Printer-friendly VersionBy Zakaria Muhammed
The Kurdish Globe
Erbil's first match is against Zakho, one of 18 clubs in the North group.
After a long time spent waiting, the Iraqi football premier league begins its 2009-10 season on December 30. It was delayed for more than three months due to the disbanding of the Iraqi Football Federation (IFF) by Iraq's Olympic Committee and FIFA's decision, which suspended Iraq and the Iraqi clubs from playing official and friendly games with outside teams.
Early in October, a decision was made to increase the number of football clubs in the Iraqi league to 43, but this decision was negated with the dissolution of the IFF. The disbanding led to the founding of a temporary football committee to supervise football activities in Iraq.
The new committee decided that 36 teams, for this late season, would participate in the Iraqi league. The teams were divided into two groups (South and North), each with 18 teams.
North clubs include Sulaimaniya, Peris, Kirkuk, New Sirwan, Erbil, Mosul, Zakho, Dohuk, Samarra, Ramadi, Diyala, Salahaddin, Shirqat, Qua Aljawiyah, Zawra, Baghdad, Masafi, and Karaba. South groups are Nasiriyah, Mina, Samawah, Missan, and Naft Missan, Naft Aljnoub, Diwaniyah, Najaf, Kufa, Karbala, Bareed, Sinaha, Karkh, Talaba, Shurta, Naft, Hudoud, and Alhasanain.
There are seven Kurdish clubs in this year's Iraqi league. The representatives of each attended the ceremony in which the draws took place last week in Baghdad. Erbil was the only club that didn't contribute in the ceremony, raising the curiosity of the fans.
"The reason we didn't send our representative to Baghdad for the draws was because we were waiting for a solution from the Olympic Committee and the disbanded IFF along with the temporary football committee before thinking about the Iraqi league," said Saman Brifkany, Erbil club media manager.
Brifkany clarified that Erbil FC has no problem with whoever supervises Iraqi football competitions, and the team will definitely participate in the Iraqi league. According to the draws, Erbil's first match will be against Zakho, who just qualified to play in the premier league.
New Sirwan another Kurdish club, is based in Sulaimaniyah province. They qualified to participate in this season's Iraqi league, but due to a financial crisis and participation in another tournament, their coach doesn't think they will take part in the Iraqi league. "We are really a little bit behind in Kurdistan league and unprepared for the Iraqi league because I have only 17 players," said Rizgar Ali, New Sirawn FC manager. "Seventeen footballers who take part in the Kurdistan league cannot contribute in the Iraqi league too. This number of footballers is not enough to contribute efforts and strength to the team. I really need to have at least two squads and some extra substitutes if the team wants to be in both leagues; I am not really sure if the administration members of our club will be able to work this issue out.»
Before the draws took place, Ali suggested the club's officials sign with some Kurdish footballers whose teams compete just in Kurdistan league. "The team would recover its spirit if it signed contracts with some of the players I identified for the club, to strengthen all defending, midfielding, and striking lines," he noted.
Asked if it would be possible for the club to sign with some outside players, Ali explained, "I don't want to repeat the mistake committed by some clubs when they brought in old outside players with a large amount of money without benefiting. I preferably like to rely on our local players and work to train young players who will surely be steered toward higher positions in the future."
Zakho, Duhok, and Peris are three Kurdish clubs from Duhok province eagerly awaiting league opening as they have no serious problems compared to New Sirwan's club in Sulaimaniya province.
Wahid Rasheed, Peris FC coach, said, "We started our daily training early August and have played several friendly matches. We haven't made many changes in the main squad. We only signed two new players [Usama Shayal and Ahmed Hassan] from Naft Aljnoub FC."
Although Peris is in a group in which there are several extremely strong teams, Rasheed still insists on competing hard in the league to win the title.