Iraq FA Cup

Iraq FA Cup
Founded 1956
Region Iraq
Number of teams 39 (2015–16)
Domestic cup(s) Al Muthabara Cup
International cup(s) AFC Cup
Current champions Al-Talaba (2nd title)
(2002–03)
Most successful club(s) Al-Zawra'a
(14 titles)
2015–16 Iraq FA Cup

Iraq FA Cup is a knockout cup competition in Iraqi football; it is the longest running association football competition in Iraq.[1] The Iraq FA Cup is organised by and named after the Iraq Football Association.

The tournament was first held in 1956–57. Entry is open to teams from the Iraq Premier League and the Iraq Division One. It allows teams from the first lower division to have a chance in eliminating the Premier League teams or even win the cup, although no lower division team has been able to get past the semifinals. The winners of the competition are awarded a place in next season's AFC Cup alongside the league champions.

Al Talaba were the last champions of the tournament, having beaten Al Shorta 1–0 in the 2002–03 final to win the cup for the second season in a row. It was also their second FA cup in their history, while Al-Zawra'a are the most cup winners at 14 titles.

Format

Up until the founding of the League of the Institutes in 1961, the competition was considered as the national championship despite being a knockout tournament with pairings for each round drawn at random. There are no seeds and the draw for each round is not made until after the scheduled dates for the previous round. The draw also determines which teams will play at home.

The first round is played as a single leg and if match ends in a draw, it gets settled through extra time and penalty shoot-outs. The second round, third round and the quarterfinals are played as two legs and if the two teams draw on aggregate, it gets settled through extra time and penalty shoot-outs. The semifinals and final go back to be played as a single leg.

There are a total of 6 rounds in the competition - one qualifying round, followed by three proper rounds, plus the semifinals and final. In the 2012–13 Iraq FA Cup, seven Iraq Division One teams qualify from the qualification round. Two of them play a playoff match, while one plays against a Iraq Premier League team, resulting in the qualification of six teams to the Round of 32. In the Round of 32, 16 teams qualify to the Round of 16, 8 teams qualify to the quarterfinals, and 4 qualify to the semifinals.

In the Iraq FA Championship version, the competition was played between six teams, by 1973, they increased to nine, by 1977, they were 32 after cancelling the second division, and by 1996, the teams reached 74.[2] In 2002, the teams were 30 and in 2012, they became 40.[3]

In the 2012–13 Iraq FA Cup, the champions of the tournament would have qualified to the cancelled 2013–14 UAFA Cup but due to its stoppage, this didn't happen. These days the winners of the cup represent Iraq in the AFC Cup. The FA Cup winners also qualify for the single-match Al Muthabara Cup against the Iraqi Premier League champions (or the league runners-up, if the FA Cup winners have done the double).

History

Early competitions

After the Iraq Football Association was formed on 8 October 1948, a new tournament was founded by the name of the Iraq Cup.[4] Six teams from Baghdad, Kirkuk, Mosul and Basra participated in the competition, where they were split into the North group and South group. The winners of the two groups faced each other in a final match, where Sharikat Naft Al-Basra won 1–0 over Al-Kuliya Al-Askariya.[5] In 1956, a new double-elimination tournament was founded by the name of the Iraq FA Championship. It had two divisions and its entry was only restricted to clubs from Baghdad.[6] The championship continued for five season until 1961, where the 1961–62 season started with the new name of the Iraq FA Cup and the new single-elimination system after the creation of the national League of the Institutes.[7]

Iraq FA Cup

Before the opening of the Al-Shaab Stadium in 1966, the finals of the cup were played in the Al-Kashafa Stadium. Considering its position in Baghdad, Al-Shaab Stadium was the choice of the FA for the finals so the fans would easily reach it.

The first club to win the double was Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya, winning the 1972–73 League of the Institutes and the 1972–73 Iraq FA Cup. Overall, Al-Zawra'a had nine doubles while Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya had five.

In the 1976–77 season, the tournament wasn't held and in the 1984–85 season, it was cancelled midway through it due to the 1986 FIFA World Cup qualification but the season after was not held. It was also cancelled in the 2000–01 season.[1]

Since 2003, the cup stopped and didn't come back until 2012, where the 2012–13 Iraq FA Cup was held.[8] It was cancelled midway through the Round of 32 due to scheduling problems.[3] It wasn't held until 2015, where the FA announced the new 2015–16 Iraq FA Cup that starts on 5 October 2015.[9]

Giant killing

Because of the entry of clubs from the Iraq Division One and the Iraq Premier League, some small clubs knocked out a number of the popular clubs. In the 1977–78 edition of the cup, the second team of Al-Tayaran or Al-Tayaran B, that played in Division One, defeated Al-Jaish, that finished in fourth place in the 1977–78 Iraqi League, in the first round of the tournament, eliminating them after their first match in the cup after a 1–0 win.[10] In the same edition, Al-Zawra'a were defeated by the Division One team Al-Bahri in the quarterfinals, 2–1.[10]

In the 1989–90 edition, Al-Rasheed, that won the 1986–87, 1987–88 and 1988–89 seasons of the league and also won the 1986–87 and 1987–88 editions of the cup, were defeated by Al-Tijara, that played in Division One, in the Round of 16, 3–2 on aggregate.[11] In the 1992–93 edition, Al-Tijara come back and defeat Al Shorta in the first round, 2–1 and also defeat Al-Jaish in the Round of 16 with the same result.[12]

Finals

Season Winner Result Runner-up Notes
1961–62 [nb 1]
1962–63 Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya [nb 2]
1963–64 Maslahat Naql Al-Rukkab [nb 2]
1972–73 Al-Tayaran [nb 2]
1973–74 Al-Tayaran 2–1 Sikak Al-Hadeed
1974–75 Al-Tayaran [nb 2]
1975–76 Al-Zawra'a 5–0 Al-Baladiyat
1977–78 Al-Tayaran 1–1 (5–3 pen.) Al Shorta
1978–79 Al-Zawra'a 3–1 Al-Jaish
1979–80 Al-Jaish 1–1 (4–2 pen.) Al Talaba
1980–81 Al-Zawra'a 1–0 Al Talaba
1981–82 Al-Zawra'a 2–1 Al Talaba
1982–83 Al-Jaish 2–1 Al-Shabab
1983–84 Al-Sinaa 0–0 (5–4 pen.) Al-Shabab
1986–87 Al-Rasheed 1–1 (4–3 pen.) Al-Jaish
1987–88 Al-Rasheed 1–1 (4–3 pen.) Al-Zawra'a
1988–89 Al-Zawra'a 3–0 Al-Tayaran
1989–90 Al-Zawra'a 0–0 (2–1 pen.) Al-Shabab
1990–91 Al-Zawra'a 1–1 (4–3 pen.) Al-Jaish
1991–92 Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya 2–1 Al-Khutoot
1992–93 Al-Zawra'a 2–1 Al Talaba
1993–94 Al-Zawra'a 2–1 Al Talaba
1994–95 Al-Zawra'a 3–0 Al-Jaish
1995–96 Al-Zawra'a 2–1 Al Shorta
1996–97 Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya 1–1 (8–7 pen.) Al Shorta
1997–98 Al-Zawra'a 1–1 (4–3 pen.) Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
1998–99 Al-Zawra'a 1–0 (aet) Al Talaba
1999–00 Al-Zawra'a 0–0 (4–3 pen.) Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
2001–02 Al Talaba 1–0 Al Shorta
2002–03 Al Talaba 1–0 Al Shorta
2015–16

Performance by club

Club Wins Runners-up Winning seasons Running-up seasons
Al-Zawra'a 14 1 1975–76, 1978–79, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1988–89, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–00 1987–88
Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya 7 3 1962–63, 1972–73, 1973–74, 1974–75, 1977–78, 1991–92, 1996–97 1988–89, 1997–98, 1999–00
Al-Talaba 2 6 2001–02, 2002–03 1979–80, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1998–99
Al-Jaish 2 4 1979–80, 1982–83 1978–79, 1986–87, 1990–91, 1994–95
Al-Rasheed 2 – 1986–87, 1987–88 –
Maslahat Naql Al-Rukkab 1 – 1963–64 –
Al-Sinaa 1 – 1983–84 –
Al Shorta – 5 – 1977–78, 1995–96, 1996–97, 2001–02, 2002–03
Al-Shabab – 3 – 1982–83, 1983–84, 1989–90
Sikak Al-Hadeed – 1 – 1973–74
Al-Baladiyat – 1 – 1975–76
Al-Khutoot – 1 – 1991–92

References

  1. 1 2 Hashim, Refel; Mubarak, Hassanin; Qayed, Mohammed. "Iraq - List of Cup Winners". RSSSF.
  2. ↑ Qayed, Mohammad. "Iraq 1996/97". RSSSF.
  3. 1 2 "FA Cup 2012-2013". Iraqi Football Archive (in Arabic).
  4. ↑ Al-Munshi', Dhiyaa. Encyclopedia of the Iraqi Football (in Arabic). Baghdad.
  5. ↑ Mubarak, Hassanin. "Iraq 1948/49". RSSSF.
  6. ↑ "All the Story". Iraqi Football Archive (in Arabic).
  7. ↑ Fujioka, Atsushi. "Iraq - List of Champions". RSSSF.
  8. ↑ "Masoud: The draw of the Iraq FA Cup will commence today with 22 teams participating from the Iraq Premier League" (in Arabic). Iraq Football Photos Gallery. September 22, 2012.
  9. ↑ "The draw of the first round of the Iraq FA Cup is over with the participation of 19 teams" (in Arabic). Hamrin News. Al-Mada Press. September 1, 2015.
  10. 1 2 Hashim, Refel. "Iraq 1977/78". RSSSF.
  11. ↑ Hashim, Refel. "Iraq 1989/90". RSSSF.
  12. ↑ Hashim, Refel. "Iraq 1992/93". RSSSF.

Notes

  1. ↑ There are no information about the tournament
  2. 1 2 3 4 The result is unknown

External links

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