Summary:
Domestic football in Iraq has been going on for almost a century. The earliest recorded tournament was the Casuals Cup that started in the 1923/24 season;[1] that tournament ran up until the end of the 1935/36 season and for a short period it ran alongside another tournament called the Prince Ghazi Cup that started in the 1931/32 season and ran up until the 1934/35 season.[2] However, it wasn’t until the 1948/49 season that a national league championship was held. Its name was the “Iraq FA Championship”, appropriately named following the foundation of the Iraq FA that same year.[3]
The logo of the ‘League of the Institutes’ competition between 1963 and 1974
Between 1949 and 1956, there were no official tournaments held in Iraq, so most teams ended up playing friendly matches against teams from other countries. In 1956, the Iraq FA decided to run a national championship again. This time they named it as the “Iraq FA Cup Championship”. Although only Baghdad-based teams were allowed to compete, it was considered to be the national championship by the Iraq FA. The tournament was not played in a normal league format; instead it was played in a cup format with multiple knockout rounds leading to a final match to decide the winner.[4] In the 1961/62 season, the format of the competition changed and for the first time in Iraqi football, a round-robin league was held where each team played each of the other teams in the league once, rather than having knockout rounds or group stages. The 1965/66 season saw another change as the league became a double round-robin competition meaning each team played each other twice instead of once, and in 1973, teams from all around Iraq were allowed to compete, rather than just Baghdad-based teams.[5][6][7]
In 1974, the Iraq FA decided to form a new league, called the Iraqi National League, that was only allowed for football clubs or sports clubs. Prior to 1974, most teams were ‘institutions teams’ rather than actual clubs, so the foundation of this new league led to the formation or reformation of a number of clubs.[8] Meanwhile, the first edition of the Iraqi FA Cup was held in the 1975/76 season.[9] Two other national tournaments have been held since the foundation of the Iraqi Premier League. They are the Iraqi Elite Cup (also known as Umm Al-Ma’arik Cup (meaning Mother Of All Battles Cup) or Baghdad Championship) which was founded in 1991 and dissolved in 2003, and the Iraqi Super Cup which was played between 1997 and 2002 and was resurrected in 2016. In terms of continental titles, only three Iraqi clubs have managed to win a major one. Those are Al-Shorta (one Arab Club Championship), Al-Rasheed (three Arab Club Championships) and Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya (one AFC Cup). Al-Shorta also reached the final of the 1971 AFC Champions League but refused to play against their Israeli opponents in protest at the occupation of Palestine; with Israel’s subsequent expulsion from AFC, Al-Shorta are often considered to be the winners of that tournament.
Below, we have listed every national league and every national cup winner since the first ever national league championship was held in Iraq in 1948.
| Season | League Champions | Cup Winners | Elite Cup Winners | Super Cup Winners |
| 1948/49 |  |
Not played | Not played | Not played |
| 1949-56 | Not played | Not played | Not played | Not played |
| 1956/57 |  (now known as Amanat Baghdad) |
Not played | Not played | Not played |
| 1957/58 |  (now known as Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya) |
Not played | Not played | Not played |
| 1958/59 | (now known as Amanat Baghdad) |
Not played | Not played | Not played |
| 1959/60 |  |
Not played | Not played | Not played |
| 1960/61 | (now known as Amanat Baghdad) |
Not played | Not played | Not played |
| 1961/62 | |
Not played | Not played | Not played |
| 1962/63 |  (now known as Al-Shorta) |
Not played | Not played | Not played |
| 1963/64 | |
Not played | Not played | Not played |
| 1964/65 | (now known as Amanat Baghdad) |
Not played | Not played | Not played |
| 1965/66 |  (now known as Al-Jaish) |
Not played | Not played | Not played |
| 1966/67 | Not finished | Not played | Not played | Not played |
| 1967/68 | (now known as Al-Shorta) |
Not played | Not played | Not played |
| 1968/69 | (now known as Al-Shorta) |
Not played | Not played | Not played |
| 1969/70 | (now known as Al-Shorta) |
Not played | Not played | Not played |
| 1970/71 | (now known as Amanat Baghdad) |
Not played | Not played | Not played |
| 1971/72 | (now known as Al-Shorta) |
Not played | Not played | Not played |
| 1972/73 | |
Not played | Not played | Not played |
| 1973/74 | |
Not played | Not played | Not played |
| 1974/75 | (now known as Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya) |
Not played | Not played | Not played |
| 1975/76 |  |
|
Not played | Not played |
| 1976/77 | |
Not played | Not played | Not played |
| 1977/78 |  |
(now known as Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya) |
Not played | Not played |
| 1978/79 | |
|
Not played | Not played |
| 1979/80 | |
|
Not played | Not played |
| 1980/81 |  |
|
Not played | Not played |
| 1981/82 | |
|
Not played | Not played |
| 1982/83 |  |
|
Not played | Not played |
| 1983/84 | |
 |
Not played | Not played |
| 1984/85 | Not finished | Not finished | Not played | Not played |
| 1985/86 | |
Not played | Not played | Not played |
| 1986/87 |  |
|
Not played | Not played |
| 1987/88 | |
|
Not played | Not played |
| 1988/89 | |
|
Not played | Not played |
| 1989/90 | (now known as Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya) |
|
Not played | Not played |
| 1990/91 | |
|
Not played | Not played |
| 1991/92 | |
|
|
Not played |
| 1992/93 | |
|
|
Not played |
| 1993/94 | |
|
|
Not played |
| 1994/95 | |
|
|
Not played |
| 1995/96 | |
|
|
Not played |
| 1996/97 | |
|
|
|
| 1997/98 | |
|
 |
|
| 1998/99 | |
|
|
Not played |
| 1999/00 | |
|
|
|
| 2000/01 | |
Not played | |
|
| 2001/02 | |
|
|
|
| 2002/03 | |
|
|
|
| 2003/04 | Not finished | Not played | |
Not played |
| 2004/05 | |
Not played | Not played | Not played |
| 2005/06 | |
Not played | Not played | Not played |
| 2006/07 |  |
Not played | Not played | Not played |
| 2007/08 | |
Not played | Not played | Not played |
| 2008/09 | |
Not played | Not played | Not played |
| 2009/10 |  |
Not played | Not played | Not played |
| 2010/11 | |
Not played | Not played | Not played |
| 2011/12 | |
Not played | Not played | Not played |
| 2012/13 | |
Not finished | Not played | Not played |
| 2013/14 | |
Not played | Not played | Not played |
| 2014/15 |  |
Not played | Not played | Not played |
| 2015/16 | |
|
Not played | Not played |
| 2016/17 | |
|
Not played | Not played |
List of Winners:
| Team | League Titles | Cup Titles | Elite Cup Titles | Super Cup Titles | OVERALL TITLES |
|
13 | 15 | 3 | 3 | 34 |
|
11 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 20 |
|
10 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 13 |
|
5 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 11 |
|
5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
|
3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
|
4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
|
2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
|
0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
|
0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Iraqi Women’s Premier League:
The Iraqi Women’s Premier League was founded in 2015 and its first ever season was the 2015/16 season. It was played in a group stage format culminating in a third place playoff and the final. The third place playoff saw Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya Ladies thrash Beladi Ladies 7-0, before Ghaz Al-Shamal Ladies defeated Zeravani Ladies 1-0 in the all-important final to claim the first ever Iraqi women’s title. The foundation of this league has provided a great boost for women’s football in Iraq and has brought the women’s game to another level.
| Season | Champions | Score | Runners-up |
| 2015/16 |  |
1-0 |  |