Al-Karkh

 

Name: Al-Karkh
Nickname: Al-Ghawassa Al-Safraa (meaning The Yellow Submarines in English)
City: Baghdad
Year of foundation: 1963

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-Karkh’s history is an interesting one. Founded in 1963, Al-Karkh didn’t participate in the Iraqi Premier League until the 1990/91 season. However, they didn’t get there by way of promotion from the lower division. When Al-Rasheed (the club that was founded by Uday Hussein and that dominated Iraqi and Arab football in the 1980s while using the Al-Karkh Stadium) was dissolved in 1990, the Iraqi FA decided to replace Al-Rasheed with Al-Karkh in the league. Al-Karkh’s first few seasons in the league were fairly good, finishing as high as third in 1991/92, but they eventually fell down to being more of a mid-table side until they were relegated in 1997. They returned to the league in 1998 and stayed there all the way until 2006 when they experienced relegation for the second time. It took them three seasons to get promoted again, and within two seasons of their return, they got relegated for the third time. They returned in 2013/14 and, after one more relegation, have returned to the league for the 2018/19 season.

Season-by-season record in the Iraqi Premier League:
1990/91: 4th
1991/92: 3rd
1992/93: 6th
1993/94: 14th
1994/95: 7th
1995/96: 7th
1996/97: 14th (relegated)
——
1998/99: 6th
1999/2000: 6th
2000/01: 7th
2001/02: 8th
2002/03: Season abandoned
2003/04: Season abandoned
2004/05: 10th
2005/06: 21st (relegated)
——
2009/10: 21st
2010/11: 10th
2011/12: 17th (relegated)
——
2013/14: 12th
2014/15: 9th
2015/16: 16th
2016/17: 19th (relegated)
——
2018/19: 6th
2019/20: Season abandoned