Semi-finals			Final

20 August 2008 - Al-Shaab Stadium, Baghdad
Al-Zawraa	1
Duhok	0

			24 August 2008 - Al-Shaab Stadium, Baghdad
			Al-Zawraa	0
			Arbil	1


			Third place
21 August 2008 - Al-Shaab Stadium, Baghdad		24 August 2008 - Al-Shaab Stadium, Baghdad
Arbil	2	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	3
Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	0		Duhok	0

Semi-finals

Al-Zawraa v Duhok

August 20, 2008

Al-Zawraa	1 – 0	Duhok
Abdul-Salam Abood 75' (Pen)

Al-Shaab Stadium, Baghdad

Arbil v Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya

August 21, 2008

Arbil	2 – 0	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
Luay Salah 28' Ahmad Salah 53'

Al-Shaab Stadium, Baghdad

Third-fourth place play-off

Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya v Duhok

August 23, 2008

Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	3 – 0	Duhok
Amjad Radhi 5' Muthana Khalid 42' Malik Zwaid 82'

Al-Shaab Stadium, Baghdad

Final

Al-Zawraa v Arbil

August 24, 2008

Al-Zawraa	0 – 1	Arbil
		Ahmad Salah 99'

Al-Shaab Stadium, Baghdad

Champions

Champions
Arbil FC Second Title

Awards

Top scorers: Asaad Abdul-Nabi (Al-Kahraba)
Best Player/MVP: Ahmad Ayad (Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya)
Best Coach: Radhi Shenaishel (Al-Zawraa)
Best Club: Al-Zawraa

Top scorers

Last updated: 24 August 2008.

#	Player		Team	Goals per Stage				Total
#	Player		Team	Primary Stage	Elite Stage	Play-Off	Golden Stage	Total
1		Asaad Abdul-Nabi	Al-Kahraba	10	4	x	x	14
2		Hussam Saeed	Al-Zawraa	10	2	x	x	12
=		Taysir Abdul-Hussein	Al-Shorta	10	2	x	x	12
4		Abdul-Salam Abood	Al-Zawraa	7	3	x	1	11
=		Yassir Abdul-Muhsen	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	10	1	x	x	11
6		Ayad Shaalan	Al-Sinaa	10	x	x	x	10
=		Ahmad Ijdayia	Al-Ramadi	10	x	x	x	10
8		Ahmad Salah	Arbil	4	3	x	2	9
=		Ali Sabbar	Al-Sinaa	7	2	x	x	9
=		Akram Hashem	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	8	1	x	x	9
11		Luay Salah	Arbil	6	1	x	1	8
=		Ali Mohammed	Najaf	6	1	1	x	8
=		Younis Shakor	Kirkuk	5	3	x	x	8
14		Nawaf Falah	Duhok	3	4	x	x	7
=		Hussam Farhoud	Karbalaa	7	x	x	x	7
=		Ali Aoda	Al-Jaish	7	x	x	x	7
=		Hussam Aziz	Al-Forat	7	x	x	x	7
18		Ali Mansour	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	2	4	x	x	6
=		Saeed Mohsen	Najaf	2	4	x	x	6
=		Sahib Abbas	Karbalaa	3	3	x	x	6
=		Jabir Shakir	Al-Kahraba	3	3	x	x	6
=		Osama Shaial	Al-Minaa	3	3	x	x	6
=		Ali Jabir Abdul-Hussein	Karbalaa	5	1	x	x	6
=		Ahmad Hanon	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	5	1	x	x	6
=		Alaa Aasi	Al-Minaa	5	1	x	x	6
=		Halkurd Mulla Mohammed	Sulaymaniyah	6	x	x	x	6
As of the end of The Golden Stage

4 Substitutions

The IFA made a new rule: the clubs can use 4 substitutions instead of 3 substitutions. IFA added this section in their last meeting with the clubs' officials and all teams agreed with the new rule.

Sources & References

Goalzz.com

Iraqi Premier League

2014–15 clubs	Al-Hedood Al-Kahraba Al-Karkh Al-Minaa Al-Naft Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya Al-Shorta Al-Talaba Al-Zawraa Baghdad Duhok Erbil Karbalaa Masafi Al-Wasat Naft Al-Janoob Naft Al-Wasat Naft Maysan Najaf Zakho

Seasons	1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15

2007 in Asian football (AFC)

Domestic leagues	Afghanistan Australia '06–'07 '07–'08 Bahrain '06–'07 '07–'08 China Chinese Taipei Hong Kong '06–'07 '07–'08 India '06–'07 '07–'08 Indonesia '07–'08 Iraq '06–'07 '07–'08 Iran '06–'07 '07–'08 South Korea Japan Malaysia '06–'07 '07–'08 Oman '06–'07 '07–'08 Singapore Syria '06–'07 '07–'08 Tajikistan Thailand Turkmenistan Vietnam

AFC competitions	AFC Champions League AFC Cup AFC President's Cup

2008 in Asian football (AFC)

Domestic leagues	Australia '07-'08 '08-'09 Bahrain '07-'08 '08-'09 Bangladesh '08–'09 China Chinese Taipei Guam '07-'08 '08-'09 Hong Kong '07-'08 '08-'09 India '07-'08 '08-'09 Indonesia '08-'09 Iran '07-'08 '08-'09 Iraq '07-'08 '08-'09 Japan Jordan '07-'08 '08-'09 Kuwait '07'-08 '08'-09 Laos Lebanon '07'-08 '08'-09 Malaysia '07-'08 '09 Maldives Oman '07-'08 '08-'09 Qatar '07-'08 '08-'09 Saudi Arabia '07-'08 '08-'09 Singapore South Korea Syria '07-'08 '08-'09 Thailand Turkmenistan UAE '07-'08 '08-'09 Uzbekistan Vietnam

Domestic cups	Maldives FA Cup President's Cup

AFC competitions	AFC Champions League AFC Cup AFC President's Cup