Al-Zawraa
Name: Al-Zawraa
Nickname: Al-Nawaris (meaning The Gulls in English)
City: Baghdad
Year of foundation: 1969
Manager: Ayoub Odisho (Iraq)
Number of Iraqi Premier League titles: 14
1975/76, 1976/77, 1978/79, 1990/91, 1993/94, 1994/95, 1995/96, 1998/99, 1999/2000, 2000/01, 2005/06, 2010/11, 2015/16, 2017/18
Number of Iraqi FA Cup titles: 16
1975/76, 1978/79, 1980/81, 1981/82, 1988/89, 1989/90, 1990/91, 1992/93, 1993/94, 1994/95, 1995/96, 1997/98, 1998/99, 1999/2000, 2016/17, 2018/19
Number of Iraqi Elite Cup titles: 3
1991/92, 1999/2000, 2003/04
Number of Iraqi Super Cup titles: 4
1997/98, 1999/2000, 2000/01, 2017/18
Number of major continental titles: 0
In terms of major trophies won, Al-Zawraa are the most successful team in Iraq by a long way. They have won 14 Iraqi Premier League titles, far more than any other side, and have completely dominated the Iraqi FA Cup over the years winning a staggering 16 of them. They also have the joint-record highest number of Iraqi Elite Cup titles and the most Iraqi Super Cups too, although they are yet to claim a major honour on the continental stage. Interestingly, Al-Zawraa’s success can be traced back to a club named Al-Naqil who were formed in 1937. Al-Naqil were the runners-up of the league in the 1974/75 season, but the club dissolved due to a financial crisis. Al-Naqil’s players, many of them going on to become legends of Iraqi football, thus joined fellow Ministry of Transport club Al-Zawraa, who had been founded in 1969 and had just been promoted to the top-flight. This meant that right from their first season in the top division, Al-Zawraa were title contenders and they did indeed win the double in their very first top-flight campaign which set the precedent for the decades of glory that were to follow.
Season-by-season record in the Iraqi Premier League:
1975/76: 1st
1976/77: 1st
1977/78: 3rd
1978/79: 1st
1979/80: 2nd
1980/81: 7th
1981/82: 5th
1982/83: 7th
1983/84: 5th
1984/85: Season abandoned
1985/86: 9th
1986/87: 7th
1987/88: 5th
1988/89: 4th
1989/90: 4th
1990/91: 1st
1991/92: 2nd
1992/93: 2nd
1993/94: 1st
1994/95: 1st
1995/96: 1st
1996/97: 2nd
1997/98: 3rd
1998/99: 1st
1999/2000: 1st
2000/01: 1st
2001/02: 4th
2002/03: Season abandoned
2003/04: Season abandoned
2004/05: 4th
2005/06: 1st
2006/07: 8th
2007/08: 2nd
2008/09: 7th
2009/10: 3rd
2010/11: 1st
2011/12: 8th
2012/13: 4th
2013/14: 6th
2014/15: 8th
2015/16: 1st
2016/17: 4th
2017/18: 1st
2018/19: 3rd
2019/20: Season abandoned
