2007–08 Iraqi Premier League

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The 2007–08 Iraqi Premier League season started on 26 November 2007 and ended on 24 August 2008. The season saw Erbil crowned as champions for the second time in a row, beating Al-Zawraa 1–0 after extra time in the final.

Iraqi Premier League
Season	2007–08
Champions	Erbil (2nd title)
Relegated	Al-Furat Sirwan Al-Jaish Al-Shuala Al-Adala Al-Shatra Zakho
AFC Cup	Erbil Al-Zawraa
Arab Champions League	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
Top goalscorer	Asaad Abdul-Nabi (14 goals)
Biggest home win	Karbala 5–0 Al-Furat (7 December 2007)
Biggest away win	Al-Jaish 1–8 Al-Kahrabaa (15 December 2007) Al-Shuala 0–7 Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya (18 December 2007)
Highest scoring	Al-Ramadi 2–7 Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya (8 December 2007) Al-Jaish 1–8 Al-Kahrabaa (15 December 2007) Al-Shuala 0–7 Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya (18 December 2007) Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya 6–3 Kirkuk (17 July 2008)
← 2006–07 2008–09 →

For security reasons, the league was divided into three groups: South, North and Central. The top six clubs from the Central Group and the top four clubs from the North and South Groups qualified for the Elite Stage. The Elite Stage consisted of three groups, of which the winners and one runner-up qualified for the Golden Stage, a knockout contest. The Golden Stage matches were held at Al-Shaab Stadium in Baghdad.

The champions and runners-up qualified for the 2009 AFC Cup, while third-placed Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya qualified for the 2008–09 Arab Champions League.^[1]

The Iraq Football Association introduced a new rule that allowed clubs to make four substitutions instead of three.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Erbil	14	9	4	1	21	5	+16	31	Qualified to Elite Stage
2	Duhok	14	9	3	2	16	6	+10	30
3	Peris	14	6	4	4	20	16	+4	22
4	Kirkuk	14	6	3	5	18	17	+1	21
5	Sulaymaniya	14	4	7	3	16	17	−1	19
6	Samarra	14	3	5	6	10	16	−6	14
7	Sirwan	14	2	4	8	9	14	−5	10	Relegated to the Iraqi First Division League
8	Zakho	14	0	4	10	5	24	−19	4	Relegated to the Iraqi First Division League

Note: Al-Mosul withdrew from the league.

Source: Goalzz
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

^ ^a ^b Zakho's matches with Peris (1–1) and Duhok (0–0) were both awarded as 3–0 defeats for Zakho as a penalty for using an ineligible player.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Al-Shorta	22	13	8	1	40	14	+26	47	Qualified to Elite Stage
2	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	22	14	4	4	42	13	+29	46
3	Al-Kahrabaa	22	10	8	4	30	10	+20	38
4	Al-Zawraa	22	10	7	5	24	12	+12	37
5	Al-Talaba	22	9	9	4	25	17	+8	36
6	Al-Sinaa	22	9	8	5	24	16	+8	35
7	Al-Bareed	22	8	6	8	25	29	−4	30
8	Al-Naft	22	6	9	7	18	24	−6	27
9	Al-Ramadi	22	5	6	11	26	42	−16	21
10	Al-Jaish	22	3	6	13	14	39	−25	15	Relegated to the Iraqi First Division League
11	Al-Shuala	22	3	4	15	14	44	−30	13
12	Al-Adala	22	3	3	16	11	33	−22	12

Source: Goalzz
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

^ The Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya–Al-Shuala match was awarded as a 3–0 win to Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya, as Al-Shuala did not turn up for the game.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Karbala	16	12	2	2	27	12	+15	38	Qualified to Elite Stage
2	Al-Najaf	16	9	5	2	23	9	+14	32
3	Al-Minaa	16	8	6	2	19	10	+9	30
4	Naft Al-Junoob	16	5	6	5	16	14	+2	21
5	Maysan	16	4	7	5	16	17	−1	19
6	Al-Kufa	16	4	5	7	13	15	−2	17
7	Al-Samawa	16	3	7	6	11	18	−7	16
8	Al-Furat	16	4	2	10	17	33	−16	14	Relegated to the Iraqi First Division League
9	Al-Shatra	16	2	2	12	12	26	−14	8	Relegated to the Iraqi First Division League

Source: Goalzz
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	ERB	JAW	KRK	MIN	SIN
1	Erbil	8	4	2	2	9	5	+4	14	Qualified to Semi-finals		1–0	1–0	2–2	1–0
2	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	8	4	1	3	10	8	+2	13	Qualified to Semi-final playoff	2–1		6–3	1–0	1–0
3	Kirkuk	8	3	1	4	8	9	−1	10		1–0	2–0		2–0	0–0
4	Al-Minaa	8	2	3	3	6	8	−2	9		0–0	1–0	1–0		1–1
5	Al-Sinaa	8	2	3	3	4	7	−3	9		0–3	0–0	1–0	2–1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	DUH	KRB	TAL	NFJ	KAH
1	Duhok	8	5	3	0	12	3	+9	18	Qualified to Semi-finals		0–0	2–0	1–0	2–2
2	Karbala	8	4	4	0	9	4	+5	16	Qualified to Semi-final playoff	0–0		1–1	2–0	2–1
3	Al-Talaba	8	1	4	3	4	7	−3	7		0–1	0–0		0–1	2–2
4	Naft Al-Junoob	8	2	1	5	6	11	−5	7		1–2	1–2	0–0		2–1
5	Al-Kahrabaa	8	1	2	5	10	16	−6	5		0–4	1–2	0–1	3–1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	ZAW	NJF	SHO	PER
1	Al-Zawraa	6	4	1	1	11	5	+6	13	Qualified to Semi-finals		0–1	1–1	2–0
2	Al-Najaf	6	3	2	1	7	4	+3	11	Qualified to Semi-final playoff	2–3		3–1	0–0
3	Al-Shorta	6	1	2	3	5	9	−4	5		1–3	0–1		2–1
4	Peris	6	0	3	3	1	6	−5	3		0–2	0–0	0–0

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	Pts	Qualification	JAW	NJF	KRB
1	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	2	1	1	3	3	3	Qualified to Semi-finals			0–1
2	Al-Najaf	2	1	1	3	3	3		2–3 (a.e.t.)^[a]
3	Karbala	2	1	1	1	1	3			0–1

^ After 90 minutes, the result was 2–1 to Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya meaning they were equal with Al-Najaf on points, goal difference and goals scored. Each team scored once more in extra time making the final score 3–2 to Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya and therefore requiring a penalty shootout to determine group position. Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya won 8–7 on penalties to top the group.

Semi-finals		Final

20 August 2008

Al-Zawraa	1
		24 August 2008
Duhok	0
		Al-Zawraa	0
21 August 2008
		Erbil (a.e.t.)	1
Erbil	2

Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	0
		Third place

		23 August 2008

		Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	3

		Duhok	0

Match officials

Assistant referees:
- Hussein Turki
- Mohammed Arab
Fourth official:
- Kadhim Awda

Match rules

90 minutes.
30 minutes of extra-time if necessary.
Penalty shootout if scores still level.

Pos	Team	Pld	Pts	Eff	Qualification
1	Erbil	24	51	70.8%	2009 AFC Cup
2	Al-Zawraa	30	53	58.9%	2009 AFC Cup
3	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	34	65	63.7%	2008–09 Arab Champions League
4	Duhok	24	48	66.7%

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Asaad Abdul-Nabi	Al-Kahrabaa	14
2	Taiseer Abdul-Hussein	Al-Shorta	12
2	Hussam Saeed	Al-Bareed / Al-Zawraa	12
4	Yassir Abdul-Mohsen	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	11
4	Abdul-Salam Abboud	Al-Zawraa	11

Player^[2]	For	Against	Result	Date
Akram Hashim	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	Al-Shuala	7–0	18 December 2007
Yassir Abdul-Mohsen	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	Al-Shuala	7–0	18 December 2007
Ali Mansoor⁴	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	Kirkuk	6–3	17 July 2008
Younis Shakor	Kirkuk	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	3–6	17 July 2008

Notes

⁴ Player scored 4 goals

Top scorer: Asaad Abdul-Nabi (Al-Kahrabaa)
Best Player/MVP: Ahmad Ayad (Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya)
Best Coach: Radhi Shenaishil (Al-Zawraa)

^ "Iraqi League 2007–2008". Goalzz.com.
^ "Iraqi Premier League 2007/2008 Group Stage All Fixtures". Goalzz. Kooora.com. Retrieved 20 July 2022.

Iraq Football Association