Al-Bahri

 

Name: Al-Bahri (meaning Navy in English)
City: Basra
Year of foundation: 1976

Number of Iraqi Premier League titles: 0
Number of Iraqi FA Cup titles: 0
Number of Iraqi Elite Cup titles: 0
Number of Iraqi Super Cup titles: 0
Number of major continental titles: 0

Al-Bahri were founded in 1976 by the Ministry of Defence. In only their second season in existence, while they were still in the lower division, they pulled off a huge upset by defeating the top-flight champions Al-Zawraa 2-1 in the 1977/78 Iraqi FA Cup to reach the semi-finals. They were promoted to the top division for the first time in the 1979/80 season as the lower division’s champions but went straight back down. They returned to the top-flight in 1986 and stayed there all the way until 1991 when the club was dissolved by the Ministry of Defence midway through the 1990/91 season. They were brought back but spent 23 consecutive years languishing in the lower divisions before finally returning to the Iraqi Premier League for the 2016/17 campaign by finishing as runners-up of the lower division.

Season-by-season record in the Iraqi Premier League:
1979/80: 12th (relegated)
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1986/87: 8th
1987/88: 11th
1988/89: 7th
1989/90: 11th
1990/91: 16th (relegated)
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2000/01: First qualifying round
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2016/17: 14th
2017/18: 16th
2018/19: 19th (relegated)