# Iraqi National First Division

The 1973–74 Iraqi National First Division was a football tournament organised by the Iraq Football Association (IFA) in the 1973–74 season, which was formed as the first top-tier national league in Iraq to replace the Iraq Central FA Premier League and the leagues in other provinces such as Basra, Kirkuk and Mosul. The tournament began on 11 October 1973.
Matches that ended in a draw were settled via penalty shootout (with no extra time), with the winner of the shootout earning one point. Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya won the league title with a total of 23 points, and they also won the regional Iraq FA Baghdad Cup knockout tournament in the same season, led by coach Abdelilah Mohammed Hassan.
From the 1974–75 season, the competition was replaced by the Iraqi National Clubs League which was only open to clubs and not institute-representative teams.

## Name changes

* Al-Mushat renamed to Quwat Al-Nasr.

## Regional qualifiers

To decide which six teams from other provinces would participate alongside the eight teams from the 1972–73 Iraq Central FA First Division, 14 teams were split into three groups with the top two in each group qualifying for the final league competition. The qualifying matches were played from 24–31 August 1973 in the cities of Erbil, Babil and Basra. The six teams that qualified were Al-Minaa, Al-Samawa, Babil, Shortat Erbil, Shortat Sulaymaniya and Al-Rafidain.

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | PW | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya | 14 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 35 | 15 | +20 | 23 | League Champions |
| 2 | Aliyat Al-Shorta | 14 | 10 | 0 | 4 | 23 | 16 | +7 | 20 | |
| 3 | Al-Minaa | 14 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 27 | 9 | +18 | 19 | |
| 4 | Quwat Al-Nasr | 14 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 27 | 14 | +13 | 18 | |
| 5 | Kahrabaa Al-Wusta | 14 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 31 | 21 | +10 | 17 | |
| 6 | Quwat Salahaddin | 14 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 18 | 8 | +10 | 17 | |
| 7 | Al-Sikak Al-Hadeed | 14 | 8 | 0 | 6 | 30 | 22 | +8 | 16 | |
| 8 | Shortat Al-Najda | 14 | 8 | 0 | 6 | 25 | 19 | +6 | 16 | |
| 9 | Al-Bareed wal-Barq | 14 | 6 | 1 | 7 | 19 | 15 | +4 | 13 | |
| 10 | Al-Samawa | 14 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 14 | 14 | 0 | 12 | |
| 11 | Maslahat Naqil Al-Rukab | 14 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 11 | 19 | −8 | 7 | Relegated to Iraqi National Second Division |
| 12 | Shortat Sulaymaniya | 14 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 4 | 18 | −14 | 4 | Relegated to Iraqi National Second Division |
| 13 | Babil | 14 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 10 | 31 | −21 | 4 | |
| 14 | Shortat Erbil | 14 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 8 | 26 | −18 | 3 | |
| 15 | Al-Rafidain | 14 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 7 | 42 | −35 | 2 | |
* ↑ The IFA decided to relegate one team from Baghdad (Maslahat Naqil Al-Rukab as the lowest-placed Baghdad team) and one team from outside Baghdad (Shortat Sulaymaniya due to their withdrawal from several matches). Three teams were to be promoted in their place (Kuliyat Al-Shorta, Isalat Al-Mai and Al-Quwa Al-Bahriya) to form a 16-team league for the following season. However, the IFA later decided to form a new league of clubs which led to several changes in the make-up of the participating teams.

## Results

| Home \ Away | BAR | ASH | KAH | MIN | QWJ | RAF | SMA | SIK | BAB | MAS | QWN | QSD | SHN | SHS | SHE |
| Al-Bareed wal-Barq | | 1–2 | | 0–1 | | 4–0 | | 2–3 | | 3–1 | | 0–0 | | 1–0 | |
| Aliyat Al-Shorta | | | 0–2 | | 5–2 | | 1–0 | | 1–0 | | 2–2 | | 2–0 | | 1–0 |
| Kahrabaa Al-Wusta | 1–2 | | | 1–3 | | 5–1 | | 4–3 | | 1–0 | | 0–0 | | 3–1 | |
| Al-Minaa | | 2–3 | | | 0–2 | | 2–1 | | 5–0 | | 3–1 | | 2–0 | | 0–0 |
| Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya | 1–0 | | 4–5 | | | 4–0 | | 3–1 | | 2–1 | | 2–0 | | 1–0 | |
| Al-Rafidain | | 1–3 | | 0–5 | | | 0–1 | | 1–2 | | 0–8 | | 3–6 | | 0–1 |
| Al-Samawa | 1–1 | | 4–1 | | 0–1 | | | 1–1 | | 2–0 | | 0–3 | | 1–0 | |
| Al-Sikak Al-Hadeed | | 3–0 | | 0–0 | | 1–0 | | | 3–2 | | 3–5 | | 4–2 | | 4–0 |
| Babil | 1–2 | | 0–4 | | 1–4 | | 2–1 | | | 1–2 | | 0–3 | | 0–1 | |
| Maslahat Naqil Al-Rukab | | 0–1 | | 1–1 | | 1–0 | | 1–2 | | | 1–1 | | 1–3 | | 1–1 |
| Quwat Al-Nasr | 1–0 | | 1–0 | | 1–3 | | 0–0 | | 2–0 | | | 1–1 | | 2–0 | |
| Quwat Salahaddin | | 3–1 | | 0–0 | | 1–0 | | 2–1 | | 0–0 | | | 1–2 | | 2–1 |
| Shortat Al-Najda | 2–1 | | 1–3 | | 1–1 | | 2–0 | | 1–0 | | 0–0 | | | 1–0 | |
| Shortat Sulaymaniya | | 0–1 | | 0–3 | | 0–1 | | 0–1 | | 1–1 | | 0–2 | | | 1–0 |
| Shortat Erbil | 1–2 | | 1–1 | | 0–5 | | 0–2 | | 1–1 | | 1–2 | | 1–4 | | |
* ↑ Al-Bareed wal-Barq won 7–6 on penalties.
* ↑ Quwat Al-Nasr won 5–4 on penalties.
* ↑ Quwat Salahaddin won 5–4 on penalties.
* ↑ Al-Minaa won 4–2 on penalties.
* ↑ Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya were awarded a 1–0 win due to the withdrawal of Shortat Sulaymaniya.
* ↑ The match originally finished as a 2–0 win for Al-Rafidain, but was awarded as a 1–0 win for Shortat Erbil due to Al-Rafidain violating tournament rules.
* ↑ Al-Samawa won 5–4 on penalties.
* ↑ Al-Samawa won 5–4 on penalties.
* ↑ Al-Samawa were awarded a 1–0 win due to the withdrawal of Shortat Sulaymaniya.
* ↑ Al-Minaa won 5–4 on penalties.
* ↑ Al-Minaa won 4–3 on penalties.
* ↑ The match originally finished as a 2–2 draw with Maslahat Naqil Al-Rukab winning 5–3 on penalties, but was awarded as a 1–0 win for Maslahat Naqil Al-Rukab due to Al-Rafidain violating tournament rules.
* ↑ Quwat Al-Nasr won 5–4 on penalties.
* ↑ Maslahat Naqil Al-Rukab won 4–3 on penalties.
* ↑ Quwat Al-Nasr won 4–2 on penalties.
* ↑ Quwat Salahaddin won 5–4 on penalties.
* ↑ Quwat Salahaddin won 4–3 on penalties.
* ↑ Maslahat Naqil Al-Rukab won 5–4 on penalties.
* ↑ Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya won 5–3 on penalties.
* ↑ The match originally finished as a 1–1 draw with Babil winning 4–2 on penalties, but was awarded as a 1–0 win for Shortat Al-Najda due to Babil violating tournament rules.
* ↑ Quwat Al-Nasr won 5–4 on penalties.
* ↑ Aliyat Al-Shorta were awarded a 1–0 win due to the withdrawal of Shortat Sulaymaniya.
* ↑ The match originally finished as a 1–0 win for Shortat Sulaymaniya, but was awarded as a 1–0 win for Al-Rafidain due to Shortat Sulaymaniya withdrawing from several previous matches in the league.
* ↑ Al-Sikak Al-Hadeed were awarded a 1–0 win due to the withdrawal of Shortat Sulaymaniya.
* ↑ Maslahat Naqil Al-Rukab won 5–4 on penalties.
* ↑ Kahrabaa Al-Wusta won 5–4 on penalties.
* ↑ Shortat Erbil won 5–4 on penalties.

## Top goalscorers

| Pos | Scorer | Goals | Team |
| 1 | Zahrawi Jaber | 13 | Shortat Al-Najda |
| 1 | Ammo Yousif | 13 | Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya |