1988–89 Iraqi Pan-National League

The 1988–89 Iraqi Pan-National Clubs First Division was the 15th season of the competition since its foundation in 1974 and the first that was played in a group stage format rather than a round-robin format. The name of the league was changed from Iraqi National Clubs First Division to Iraqi Pan-National Clubs First Division. Al-Rasheed won the title by defeating Al-Talaba on penalties in the final, to become the first team to win three Premier League titles in a row.

Iraqi Premier League

Season	1988–89
Champions	Al-Rasheed (3rd title)
Relegated	Al-Minaa Al-Nasr Wahid Huzairan Al-Tijara Al-Mosul Diyala Al-Nasiriya Salahaddin Al-Jamahir Al-Samawa Duhok Babil Al-Hurriya Sulaymaniya Al-Diwaniya Al-Numaniya
Asian Club Championship	Al-Rasheed
Arab Club Champions Cup	Al-Tayaran
Arab Cup Winners' Cup	Al-Rasheed
Top goalscorer	Karim Saddam (22 goals)
← 1987–88 1989–90 →

During the regional stage, if a match ended in a draw, it would go to extra time and then penalties if necessary. A team would earn an extra point if they won a game by two goals or more after normal time. Penalty shootout wins earned one point.^[1][2]

Regional stage

North Group

Team	Result
Erbil	Qualified to National Stage
Wahid Huzairan
Al-Mosul	Relegated to Iraq Division One
Salahaddin
Duhok
Sulaymaniya

Central Group

Team	Result
Al-Najaf	Qualified to National Stage
Al-Nasr
Diyala	Relegated to Iraq Division One
Al-Jamahir
Babil
Al-Diwaniya

South Group

Team	Result
Al-Bahri	Qualified to National Stage
Al-Minaa
Al-Nasiriya	Relegated to Iraq Division One
Al-Samawa
Al-Hurriya
Al-Numaniya

Baghdad Group

Pos	Team	Pld	W	PW	L	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Al-Zawraa	20	14	3	3	38	21	+17	8	39	Qualified to National Stage
2	Al-Rasheed	20	14	1	5	34	13	+21	8	37
3	Al-Tayaran	20	11	4	5	40	29	+11	5	31
4	Al-Talaba	20	11	2	7	30	21	+9	4	28
5	Al-Shorta	20	9	3	8	17	16	+1	0	21
6	Al-Jaish	20	8	1	11	29	26	+3	3	20
7	Al-Shabab	20	5	3	12	19	28	−9	2	15
8	Al-Sulaikh	20	2	6	12	16	28	−12	2	12
9	Al-Sinaa	20	5	0	15	12	23	−11	1	11
10	Al-Naft	20	5	0	15	18	30	−12	0	10
11	Al-Tijara	20	3	0	17	21	39	−18	1	7	Relegated to Iraq Division One

Source: Ali Al-Sabti Archive
Rules for classification: 1 bonus point was awarded for each game won by 2 or more goals in normal time.

Results

Home \ Away	JSH	NFT	RSH	SHB	SHR	SIN	SUL	TLB	TAY	TJR	ZWR
Al-Jaish		2–2^[a]	1–3	2–0	1–2	0–1	2–0	4–4^[b]	0–0^[c]	1–0	1–2
Al-Naft	1–2		2–1	0–2	0–0^[d]	1–0	1–1^[e]	0–4	1–2	3–2^[f]	0–2
Al-Rasheed	1–1^[g]	2–0		2–1	2–0	2–0	4–0	2–0	2–1	1–0	1–1^[h]
Al-Shabab	0–1	2–1	1–1^[i]		0–1	0–0^[j]	1–0	2–0	2–3	3–2	0–1
Al-Shorta	1–2	1–1^[k]	1–0	1–0		1–0^[l]	0–0^[m]	1–0^[n]	1–0	1–0	2–2^[o]
Al-Sinaa	0–2	2–1	0–2	1–1^[p]	1–0		2–0	1–1^[q]	1–2	1–0	0–2
Al-Sulaikh	1–1^[r]	0–1	0–1	2–0	1–1^[s]	1–1^[t]		1–1^[u]	0–1	1–1^[v]	2–3
Al-Talaba	1–0	2–0	1–2	3–1	3–2^[w]	1–0	1–0		1–0	2–1	2–1^[x]
Al-Tayaran	4–2	2–2^[y]	3–2	2–2^[z]	2–0	2–0	2–5	1–0		7–2	3–1
Al-Tijara	2–3	0–1	0–1	2–0	0–1	2–1	2–1	0–3	1–1^[aa]		3–4
Al-Zawraa	1–1^[ab]	1–0	0–2	3–1	1–0	2–0	2–0	2–0	3–2	3–1

Source: Ali Al-Sabti Archive
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

1. Al-Jaish won 4–2 on penalties.
2. 3–3 after normal time; 4–4 after extra time; Al-Talaba won 5–4 on penalties.
3. Al-Tayaran won 3–2 on penalties.
4. Al-Shorta won 6–5 on penalties.
5. Al-Sulaikh won 4–3 on penalties.
6. 2–2 after normal time; 3–2 to Al-Naft after extra time.
7. Al-Rasheed won 5–3 on penalties.
8. Al-Zawraa won 3–2 on penalties.
9. Al-Shabab won 5–4 on penalties.
10. Al-Shabab won 4–3 on penalties.
11. Al-Shorta won 4–3 on penalties.
12. 0–0 after normal time; 1–0 to Al-Shorta after extra time.
13. Al-Sulaikh won 4–3 on penalties.
14. 0–0 after normal time; 1–0 to Al-Shorta after extra time.
15. Al-Zawraa won 4–2 on penalties.
16. Al-Shabab won 3–1 on penalties.
17. Al-Talaba won 4–3 on penalties.
18. Al-Sulaikh won 6–5 on penalties.
19. Al-Shorta won 4–3 on penalties.
20. Al-Sulaikh won 3–1 on penalties.
21. Al-Sulaikh won 5–4 on penalties.
22. Al-Sulaikh won 3–2 on penalties.
23. 2–2 after normal time; 3–2 to Al-Talaba after extra time.
24. 1–1 after normal time; 2–1 to Al-Talaba after extra time.
25. Al-Tayaran won 5–4 on penalties.
26. Al-Tayaran won 6–5 on penalties.
27. Al-Tayaran won 5–4 on penalties.
28. Al-Zawraa won 7–6 on penalties.

National stage

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation		ZWR	TLB	ERB	MIN	NSR
1	Al-Zawraa	4	4	0	0	11	3	+8	8	Qualified to Semi-finals			3–1	3–1	2–1	3–0
2	Al-Talaba	4	3	0	1	9	4	+5	6					3–0		3–0
3	Erbil	4	1	1	2	2	6	−4	3						1–0
4	Al-Minaa	4	1	0	3	4	6	−2	2	Relegated to Iraq Division One			1–2			2–1
5	Al-Nasr	4	0	1	3	1	8	−7	1					0–0

Source: Ali Al-Sabti Archive

Group 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation		TAY	RSH	BHR	NJF	WHZ
1	Al-Tayaran	4	4	0	0	10	2	+8	8	Qualified to Semi-finals				2–0	3–0	3–1
2	Al-Rasheed	4	2	1	1	10	3	+7	5			1–2		4–0	5–1	0–0
3	Al-Bahri	4	1	1	2	5	7	−2	3						1–1	4–0
4	Al-Najaf	4	1	1	2	3	9	−6	3							1–0
5	Wahid Huzairan	4	0	1	3	1	8	−7	1	Relegated to Iraq Division One

Source: Ali Al-Sabti Archive

Golden stage

	Semi-finals				Final
	26 April 1989
	Al-Zawraa	1 (2)
					28 April 1989
	Al-Rasheed (p)	1 (4)
					Al-Rasheed (p)	1 (5)
	26 April 1989
					Al-Talaba	1 (4)
	Al-Tayaran	1 (5)
	Al-Talaba (p)	1 (6)
					Third place
					27 April 1989
					Al-Tayaran	4
					Al-Zawraa	1

Semi-finals

26 April 1989

Al-Zawraa	1–1 (a.e.t.)	Al-Rasheed
Hamza		Radhi
Penalties
K. Saddam   Hamza   Naji   Abid Nader	2–4	Hashim   L. Hussein   Karim Allawi   Qais   N. Saddam

Al-Shaab Stadium, Baghdad

26 April 1989

Al-Tayaran	1–1 (a.e.t.)	Al-Talaba
Abdul-Kadhim		Saeed
Penalties
Khalil Allawi   Kareem   Mahdi Jassim   E. Jassim   Mohammed Jassim   Hadi   Abdul-Kadhim	5–6	Saeed   Mutashar   Makki   Resan   Mohammed   Jeayer   Yaseen

Al-Kashafa Stadium, Baghdad

Third place match

27 April 1989

Al-Tayaran	4–1	Al-Zawraa
H. Ibrahim   Khalil Allawi   M. Ibrahim		Khalil

Al-Shaab Stadium, Baghdad

Final

28 April 1989

Al-Rasheed	1–1 (a.e.t.)	Al-Talaba
Abdul-Abbas		A. Hussein
Penalties
N. Saddam   Karim Allawi   Qais   L. Hussein   Hashim   Abdul-Abbas   Jabbar	5–4	Mohammed   Mutashar   Makki   Resan   Saeed   Salih   Saber

Al-Shaab Stadium, Baghdad

Qualification to continental competitions

Team	Qualification method	Competition(s) qualified to
Al-Rasheed	League champions	1989–90 Asian Club Championship
		1989 Arab Cup Winners' Cup^[a]
Al-Tayaran	FA Cup runners-up^[b]	1989 Arab Club Champions Cup

1. With the Iraq FA Cup serving as a qualifier for the Arab Club Champions Cup, the IFA decided to admit league champions Al-Rasheed into the Arab Cup Winners' Cup.
2. As Iraq FA Cup winners Al-Zawraa were to participate in the 1989 Arab Cooperation Council Championship, runners-up Al-Tayaran were chosen to participate in the Arab Club Champions Cup.

Season statistics

Top scorers

Pos	Scorer	Goals	Team
1	Karim Saddam	22	Al-Zawraa
2	Natiq Hashim	12	Al-Tayaran
	Hussein Saeed		Al-Talaba
	Saad Abdul-Raheem		Al-Zawraa

Hat-tricks

Main article: List of Iraqi Premier League hat-tricks

Player^[1]	For	Against	Result	Date
Mohammed Jassim	Al-Tayaran	Al-Tijara	7–2	11 October 1988
Natiq Hashim^4	Al-Tayaran	Al-Jaish	4–2	7 November 1988
Saad Abdul-Raheem	Al-Zawraa	Al-Sulaikh	3–2	2 March 1989

Notes

⁴ Player scored 4 goals

References

1. Al-Sabti, Ali (2014). Iraqi League History 1974-2011. Iraq.
2. Al-Munshi, Dr.Dhia (2005). Iraqi Football Encyclopedia: Chico.. Jamoli… and football in Iraq. Citadel Printing & Design, Al-Saadoun, Baghdad.

External links

• Iraq Football Association