# 2007–08 Iraqi Premier League

The 2007–08 Iraqi Premier League season started on 26 November 2007 and ended on 24 August 2008. The season saw Erbil crowned as champions for the second time in a row, beating Al-Zawraa 1–0 after extra time in the final.
For security reasons, the league was divided into three groups: South, North and Central. The top six clubs from the Central Group and the top four clubs from the North and South Groups qualified for the Elite Stage. The Elite Stage consisted of three groups, of which the winners and one runner-up qualified for the Golden Stage, a knockout contest. The Golden Stage matches were held at Al-Shaab Stadium in Baghdad.
The champions and runners-up qualified for the 2009 AFC Cup, while third-placed Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya qualified for the 2008–09 Arab Champions League.

## New rule

The Iraq Football Association introduced a new rule that allowed clubs to make four substitutions instead of three.

## Group stage
### North Group

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Erbil | 14 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 21 | 5 | +16 | 31 | Qualified to Elite Stage |
| 2 | Duhok | 14 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 16 | 6 | +10 | 30 | Qualified to Elite Stage |
| 3 | Peris | 14 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 20 | 16 | +4 | 22 | Qualified to Elite Stage |
| 4 | Kirkuk | 14 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 18 | 17 | +1 | 21 | Qualified to Elite Stage |
| 5 | Sulaymaniya | 14 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 16 | 17 | −1 | 19 | |
| 6 | Samarra | 14 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 10 | 16 | −6 | 14 | |
| 7 | Sirwan | 14 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 9 | 14 | −5 | 10 | Relegated to the Iraqi First Division League |
| 8 | Zakho | 14 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 5 | 24 | −19 | 4 | Relegated to the Iraqi First Division League |
Note: Al-Mosul withdrew from the league.

#### Results

| Home \ Away | ERB | DUH | KRK | PER | SMR | SIR | SUL | ZKO |
| Erbil | | 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 | 3–0 |
| Samarra | 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 |
| Sulaymaniya | 0–0 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 1–3 | 0–0 | 2–0 | | 1–0 |
| Zakho | 0–2 | 0–3 | 1–3 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | |
* 1 2 Zakho's matches with Peris (1–1) and Duhok (0–0) were both awarded as 3–0 defeats for Zakho as a penalty for using an ineligible player.

### Central Group

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Al-Shorta | 22 | 13 | 8 | 1 | 40 | 14 | +26 | 47 | Qualified to Elite Stage |
| 2 | Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya | 22 | 14 | 4 | 4 | 42 | 13 | +29 | 46 | Qualified to Elite Stage |
| 3 | Al-Kahrabaa | 22 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 30 | 10 | +20 | 38 | Qualified to Elite Stage |
| 4 | Al-Zawraa | 22 | 10 | 7 | 5 | 24 | 12 | +12 | 37 | Qualified to Elite Stage |
| 5 | Al-Talaba | 22 | 9 | 9 | 4 | 25 | 17 | +8 | 36 | Qualified to Elite Stage |
| 6 | Al-Sinaa | 22 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 24 | 16 | +8 | 35 | Qualified to Elite Stage |
| 7 | Al-Bareed | 22 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 25 | 29 | −4 | 30 | |
| 8 | Al-Naft | 22 | 6 | 9 | 7 | 18 | 24 | −6 | 27 | |
| 9 | Al-Ramadi | 22 | 5 | 6 | 11 | 26 | 42 | −16 | 21 | |
| 10 | Al-Jaish | 22 | 3 | 6 | 13 | 14 | 39 | −25 | 15 | Relegated to the Iraqi First Division League |
| 11 | Al-Shuala | 22 | 3 | 4 | 15 | 14 | 44 | −30 | 13 | Relegated to the Iraqi First Division League |
| 12 | Al-Adala | 22 | 3 | 3 | 16 | 11 | 33 | −22 | 12 | Relegated to the Iraqi First Division League |

#### Results

| Home \ Away | 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 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 |
| Al-Kahrabaa | 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 | 3–0 | 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 | |
* ↑ The Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya–Al-Shuala match was awarded as a 3–0 win to Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya, as Al-Shuala did not turn up for the game.

### South Group

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Karbala | 16 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 27 | 12 | +15 | 38 | Qualified to Elite Stage |
| 2 | Al-Najaf | 16 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 23 | 9 | +14 | 32 | Qualified to Elite Stage |
| 3 | Al-Minaa | 16 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 19 | 10 | +9 | 30 | Qualified to Elite Stage |
| 4 | Naft Al-Junoob | 16 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 16 | 14 | +2 | 21 | Qualified to Elite Stage |
| 5 | Maysan | 16 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 16 | 17 | −1 | 19 | |
| 6 | Al-Kufa | 16 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 13 | 15 | −2 | 17 | |
| 7 | Al-Samawa | 16 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 11 | 18 | −7 | 16 | |
| 8 | Al-Furat | 16 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 17 | 33 | −16 | 14 | Relegated to the Iraqi First Division League |
| 9 | Al-Shatra | 16 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 12 | 26 | −14 | 8 | Relegated to the Iraqi First Division League |

#### Results

| Home \ Away | FUR | KUF | MIN | NJF | SAM | SHT | KRB | MAY | NFJ |
| Al-Furat | | 1–4 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 2–4 | 1–3 | 0–2 |
| Al-Kufa | 0–0 | | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 1–0 |
| Al-Minaa | 2–0 | 2–0 | | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 3–3 |
| Al-Najaf | 3–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 4–1 | 3–0 |
| Al-Samawa | 2–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 |
| Al-Shatra | 2–3 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 2–2 | | 1–2 | 0–2 | 0–1 |
| Karbala | 5–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | | 1–0 | 2–1 |
| Maysan | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | | 1–0 |
| Naft Al-Junoob | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 | |

## Elite stage
### Group 1

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | ERB | JAW | KRK | MIN | SIN |
| 1 | Erbil | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 5 | +4 | 14 | Qualified to Semi-finals | | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 1–0 |
| 2 | Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 8 | +2 | 13 | Qualified to Semi-final playoff | 2–1 | | 6–3 | 1–0 | 1–0 |
| 3 | Kirkuk | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 9 | −1 | 10 | | 1–0 | 2–0 | | 2–0 | 0–0 |
| 4 | Al-Minaa | 8 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 8 | −2 | 9 | | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | | 1–1 |
| 5 | Al-Sinaa | 8 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 7 | −3 | 9 | | 0–3 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | |

### Group 2

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | DUH | KRB | TAL | NFJ | KAH |
| 1 | Duhok | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 12 | 3 | +9 | 18 | Qualified to Semi-finals | | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–2 |
| 2 | Karbala | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 9 | 4 | +5 | 16 | Qualified to Semi-final playoff | 0–0 | | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 |
| 3 | Al-Talaba | 8 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 7 | −3 | 7 | | 0–1 | 0–0 | | 0–1 | 2–2 |
| 4 | Naft Al-Junoob | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 11 | −5 | 7 | | 1–2 | 1–2 | 0–0 | | 2–1 |
| 5 | Al-Kahrabaa | 8 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 16 | −6 | 5 | | 0–4 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 3–1 | |

### Group 3

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | ZAW | NJF | SHO | PER |
| 1 | Al-Zawraa | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 5 | +6 | 13 | Qualified to Semi-finals | | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 |
| 2 | Al-Najaf | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 4 | +3 | 11 | Qualified to Semi-final playoff | 2–3 | | 3–1 | 0–0 |
| 3 | Al-Shorta | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 9 | −4 | 5 | | 1–3 | 0–1 | | 2–1 |
| 4 | Peris | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 6 | −5 | 3 | | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–0 | |

## Semi-final playoff

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | JAW | NJF | KRB |
| 1 | Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | Qualified to Semi-finals | | | 0–1 |
| 2 | Al-Najaf | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | | 2–3 (a.e.t.) | | |
| 3 | Karbala | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | | | 0–1 | |
* ↑ After 90 minutes, the result was 2–1 to Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya meaning they were equal with Al-Najaf on points, goal difference and goals scored. Each team scored once more in extra time making the final score 3–2 to Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya and therefore requiring a penalty shootout to determine group position. Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya won 8–7 on penalties to top the group.

## Golden stage

| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| 20 August 2008 | 20 August 2008 |
| Al-Zawraa | 1 |
| Al-Zawraa | 1 | 24 August 2008 | 24 August 2008 |
| Duhok | 0 | 24 August 2008 | 24 August 2008 |
| Duhok | 0 | Al-Zawraa | 0 |
| 21 August 2008 | 21 August 2008 | | Al-Zawraa | 0 |
| 21 August 2008 | 21 August 2008 | Erbil (a.e.t.) | 1 |
| Erbil | 2 | Erbil (a.e.t.) | 1 |
| Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya | 0 | | |
| Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya | 0 | Third place | Third place |
| | | 23 August 2008 | 23 August 2008 |
| | | Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya | 3 |
| | | Duhok | 0 |

### Final

| Al-Zawraa | Erbil |
Ahmad Ali :
| DF | 3 | Ahmed Attiya | 36' |
| DF | 15 | Gaith Abdul-Ghani (c) | 120+2' |
| DF | 6 | Ous Ibrahim |
| DF | 29 | Waleed Khalid |
| MF | 16 | Mohannad Nassir |
| MF | 19 | Salar Abdul-Jabbar | | 95' |
| MF | 26 | Thamir Fuad | | 115' |
| MF | 7 | Ali Yousef | 48' |
| MF | 28 | Sajjad Hussein | | 46' |
| FW | 10 | Abdul-Salam Abboud | 97' |
| Substitutions: ||||
| FW | 23 | Mustafa Ahmad | | 46' |
| MF | 12 | Hussein Saddam | | 77' |
| FW | 11 | Alaa Sattar | | 95' |
| MF | 27 | Naseem Jassim | | 115' |
| Manager: ||||
| Radhi Shenaishil ||||
Sarhang Muhsin :
| DF | 2 | Samal Saeed | 109' |
| DF | 3 | Yassir Raad |
| DF | 31 | Salam Shakir |
| MF | 55 | Osama Ali | 32' | 53' |
| MF | 24 | Wissam Zaki | 26' |
| MF | 14 | Khaldoun Ibrahim |
| MF | 23 | Shirzad Mohammed | | 33' |
| FW | 10 | Muslim Mubarak | | 71' |
| FW | 17 | Ahmed Salah (c) |
| FW | 11 | Luay Salah | | 108' |
| Substitutions: ||||
| MF | 77 | Alaa Nayrouz | | 33' |
| DF | 4 | Rafid Badr Al-Deen | | 53' |
| MF | 18 | Haidar Qaraman | | 71' |
| MF | 8 | Haidar Sabah | | 108' |
| Manager: ||||
| Thair Ahmed ||||

## Season statistics
### Top four positions

| Pos | Team | Pld | Pts | Eff | Qualification |
| 1 | Erbil | 24 | 51 | 70.8% | 2009 AFC Cup |
| 2 | Al-Zawraa | 30 | 53 | 58.9% | 2009 AFC Cup |
| 3 | Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya | 34 | 65 | 63.7% | 2008–09 Arab Champions League |
| 4 | Duhok | 24 | 48 | 66.7% |

### Top scorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Asaad Abdul-Nabi | Al-Kahrabaa | 14 |
| 2 | Taiseer Abdul-Hussein | Al-Shorta | 12 |
| 2 | Hussam Saeed | Al-Bareed / Al-Zawraa | 12 |
| 4 | Yassir Abdul-Mohsen | Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya | 11 |
| 4 | Abdul-Salam Abboud | Al-Zawraa | 11 |

### Hat-tricks

| Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
| Akram Hashim | Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya | Al-Shuala | 7–0 | 18 December 2007 |
| Yassir Abdul-Mohsen | Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya | Al-Shuala | 7–0 | 18 December 2007 |
| Ali Mansoor$^4$ | Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya | Kirkuk | 6–3 | 17 July 2008 |
| Younis Shakor | Kirkuk | Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya | 3–6 | 17 July 2008 |

#### Notes

$^4$ Player scored 4 goals