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Iraqi Central League

Founded	1956
Folded	1974
Country	Iraq
Number of teams	15
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	Iraqi Central Second Division
Domestic cup(s)	Iraqi Central FA Cup
International cup(s)	Asian Club Championship
Last champions	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya (1973–74)
Most championships	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya Al-Shorta Amanat Baghdad (5 titles each)

The Iraqi Central League (Arabic: الدوري العراقي المركزي, Dawri Al-Markazi) was the top-level division of football in central Iraq between 1956 and 1974 and contained 15 teams in its final season. It was controlled by the Iraq Football Association (IFA) and was played in a double-elimination format up until 1961. A round-robin system was then introduced which was followed by the introduction of a double round-robin format in 1965.

The league consisted of a mixture of clubs and institute-representative teams, hence why the competition has often been referred to as the "League of the Institutes" since its discontinuation. Despite being a regional championship, the winners of the league were considered by fans and the media to be the Iraqi champions, and the IFA selected the Central League winners to participate in the Asian Club Championship rather than champions of the other regional leagues in Basra, Kirkuk and Mosul.

All four regional leagues folded in 1974 and were replaced by a single nationwide league of clubs called the Iraqi National League. The league was dominated by Al-Shorta, Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya and Amanat Baghdad who together won 15 of the 17 completed championships.

History

Al-Athori players with the 1959–60 Iraqi Central Cup Championship trophy.

The tournament was founded in 1956 as a double-elimination tournament called the Iraqi Central Cup Championship, which was only open to teams from central Iraq, i.e. the capital city, Baghdad. Teams who were knocked out early would be relegated to the lower division (which was also a double-elimination tournament). In 1961, a round-robin system was introduced for the very first time, and two years later the competition was renamed to the Iraqi Central League Championship. This name lasted for just two seasons, as the league was renamed the Iraqi Central Premier League at the start of the 1965–66 season, the first season to feature a double round-robin format.

The 1966–67 season was the only season that was not completed; it had to be abandoned due to the Six-Day War. The 1971–72 season saw the league's name change for the final time as it became known as the Iraqi Central First Division (and thus the second-tier became known as the Iraqi Central Second Division). For the 1973–74 season, the Iraq FA decided to allow teams from outside of Baghdad to enter the tournament for the first time, as the league increased to 15 teams. Despite including teams from other provinces, the 1973–74 season was still considered to be the Iraqi Central League. That season also saw the foundation of the Iraqi Central FA Cup, a knockout cup competition that was held alongside the Central League. These would be the last ever editions of the Central League and Central FA Cup, as on 18 August 1974, the Iraq FA decided to abolish them along with the regional competitions in Basra, Kirkuk and Mosul, and replaced them all with the Iraqi National League and Iraq FA Cup.

The decision was met with strong opposition from the Police and Army sports authorities, who decided to field weak teams for Al-Shorta's and Al-Jaish's opening matches in the new Iraqi National League, but the suffering of heavy losses combined with the stern refusal of the IFA to bring back the regional leagues led to them eventually accepting the new league.^[1]

Champions

List of champions

Note: Maslahat Naqil Al-Rukab and Amanat Al-Asima's titles are attributed Amanat Baghdad, and Al-Firqa Al-Thalatha's title is attributed to Al-Jaish. This is because these two clubs were formed by the merging of the aforementioned teams with other sides.

Most successful clubs

^[2]

Winning managers

Season	Nationality	Winning manager	Team
1956–57	Iraq	Ismail Mohammed	Amanat Baghdad
1957–58	Iraq	Aziz Jassim Al-Hajia	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
1958–59	Iraq	Nassir Yousef	Amanat Baghdad
1959–60	Iraq	Ammo Baba	Al-Athori
1960–61	Iraq	Salman Jassim	Amanat Baghdad
1961–62	Iraq	Salih Faraj	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
1962–63	Iraq	Fahmi Al-Qaimaqchi	Al-Shorta
1963–64	Iraq	Shawqi Aboud	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
1964–65	Iraq	Ismail Mohammed	Amanat Baghdad
1965–66	Iraq	Abdelilah Mohammed Hassan	Al-Jaish
1967–68	Iraq	Mohammed Najib Kaban	Al-Shorta
1968–69	Iraq	Mohammed Najib Kaban	Al-Shorta
1969–70	Iraq	Mohammed Najib Kaban	Al-Shorta
1970–71	Iraq	Mohammed Thamir	Amanat Baghdad
1971–72	Iraq	Mohammed Najib Kaban	Al-Shorta
1972–73	Iraq	Abdelilah Mohammed Hassan	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
1973–74	Iraq	Abdelilah Mohammed Hassan	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya

^[3]

International performance

Only one team from this era competed in a major continental competition, and that was 1969–70 champions Al-Shorta who qualified for the 1971 edition of the AFC Champions League. Al-Shorta managed to reach the final of the competition, winning all the matches they had played, but refused to face Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv in the final in protest at the Israeli occupation of Palestine, instead waving the Palestinian flag around the field. They were regarded as champions in the Iraqi media (the Al-Mal'ab newspaper headline the following day read: "The Champions of Asia Return to Baghdad") and were greeted with a heroes' reception upon their return to the country; they are now regarded by the vast majority of people in Asia as the winners, with the subsequent expulsion of Israel from the AFC.^[4]

See also

• List of Iraqi football champions


• Iraqi Premier League


• Iraqi Women's Premier League

References

External links

• Iraqi Football Website