# 2008–09 Iraqi Premier League

The 2008–09 Iraqi Premier League was the 35th edition of the competition. It started on 1 November 2008 and ended on 16 July 2009. 27 teams from all over the country competed for the title. Erbil won the title by defeating Al-Najaf in the final via penalty shootout after a goalless draw. It was Erbil's third league title in a row. The two teams would have qualified for the 2010 AFC Cup, but were disqualified due to FIFA's suspension of the Iraq Football Association.
The 2008–09 season is the only season in history where none of the four Baghdad Derby clubs (Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya, Al-Shorta, Al-Talaba and Al-Zawraa) finished in the top four.

## Name changes

* Al-Bareed renamed to Al-Etisalat wal-Bareed at the end of 2008.

## Group stage
### Group 1

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Erbil | 26 | 20 | 4 | 2 | 55 | 17 | +38 | 64 | Qualified to the Final |
| 2 | Duhok | 26 | 18 | 7 | 1 | 47 | 11 | +36 | 61 | Qualified to Third place match |
| 3 | Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya | 26 | 12 | 6 | 8 | 36 | 25 | +11 | 42 | |
| 4 | Al-Naft | 26 | 11 | 6 | 9 | 23 | 26 | −3 | 39 | |
| 5 | Peris | 26 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 27 | 26 | +1 | 37 | |
| 6 | Al-Ramadi | 26 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 29 | 30 | −1 | 37 | |
| 7 | Samarra | 26 | 9 | 7 | 10 | 27 | 23 | +4 | 34 | |
| 8 | Al-Shorta | 26 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 29 | 29 | 0 | 34 | |
| 9 | Salahaddin | 26 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 24 | 27 | −3 | 33 | |
| 10 | Al-Kahrabaa | 26 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 22 | 34 | −12 | 30 | |
| 11 | Kirkuk | 26 | 6 | 9 | 11 | 18 | 25 | −7 | 27 | |
| 12 | Sulaymaniya | 26 | 6 | 9 | 11 | 26 | 34 | −8 | 27 | |
| 13 | Al-Hudood | 26 | 4 | 7 | 15 | 15 | 33 | −18 | 19 | |
| 14 | Diyala | 26 | 1 | 6 | 19 | 9 | 47 | −38 | 9 | |

#### Results

| Home \ Away | HUD | KAH | NFT | QWJ | RAM | SHR | ERB | DYL | DUH | KRK | PER | SAL | SMR | SUL |
| Al-Hudood | | 0–1 | 0–3 | 2–3 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 3–0 | 0–4 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 |
| Al-Kahrabaa | 1–0 | | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–3 | 0–0 | 0–6 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 |
| Al-Naft | 1–0 | 1–0 | | 1–3 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya | 2–0 | 2–1 | 2–2 | | 1–1 | 4–1 | 0–2 | 4–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 |
| Al-Ramadi | 2–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | | 2–0 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 |
| Al-Shorta | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 2–0 | | 1–2 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–3 | 1–0 | 2–1 |
| Erbil | 3–0 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 | | 2–0 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 4–2 |
| Diyala | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 1–3 | 0–3 | 0–2 | | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 |
| Duhok | 2–1 | 3–2 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 4–0 | 4–0 | 3–0 | 4–0 | | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 |
| Kirkuk | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 0–1 | | 2–0 | 2–3 | 0–1 | 1–0 |
| Peris | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 4–1 | 2–2 | 0–0 | | 2–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 |
| Salahaddin | 1–0 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 3–0 | | 0–0 | 1–3 |
| Samarra | 2–0 | 1–2 | 4–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 3–2 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | | 2–0 |
| Sulaymaniya | 2–1 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–4 | |
* ↑ The Diyala–Al-Shorta match was awarded as a 3–0 win to Al-Shorta after Diyala's players left the field during the first half while losing 1–0.
* ↑ The Duhok–Erbil match was ended early with the score at 3–0 to Duhok.
* ↑ The Peris–Erbil match was awarded as a 3–0 win to Erbil after the game was abandoned with the score at 1–1.

### Group 2

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Al-Najaf | 24 | 15 | 7 | 2 | 39 | 12 | +27 | 52 | Qualified to the Final |
| 2 | Al-Amana | 24 | 13 | 11 | 0 | 37 | 15 | +22 | 50 | Qualified to Third place match |
| 3 | Al-Talaba | 24 | 14 | 5 | 5 | 32 | 15 | +17 | 47 | |
| 4 | Al-Zawraa | 24 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 30 | 24 | +6 | 36 | |
| 5 | Naft Al-Junoob | 24 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 27 | 23 | +4 | 36 | |
| 6 | Al-Minaa | 24 | 10 | 6 | 8 | 20 | 24 | −4 | 36 | |
| 7 | Al-Kufa | 24 | 7 | 11 | 6 | 24 | 24 | 0 | 32 | |
| 8 | Al-Sinaa | 24 | 4 | 15 | 5 | 17 | 18 | −1 | 27 | |
| 9 | Al-Nasiriya | 24 | 6 | 7 | 11 | 23 | 28 | −5 | 25 | |
| 10 | Al-Samawa | 24 | 5 | 9 | 10 | 15 | 25 | −10 | 24 | |
| 11 | Karbala | 24 | 5 | 5 | 14 | 18 | 30 | −12 | 20 | |
| 12 | Al-Etisalat wal-Bareed | 24 | 3 | 6 | 15 | 11 | 30 | −19 | 15 | |
| 13 | Maysan | 24 | 2 | 8 | 14 | 20 | 45 | −25 | 14 | |
Note: Al-Mosul withdrew from the league.

#### Results

| Home \ Away | AMN | BRD | KUF | MIN | NJF | NAS | SMA | SIN | TLB | ZWR | KRB | MAY | NFJ |
| Al-Amana | | 1–1 | 4–1 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 3–2 | 2–2 |
| Al-Etisalat wal-Bareed | 0–1 | | 0–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–4 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| Al-Kufa | 2–2 | 1–0 | | 1–1 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 |
| Al-Minaa | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 |
| Al-Najaf | 1–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | | 1–1 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 6–1 | 2–1 |
| Al-Nasiriya | 0–1 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 |
| Al-Samawa | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 |
| Al-Sinaa | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 |
| Al-Talaba | 0–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | | 0–2 | 2–0 | 4–1 | 3–2 |
| Al-Zawraa | 0–2 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 4–1 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–3 |
| Karbala | 1–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 4–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 0–1 | | 2–1 | 1–0 |
| Maysan | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 2–4 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | | 0–0 |
| Naft Al-Junoob | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 2–2 | |
* ↑ The Al-Nasiriya–Al-Etisalat wal-Bareed match was awarded as a 3–0 win to Al-Nasiriya after Al-Etisalat wal-Bareed's players left the field while losing 2–0.

## Championship play-off

| Team 1 | Score | Team 2 |
| Third place match |||
| Al-Amana | 0–1 | Duhok |
| Final |||
| Al-Najaf | 0–0 (a.e.t.) (2–3 p.) | Erbil |

### Final

| Al-Najaf | Erbil |
Alaa Gatea :
| DF | 7 | Chasib Sultan (c) |
| DF | 3 | Uday Omran | | 56' |
| DF | 5 | Nabeel Abbas |
| DF | 24 | Faisal Jassim |
| MF | 22 | Saeed Mohsen |
| MF | 18 | Dhia Faleh |
| MF | 15 | Dhia Abbas | | 61' |
| MF | 9 | Sahel Naeem |
| FW | 10 | Hussein Karim | | 97' |
| FW | 12 | Alaa Aasi | 98' |
| Substitutions: ||||
| DF | 6 | Ayad Sadir | 119' | 56' |
| MF | | Faris Saadoun | 62' | 61' |
| MF | 25 | Hatim Sahib | | 97' |
| Manager: ||||
| Hatif Shamran ||||
Ahmad Ali :
| DF | 2 | Samal Saeed | 109' |
| DF | 3 | Yassir Raad |
| DF | 16 | Saad Attiya |
| DF | 14 | Khaldoun Ibrahim | 77' | 96' |
| MF | 19 | Deyar Rahman |
| MF | 12 | Herdi Noor Al-Deen | | 67' |
| MF | 25 | Ahmed Abid Ali |
| FW | 17 | Ahmed Salah (c) | | 61' |
| FW | 11 | Luay Salah | 32' | 83' |
| FW | 10 | Muslim Mubarak |
| Substitutions: ||||
| FW | 9 | Ali Mansoor | 99' | 61' |
| MF | 23 | Shirzad Mohammed | | 67' |
| MF | 20 | Hussein Abdul-Wahed | | 83' |
| DF | 4 | Rafid Badr Al-Deen | | 96' |
| Manager: ||||
| Thair Ahmed ||||

## Season statistics
### Top four positions

| Pos | Team | Pld | Pts | Eff | Qualification |
| 1 | Erbil | 27 | 65 | 80.2% | 2010 AFC Cup (disqualified) |
| 2 | Al-Najaf | 25 | 53 | 70.7% | 2010 AFC Cup (disqualified) |
| 3 | Duhok | 27 | 64 | 79.0% |
| 4 | Al-Amana | 25 | 50 | 66.7% |

### Top scorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Ahmed Salah | Erbil | 15 |
| 2 | Luay Salah | Erbil | 11 |
| 3 | Nasser Tallaa | Naft Al-Junoob | 9 |
| 3 | Sahib Abbas | Karbala | 9 |
| 3 | Hussein Karim | Al-Najaf | 9 |

### Hat-tricks

| Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
| Ahmed Jadiea | Al-Amana | Karbala | 3–0 | 14 November 2008 |
| Sahib Abbas | Karbala | Al-Samawa | 4–0 | 12 December 2008 |
| Ahmed Hanoon | Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya | Al-Naft | 3–1 | 20 March 2009 |
| Zaid Abdul-Hamza | Al-Kufa | Al-Nasiriya | 3–1 | 9 May 2009 |
| Ahmed Salah | Erbil | Al-Kahrabaa | 6–0 | 5 June 2009 |