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.
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.
New rule The Iraq Football Association introduced a new rule that allowed clubs to make four substitutions instead of three.
Group stage North Group
Note: Al-Mosul withdrew from the league.
Results
Central Group
Results
South Group
Results
Elite stage Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Semi-final playoff
Golden stage
Semi-finals
Third place match
Final
GK 31 Ahmad AliDF 3 Ahmed Attiya DF 15 Ghaith Abdul-Ghani (c) DF 6 Ous IbrahimDF 29 Waleed KhalidMF 16 Mohannad NassirMF 19 Salar Abdul-Jabbar MF 26 Thamir Fuad MF 7 Ali Yousef MF 28 Sajjad Hussein FW 10 Abdul-Salam Abboud Substitutions:FW 23 Mustafa Ahmad MF 12 Hussein Saddam FW 11 Alaa Sattar MF 27 Naseem Jassim Manager: Radhi Shenaishil
GK 21 Sarhang MuhsinDF 2 Samal Saeed DF 3 Yassir RaadDF 31 Salam ShakirMF 55 Osama Ali MF 24 Wissam Zaki MF 14 Khaldoun IbrahimMF 23 Shirzad Mohammed FW 10 Muslim Mubarak FW 17 Ahmed Salah (c)FW 11 Luay Salah Substitutions:MF 77 Alaa Nayrouz DF 4 Rafid Badr Al-Deen MF 18 Haidar Qaraman MF 8 Haidar Sabah Manager: Thair Ahmed
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.
Season statistics Top six positions TeamQualification1Erbil24156333102009 AFC Cup2Al-Zawraa30158736182009 AFC Cup3Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya34205958262008–09 Arab Champions League4Duhok24146428135Al-Najaf24137433166Karbala2617633717
Top scorers RankPlayerClubGoals1 Asaad Abdul-NabiAl-Kahrabaa142 Taiseer Abdul-HusseinAl-Shorta12 Hussam SaeedAl-Bareed / Al-Zawraa4 Yassir Abdul-MohsenAl-Quwa Al-Jawiya11 Abdul-Salam AbboudAl-Zawraa
Hat-tricks
Player For Against Result Date Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya Al-Shuala 7–0 Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya Al-Shuala 7–0 4Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya Kirkuk 6–3 Kirkuk Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya 3–6
Notes 4 Player scored 4 goals
References
External links Iraq Football Association