2002–03 Iraqi First Division League

The 2002–03 Iraqi First Division League was the 29th season of the top-tier Iraqi national football league since its establishment in 1974. Organised by the Iraq Football Association (IFA), the league's name was changed to Iraqi First Division League, and it started on 6 September 2002. 27 rounds of the league were played before the US-led invasion of Iraq began on 20 March 2003.[1] Despite the outbreak of the Iraq War, matches continued with free entry for spectators and games from rounds 28 and 29 were played in the midst of the conflict.[2][3] The last matches were played on 28 March before the league stopped and Saddam Hussein's government was overthrown, leading to the formation of a new IFA committee.[4]

Iraqi First Division League
Season2002–03
ChampionsN/A (season cancelled)
2003 Arab Unified Club ChampionshipAl-Shorta
2004 AFC Champions LeagueAl-Shorta
Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
2003–04 Arab Champions LeagueAl-Zawraa
Al-Talaba
← 2001–02
(Iraqi Elite League)
2003–04
(Iraqi Premier League) →

The IFA revealed on 6 May that it was considering holding a play-off between the top four Baghdad clubs to decide who would qualify for the 2003 Arab Unified Club Championship.[5] However, the IFA then announced on 30 May that Al-Shorta had been chosen to participate as they were leading the league table at the end of round 27 before the outbreak of war.[6][7] The IFA later announced that the 2002–03 league competition had been cancelled and that the league table at the end of round 27 would also be used to determine the clubs that qualified for the Baghdad Championship and the AFC Champions League.[8][9]

League table used to determine qualifications
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Al-Shorta 27 20 5 2 61 23 +38 65 2004 AFC Champions League and 2003 Arab Unified Club Championship
2 Al-Najaf 26 19 5 2 44 12 +32 62
3 Al-Zawraa 27 17 8 2 59 16 +43 59 2003–04 Arab Champions League
4 Al-Talaba 24 19 2 3 56 15 +41 59
5 Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya 27 17 4 6 49 30 +19 55 2004 AFC Champions League[lower-alpha 1]
6 Al-Minaa 27 14 3 10 30 23 +7 45
7 Al-Mosul 27 11 5 11 33 42 −9 38
8 Erbil 27 10 7 10 44 33 +11 37
9 Al-Karkh 27 9 10 8 29 21 +8 37
10 Zakho 27 9 9 9 36 27 +9 36
11 Duhok 27 9 7 11 30 40 −10 34
12 Al-Difaa Al-Jawi 27 7 8 12 27 37 −10 29
13 Samarra 26 7 7 12 26 38 −12 28
14 Al-Nasiriya 27 7 6 14 27 55 −28 27
15 Al-Jaish 27 6 8 13 26 42 −16 26
16 Al-Sinaa 26 4 11 11 17 29 −12 23
17 Al-Naft 27 4 10 13 21 37 −16 22
18 Al-Samawa 27 5 7 15 22 52 −30 22
19 Kirkuk 27 2 9 16 14 48 −34 15
20 Al-Basra 27 3 5 19 14 45 −31 14
Source: Ali Al-Sabti Archive
Notes:
  1. The IFA initially planned to admit Al-Najaf into the AFC Champions League,[9] but Al-Najaf were not ready to participate and the IFA thus gave the slot to Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya, the next highest-placed team in the table that had not already been admitted into a continental or regional competition. When informed by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) that participation in the AFC Champions League should be for the league champions and the FA Cup winners (Al-Talaba), the IFA asked the AFC to give it freedom in choosing its participating clubs due to the league not being completed.[10] The AFC agreed to the IFA's request and therefore Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya entered the competition alongside Al-Shorta.

Results
Home \ Away BSR DIF JSH KAR MIN MSL NFT NJF NAS QWJ SMA SHR SIN TLB ZWR DUH ERB KIR SMR ZAK
Al-Basra 0–0 2–1 0–1 0–0 0–1 0–1 2–3 2–2 0–1 –[lower-alpha 1] 1–0 1–1 0–0
Al-Difaa Al-Jawi 1–0 0–4 0–1 2–0 1–2 2–2 3–2 1–1 1–0 0–4 1–1 –[lower-alpha 1] 1–2 0–0
Al-Jaish 1–0 1–1 1–0 2–2 1–2 1–1 4–1 –[lower-alpha 1] 1–1 0–0 1–1
Al-Karkh 0–2 2–0 1–0 –[lower-alpha 1] 0–0 0–0 5–0 1–1 6–1 0–0 0–5 1–2 1–0 1–0 0–0 1–1
Al-Minaa 2–0 1–0 2–1 1–0 4–1 0–0 1–2 2–0 3–0 1–0 1–0 1–0 4–1 1–0
Al-Mosul 0–0 1–3 1–0 1–0 2–2 2–1 2–1 0–1 3–1 1–1 1–4 2–1 1–2 3–1 2–1
Al-Naft 1–0 0–1 1–2 1–1 1–1 2–1 1–1 0–1 1–3 1–5 3–0 1–1 1–2
Al-Najaf 5–0 1–0 1–0 1–0 3–0 3–0 1–0 4–0 2–1 2–1 0–0 3–1 2–0
Al-Nasiriya 2–0 0–4 0–0 1–0 1–2 0–1 0–5 0–1 1–1 1–1 2–1 1–1 1–0 1–0
Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya 3–2 2–0 2–1 3–1 2–1 4–0 –[lower-alpha 1] 3–1 3–2 1–0 1–1 3–0 2–1 3–0
Al-Samawa 1–1 3–2 0–1 0–1 0–0 0–1 1–4 1–1 0–3 0–1 2–2 0–0 1–0
Al-Shorta 4–1 –[lower-alpha 1] 1–0 3–1 1–0 2–0 1–1 5–1 3–2 3–0 2–0 1–0 8–0 3–0 2–0 3–2
Al-Sinaa 1–0 1–0 0–2 2–3 1–1 1–1 1–2 0–1 0–0 3–2 0–0
Al-Talaba 3–1 3–0 5–0 1–1 3–2 2–1 4–1 1–0 2–0 1–1 2–1 4–0 0–1
Al-Zawraa 4–0 4–2 6–0 1–0 1–0 2–0 1–0 5–0 5–0 1–1 0–0 2–0 5–1 –[lower-alpha 1] 4–0
Duhok 1–0 1–2 1–1 4–1 1–0 0–3 0–0 3–2 0–1 1–0 2–0 4–1 1–1
Erbil 3–0 3–2 0–0 5–0 1–0 1–2 1–2 0–3 0–0 1–3 1–1 1–1 6–1 4–0 2–1
Kirkuk 0–1 2–2 0–0 1–0 0–0 1–1 0–1 1–1 1–2 1–4 0–1 2–1 0–1
Samarra 2–1 0–0 2–1 1–1 1–2 3–1 0–2 0–2 0–1 1–1 1–2 4–1 1–0
Zakho 2–0 1–0 4–1 2–0 1–2 6–1 3–0 1–1 2–3 4–0 1–2 1–1 1–3 0–0 0–0
Source: Ali Al-Sabti Archive
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:
  1. Match results from rounds 28 and 29 (played after the outbreak of war) were not considered in the league table that was used to determine qualifications to other tournaments. This includes the following results:[11]
    • Al-Basra 1–1 Al-Zawraa
    • Al-Karkh 2–1 Al-Mosul
    • Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya 1–0 Al-Najaf
    • Al-Shorta 6–3 Al-Difaa Al-Jawi
    • Al-Difaa Al-Jawi 7–2 Kirkuk
    • Al-Jaish 0–0 Al-Sinaa
    • Al-Zawraa 3–0 Samarra

Season statistics

Hat-tricks
Main article: List of Iraq Stars League hat-tricks
Player[12]ForAgainstResultDate
Iraq Ahmed Khalaf DuhokAl-Mosul4–16 September 2002
Iraq Younis Mahmoud Al-TalabaAl-Basra3–126 September 2002
Iraq Ihsan Hadi Al-MinaaAl-Samawa3–010 October 2002
Iraq Hamid Qasim4 ErbilAl-Naft5–111 October 2002
Iraq Nashat Akram Al-ShortaDuhok8–018 October 2002
Iraq Hussam Fawzi Al-ZawraaAl-Basra4–01 November 2002
Iraq Amin Abbas DuhokSamarra4–115 November 2002
Iraq Ahmed Ibrahim SamarraAl-Nasiriya3–122 November 2002
Iraq Ahmed Mnajed Al-ShortaAl-Samawa3–029 November 2002
Iraq Mohammed Nasser ErbilAl-Minaa5–020 December 2002
Iraq Husham Mohammed Al-ZawraaKirkuk5–123 December 2002
Iraq Basim Hamoud Al-JaishAl-Shorta4–120 February 2003
Iraq Salim Khanjar ZakhoAl-Nasiriya6–17 March 2003
Iraq Husham Mohammed Al-ZawraaKirkuk4–17 March 2003
Iraq Muayad Judi Al-SinaaSamarra3–27 March 2003
Notes

4 Player scored 4 goals

References
  1. "الدوري العراقي". 29 March 2003.
  2. Al-Tuwaijri, Abdul-Aziz (3 April 2003). "استمرار منافسات الدوري العراقي رغم الحرب يثير استغراب المراقبين". Asharq Al-Awsat.
  3. "Un hijo de Sadam pide que la Liga de fútbol iraquí continúe pese a la guerra". El País. 28 March 2003.
  4. Kitz, Sami (28 March 2003). "القنابل الاميركية لم تحل دون استمرار الدوري العراقي". MEO News. Archived from the original on 1 September 2020. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  5. Qadri Hassan, Mohammed (6 May 2003). "العراقي حسين سعيد: جاهزون لمقابلة الفرق الكويتية وأنديتنا عادت لتدريباتها". Asharq Al-Awsat.
  6. Qadri Hassan, Mohammed (30 May 2003). "راضي رئيس اتحاد الكرة العراقي: ادعاءات عمو بابا كاذبة وهو دائم الاستجداء". Asharq Al-Awsat.
  7. Qadri Hassan, Mohammed (3 June 2003). "منتخب فلسطين الأولمبي يستعين بلاعبين من تشيلي لملاقاة الكويت السبت". Asharq Al-Awsat.
  8. "الاتحاد العراقي المركزي لكرة القدم تعليمات ونشاطات الموسم الرياضي 2003-2004". 25 September 2003.
  9. "Al-Najaf to participate in the Asian Champions League". Iraq Soccer. 14 October 2003. Archived from the original on 2004-01-17.
  10. "من سيمثك العراق في بطولة الأندية الآسيوية؟" (PDF). Al-Taakhi Newspaper. 30 November 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2004-06-28.
  11. Al-Sabti, Ali (2014). Iraqi League History 1974-2011. Iraq.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  12. "Iraq 2002/03". RSSSF. 25 July 2019.
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