2002–03 Iraqi First Division

The 2002–03 Iraqi First Division was the 29th season of the competition since its establishment in 1974. Organised by the Iraq Football Association (IFA), the league's name was changed to Iraqi First Division, and it started on 6 September 2002. 27 rounds of the league were almost completed 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.[4]

Iraqi Premier League
Season2002–03
ChampionsNone
2003 Arab Unified Club ChampionshipAl-Shorta
2004 AFC Champions LeagueAl-Shorta
Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
2003–04 Arab Champions LeagueAl-Zawraa
Al-Talaba

This led to the previous IFA administration headed by Saddam Hussein's son Uday being replaced with a new IFA committee. 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 before the outbreak of war.[6][7] The IFA later announced that the league table at the end of round 27 would also be used to determine the clubs that qualified for the 2003 Iraqi Elite Cup and the 2004 AFC Champions League.[8][9]

Although several sources at the time reported that Al-Shorta had been named league champions,[10][11][12] the IFA noted in a statement ahead of the start of the following season that the 2002–03 league had been cancelled.[8]

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
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 Samaraa 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: Korat Kadem Al-Iraq
Notes:
  1. The IFA initially planned to admit Al-Najaf into the AFC Champions League,[9] but Al-Najaf were unable 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 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.[13] 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 2–0 0–0 1–3 1–0 1–0 2–2 2–1 2–1 0–1 3–1 1–1 1–0 1–4 2–1 1–2 3–1 4–1 2–1 1–0
Al-Naft 1–0 0–1 1–2 1–1 1–1 2–1 1–1 0–1 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 0–0 4–1 1–0 2–0 0–0 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
Samaraa 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: Korat Kadem Al-Iraq
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:[14]
    • 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 11–1 Samaraa

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.
  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. "منتخب فلسطين الأولمبي يستعين بلاعبين من تشيلي لملاقاة الكويت السبت". 25 September 2003.
  9. "Al-Najaf to participate in the Asian Champions League". Iraq Soccer. 14 October 2003.
  10. "Talaba lift delayed Iraq Cup". Asian Football Confederation. 26 August 2003. Archived from the original on 28 August 2003.
  11. "Iraqi League football is back". Iraq Sport. 10 January 2004. Archived from the original on 10 April 2004. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  12. "Football fever returns to Iraq". BBC. 16 May 2003.
  13. "من سيمثك العراق في بطولة الأندية الآسيوية؟" (PDF). Al-Taakhi Newspaper. 30 November 2003.
  14. Al-Sabti, Ali (2014). Iraqi League History 1974-2011. Iraq.
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