2014–15 Iraqi Premier League

Iraqi Premier League

Season	2014–15
Champions	Naft Al-Wasat 1st Premier League title 1st Iraqi title
AFC Cup	Naft Al-Wasat Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
Top goalscorer	Marwan Hussein (15 goals)
Biggest home win	Al-Talaba 5–0 Al-Najaf (24 December 2014)
Biggest away win	Al-Zawraa 0–4 Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya (28 November 2014)
Highest scoring	Al-Masafi 4–2 Al-Zawraa (5 October 2014) Al-Masafi 2–4 Al-Karkh (10 October 2014)
Longest winning run	5 games Al-Shorta (3 February 2015 - 19 February 2015) Al-Zawraa (26 December 2014 - 28 February 2015) Naft Al-Janoob (7 December 2014 - 14 February 2015)
Longest unbeaten run	18 games Al-Shorta (19 October 2014 - 16 June 2015)
Longest losing run	4 games Al-Talaba (1 March 2015 - 11 April 2015)
← 2013–14 2015–16 →

The 2014–2015 Iraqi Premier League was the 41st season of the Iraqi Premier League since its establishment in 1974. The season started on 30 September 2014 and ended on 11 July 2015. The season was played in a group stage format for the first time since 2010–11 and newly-promoted side Naft Al-Wasat, founded in 2008, sensationally won the league in their first ever season in the top flight, defeating Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya in the final 6–5 on penalties after a 0–0 draw. Defending champions Al-Shorta secured the third place position and Al-Minaa finished in fourth.

Promoted teams

Teams promoted from 2013–14 Iraq Division 1

1. Naft Al-Wasat

2. Sulaymaniya FC

3. Al-Kahraba

4. Al-Hedood

Teams relegated to 2014–15 Iraq Division 1

None

Format

Last season saw no teams relegated as the league was ended early and four teams from the lower division were promoted, resulting in a 20-team league for this season.

The format has changed from the single-league system back to a group stage system. The competition has two stages. The first stage of the league consists of two groups of ten teams. Each team will play the other teams in their group twice (home and away) with the top four teams from each group advancing to the final stage and the bottom team from each group being relegated.

The final stage consists of two groups of four. Each team will play the other three teams in their group twice. The two teams who finish top of their groups will advance to the final to determine the champion of the league, while the two group runners-up will play a match for 3rd place.

The draw for the groups and the fixtures of the first stage was made on September 8, 2014. The winner and the runner-up will qualify to the 2016 AFC Champions League Qualifying play-off

Teams

Stadia and locations

Defending champions are in bold

Al-Karkh

Al-Naft

Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya

Al-Shorta

Al-Talaba

Al-Hedood

Baghdad

Masafi Al-Wasat

Al-Kahraba

Al-Zawraa

Dohuk

Zakho

Sulaymaniya

Erbil

Karbala

Najaf

Naft Al-Wasat

Al-Minaa

Naft Al-Janoob

Naft Maysan

Club	Location	Venue	Capacity
Several	Baghdad	Al-Shaab Stadium	45,000
Al-Zawraa	Baghdad	Al Zawraa Stadium	20,000
Al-Talaba	Baghdad	Al Talaba Stadium	6,000
Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	Baghdad	Al Jawiya Stadium	10,000
Al-Shorta	Baghdad	Al-Shaab Stadium (temporary)	45,000
Al-Naft	Baghdad	Al Naft Stadium	3,000
Al-Karkh	Baghdad	Al Karkh Stadium	6,000
Baghdad	Baghdad	Baghdad FC Stadium	3,000
Masafi Al-Wasat	Baghdad	Al-Masafi Stadium	5,000
Al-Kahraba	Baghdad	Al Naft Stadium	3,000
Al-Hedood	Baghdad	Al-Hedood Stadium
Al-Minaa	Basra	Al Mina'a Stadium	10,000
Naft Al-Janoob	Basra	Naft Al-Janoob Stadium	4,000
Naft Maysan	Amarah	Al-Maimuna Stadium	10,000
Karbalaa	Karbalaa	Karbala Stadium	5,000
Najaf	Najaf	An Najaf Stadium	12,000
Naft Al-Wasat	Najaf	An Najaf Stadium	12,000
Zakho	Dohuk	Duhok Stadium	6,000
Dohuk	Duhok	Duhok Stadium	20,000
Sulaymaniya	Sulaymaniyah	Sulaymaniyah Stadium	15,000
Erbil	Erbil	Franso Hariri Stadium	40,000

Clubs

Team	Head Coach
Al-Zawraa	Emad Mohammed
Al-Talaba	Saleh Radi
Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	Abbas Attiya
Al-Shorta	Thair Jassam
Al-Naft	vacant
Al-Minaa	Hussam Al Sayed
Al-Karkh	Essam Hamed
Baghdad	Thayer Ahmed
Duhok	Hazim Salih
Al-Hedood	Ali Wahab
Karbalaa	Maitham Daie Alhaq
Masafi Al-Wasat	Humam Salih
Naft Al-Janoob	Emad Aoda
Naft Maysan	Hassan Ahmed
Najaf	Hamed Salman
Zakho	Ali Hadi
Naft Al-Wasat	Abdul Ghani Shahad
Al-Kahraba	Shaker Mahmoud
Erbil	Ahmad Salah

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing head coach	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Incoming head coach	Date of appointment
Al-Zawraa	Jamal Ali	Sacked	30 October 2014	Emad Mohammed	30 October 2014
Al-Masafi	Yahya Alwan	Resigned	10 February 2015	Humam Salih	10 February 2015
Al-Quwa Jawiya	Nadhim Shaker	Sacked	21 February 2015	Abbas Attiya	21 February 2015
Al-Talaba	Abdul-Wahab Abu Al-Hail	Sacked	27 February 2015	Saleh Radi	27 February 2015
Erbil	Ayoub Odisho	Resigned	25 April 2015	Ahmad Salah	25 April 2015
Al-Naft	Thair Jassam	Resigned	2 May 2015	To be determined
Al-Shorta	Mohamed Youssef	Sacked	2 May 2015	Thair Jassam	2 May 2015

First Stage

Group 1 Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	18	9	6	3	20	10	+10	33	Qualified to the final stage
2	Al-Zawraa	18	10	3	5	21	16	+5	33	Qualified to the final stage
3	Naft Al Junoob	18	9	3	6	20	17	+3	30	Qualified to the final stage
4	Naft Al-Wasat	18	8	4	6	16	12	+4	28	Qualified to the final stage
5	Al-Karkh	18	7	5	6	20	18	+2	26
6	Erbil	18	5	10	3	21	17	+4	25
7	Zakho	18	5	5	8	14	22	−8	20
8	Karbala	18	4	7	7	12	18	−6	19
9	Al-Kahraba	18	4	4	10	18	23	−5	16
10	Masafi Al-Wasat	18	3	5	10	16	25	−9	14	Relegation to Iraq Division 1

Updated to games played on 4 May 2015.
Source: Goalzz.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Group 1 Results

Home ╲ Away	ZAW	JAW	JAN	MAS	ZAK	KAR	KRB	NWT	KAH	ERB
Al-Zawraa		0–4	3–1	1–0	2–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–0
Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	1–0		1–0	0–0	3–0	2–1	1–0	2–0	0–3	1–2
Naft Al-Janoob	1–4	1–0		2–1	0–1	1–0	1–0	0–1	4–1	2–1
Masafi Al-Wasat	4–2	1–1	1–2		1–0	2–4	0–0	2–1	1–1	1–1
Zakho	1–1	2–2	0–2	1–0		2–1	3–0	1–0	1–3	0–0
Al-Karkh	1–0	0–0	1–0	1–0	0–0		4–1	1–0	1–0	2–2
Karbalaa	1–1	0–1	0–0	2–1	2–0	1–1		1–0	2–0	2–2
Naft Al-Wasat	1–0	0–0	1–1	1–0	1–0	3–0	2–0		2–2	1–0
Al-Kahraba	0–1	0–1	0–1	2–0	1–1	2–1	0–0	1–2		0–1
Erbil	1–1	0–0	1–1	3–1	3–1	1–1	0–0	0–0	3–2

Source: Goalzz.com
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For coming matches, an a indicates there is an article about the match.

Group 2 Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Al-Shorta	16	12	4	0	32	7	+25	40	Qualified to the final stage
2	Al-Minaa	16	7	4	5	22	18	+4	25	Qualified to the final stage
3	Baghdad	16	6	6	4	19	16	+3	24	Qualified to the final stage
4	Duhok	16	5	6	5	18	21	−3	21	Qualified to the final stage
5	Al-Talaba	16	4	5	7	18	18	0	17
6	Naft Maysan	16	3	8	5	14	20	−6	17
7	Al-Hedood	16	3	7	6	14	21	−7	16
8	Al Naft	16	3	6	7	15	21	−6	15
9	Najaf	16	3	6	7	10	20	−10	15
10	Sulaymaniya (withdrew)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Relegation to Iraq Division 1

Updated to games played on 2 May 2015.
Source: Goalzz.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Group 2 Results

Home ╲ Away	TAL	BGD	MIN	SHO	NFT	DUH	NMY	NJF	HED	SUL
Al-Talaba		1–1	0–2	1–2	2–3	0–0	2–1	5–0	2–1
Baghdad	2–1		0–0	0–2	1–0	1–1	3–1	0–0	2–0
Al-Minaa	1–1	2–1		0–2	2–1	2–1	1–1	2–0	2–3
Al-Shorta	1–0	2–1	2–1		0–0	3–01	3–0	2–0	4–0
Al-Naft	0–1	1–3	2–1	2–2		0–2	2–2	2–1	1–1
Duhok	2–1	1–1	1–3	2–2	1–0		1–1	1–1	1–0
Naft Maysan	1–0	2–0	1–0	0–3	1–1	1–2		1–1	1–1
Najaf	0–0	0–1	2–3	0–0	1–0	2–1	0–0		1–0
Al-Hedood	1–1	2–2	0–0	0–2	0–0	3–1	0–0	2–1
Sulaymaniya2

Source: Goalzz.com
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For coming matches, an a indicates there is an article about the match.

¹ Al-Shorta were awarded a 3–0 victory after Duhok did not turn up for the game.

² Sulaymaniya withdrew from the league after four games, having lost all four of them. Their results were annulled.

Final Stage

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Naft Al-Wasat	6	4	2	0	8	3	+5	14	Qualified to the final
2	Al-Shorta	6	3	1	2	9	5	+4	10	Qualified to the 3rd place play-off
3	Baghdad	6	1	3	2	3	4	−1	6
4	Al-Zawraa	6	0	2	4	5	13	−8	2

Updated to games played on 3 July 2015.
Source: Goalzz.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Group 1 Results

Home ╲ Away	SHO	ZAW	BGD	NWT
Al-Shorta		4–1	0–0	0–2
Al-Zawraa	1–4		1–1	1–1
Baghdad	0–1	1–0		1–1
Naft Al-Wasat	1–0	2–1	1–0

Source: Goalzz.com
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For coming matches, an a indicates there is an article about the match.

Group 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	6	2	4	0	4	1	+3	10	Qualified to the final
2	Al-Minaa	6	2	4	0	6	4	+2	10	Qualified to the 3rd place play-off
3	Duhok	6	1	2	3	4	7	−3	5
4	Naft Al-Janoob	6	1	2	3	3	5	−2	5

Updated to games played on 4 July 2015.
Source: Goalzz.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Group 2 Results

Home ╲ Away	JAW	MIN	JAN	DUH
Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya		0–0	1–0	2–0
Al-Minaa	0–0		1–0	3–2
Naft Al-Janoob	1–1	1–1		1–0
Duhok	0–0	1–1	1–0

Source: Goalzz.com
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For coming matches, an a indicates there is an article about the match.

Championship play-off

The group winners will play-off for the championship, while the group runners-up will play-off for third and fourth place.

Third place match

Al-Minaa v Al-Shorta

10 July 2015 19:00 GMT

Al-Minaa	0–33	Al-Shorta

Al-Shaab Stadium Referee: Salam Amer

³ Al-Shorta were awarded a 3–0 victory after Al-Minaa did not turn up for the game.

Al-Minaa

Al-Shorta

GK 21 Ahmed Basil RWB 18 Mahdi Karim CB 31 Salam Shakir CB 6 Karrar Mohammed CB 4 Hamdi Al Masri LWB 19 Ahmad Ayad CM 5 Hussein Abdul-Wahed (c) CM 25 Murtadha Hadeeb CAM 9 Mahdi Kamel ST 10 Marwan Hussein ST 8 Ammar Abdul-Hussein Manager: Thair Jassam

Match officials Assistant referees: Haider Abdul Hassan Ahmad Sabah Qasem Fourth official: Ahmed Juma

Match rules 90 minutes. 30 minutes of extra-time if necessary. Penalty shootout if scores still level.

Final

Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya v Naft Al-Wasat

11 July 2015 19:00 GMT

Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	0–0 (a.e.t.)	Naft Al-Wasat
	Penalties
Abdul-Jabbar Karim Kadhim Ahmad Khribin Ajan Natiq Midani	5–6	Mohsen Numy Khalaf Mohammed Abbas Jasim Sabri Haj

Al-Shaab Stadium Referee: Ali Sabah Adday

Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya

Naft Al-Wasat

GK 1 Fahad Talib RB 24 Faisal Jassim  119' CB 2 Samal Saeed CB 4 Saad Natiq  15' LB 17 Moayad Ajan DM 18 Akwetey Mensah  117' RM 8 Samer Saeed  95' LM 30 Omar Khribin AM 16 Zaher Midani ST 10 Hammadi Ahmad (c) ST 5 Mustafa Karim Substitutes: DF 3 Ali Abdul-Jabbar  117' MF 7 Haitham Kadhim  119' FW 23 Yassir Abdul-Mohsen  95' Manager: Abbas Attiya

GK 25 Noor Sabri RB 2 Alaa Al Shbli  119' CB 15 Essam Yassin CB 5 Nabeel Abbas (c) LB 19 Mohammed Numy RM 7 Amir Sabah  82' CM 6 Faris Hassoun  70' CM 30 Oday Jafal  98' CM 33 Tamer Haj LM 11 Amjad Attwan ST 20 Jasim Mohammed  60' Substitutes: DF 3 Ali Jasim  119' DF 12 Ali Kadhim  98' DF 14 Ayad Khalaf  82' MF 21 Saeed Mohsen  70' Manager: Abdul Ghani Shahad

Match officials Assistant referees: Muayad Mohammed Ali Watheq Mdallal Obaid Al-Swaiedi Fourth official: Watheq Muhammed

Match rules 90 minutes. 30 minutes of extra-time if necessary. Penalty shootout if scores still level.

Final positions

Pos	Team	Pld	Pts	Eff
1	Naft Al-Wasat	25	43	57.3%
2	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	25	44	58.7%
3	Al-Shorta	23	53	76.8%
4	Al-Minaa	23	35	50.7%
Eliminated in the Final Stage
5	Baghdad	22	30	45.5%
6	Duhok	22	26	39.4%
7	Naft Al-Janoob	24	35	48.6%
8	Al-Zawraa	24	35	48.6%
Eliminated in the First Stage
9	Al-Karkh	18	26	48.1%
10	Al-Talaba	16	17	35.4%
11	Erbil	18	25	46.3%
12	Naft Maysan	16	17	35.4%
13	Zakho	18	20	37.0%
14	Al-Hedood	16	16	33.3%
15	Karbala	18	19	35.2%
16	Al-Naft	16	15	31.3%
17	Najaf	16	15	31.3%
18	Al-Kahraba	18	16	29.6%
Relegated
19	Masafi Al-Wasat	18	14	25.9%
20	Sulaymaniya	0	0	0.0%

Top scorers

As of 11 July 2015

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Marwan Hussein	Al-Shorta	15
2	Hussein Ali Wahid	Al-Minaa	10
3	Dhurgham Ismail	Al-Shorta	8
	Ali Salah	Al-Talaba
	Abdul-Qadir Tariq	Al-Karkh
4	Saad Abdul-Amir	Erbil	7
	Mustafa Karim	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
5	Alaa Abdul-Zahra	Al-Shorta	6
	Mustafa Jalal	Al-Zawraa
	Oday Jafal	Naft Al-Wasat

References

• Goalzz.com
• Soccerway