Iraqi Premier Division League

The Iraqi Premier Division League (Arabic: دوري الدرجة الممتازة العراقي)^[1] is the second-highest division of the Iraqi football league system after the Iraq Stars League. The league is contested by 20 clubs and is operated by the Iraq Football Association (IFA). The current format sees 20 teams playing 38 matches each (playing each team in the league twice, home and away), totalling 380 matches in the season.^[2]

Iraqi Premier Division League

Founded	1974; 51 years ago (1974)
Country	Iraq
Number of clubs	20
Level on pyramid	2
Promotion to	Iraq Stars League
Relegation to	Iraqi First Division League
Domestic cup(s)	Iraq FA Cup
International cup(s)	AFC Champions League Two (via Iraq FA Cup)
Current champions	Al-Mosul (3rd title) (2024–25)
Most championships	Al-Minaa Al-Mosul (3 titles each)
Broadcaster(s)	Al-Iraqiya Sports
Current: 2024–25 Iraqi Premier Division League

Each season, the two top-finishing teams in the Premier Division League are automatically promoted to the Stars League. The third and fourth-placed teams compete in a play-off match, with the winner qualifying for the promotion play-off match against the 18th-placed team from the Stars League. The two lowest-finishing teams are relegated to the First Division League, while the 18th-placed team enters a relegation play-off with the third-placed team from the First Division League.^[3][4]

From the 2023–24 season, the competition's name was changed from First Division League to Premier Division League. In the 2024–25 season, Al-Mosul won the title and was promoted alongside runners-up Al-Gharraf.^[5][6] Al-Minaa and Al-Mosul are the record holders in the tournament having won three titles each.^[7]

Competition name

Period	Name
1974–1995	National Clubs Second Division League
1995–1999	First Division League
1999–2000	Second Division League
2000–2002	First Division League
2002–2003	Second Division League
2003–2023	First Division League
2023–present	Premier Division League

In the media

Iraqi Premier Division League is called in the media by the name of Dawri Al-Madhaleem (Oppressed League), because the media, the Football Association, and the Referees Committee do not care about it, and the teams that play in it suffer from poor financing, and their stadiums are in a bad shape. However, the league includes very talented players, and the competition in it is so strong that it exceeds the competition in the Stars League.^{[8][9][10][11]}

List of champions

No. Season Champion 1 1974–75 Al-Zawraa 2 1975–76 Al-Ittihad 3 1976–77 Multiple groups 4 1977–78 Al-Shabab 5 1978–79 Al-Bahri 6 1979–80 Al-Adhamiya 7 1980–81 Al-Ittihad 8 1981–82 Al-Mosul 9 1982–83 Wahid Huzairan[a] 10 1983–84 Al-Rasheed 11 1984–85 Multiple groups 12 1985–86 Al-Bahri 13 1986–87 Al-Minaa 14 1987–88 Multiple groups 15 1988–89 Samarra 16 1989–90 Al-Minaa 17 1990–91 Al-Amana[b]

No. Season Champion 18 1991–92 Saad 19 1992–93 Multiple groups 20 1993–94 No promotion 21 1994–95 No promotion 22 1995–96 Al-Sulaikh 23 1996–97 Diyala 24 1997–98 Duhok 25 1998–99 Erbil 26 1999–2000 No promotion 27 2000–01 Kirkuk 28 2001–02 Al-Mosul 29 2002–03 Multiple groups 30 2003–04 Abandoned 31 2004–05 Multiple groups 32 2005–06 Multiple groups 33 2006–07 Multiple groups 34 2007–08 Multiple groups

No. Season Champion 35 2008–09 Multiple groups 36 2009–10 Peshmerga[c] 37 2010–11 Al-Shirqat 38 2011–12 Sulaymaniya 39 2012–13 Al-Karkh 40 2013–14 Multiple groups 41 2014–15 Al-Samawa 42 2015–16 Al-Hussein 43 2016–17 Al-Diwaniya 44 2017–18 Al-Karkh 45 2018–19 Al-Qasim 46 2019–20 Abandoned 47 2020–21 Al-Sinaa 48 2021–22 Al-Hudood 49 2022–23 Al-Minaa 50 2023–24 Diyala 51 2024–25 Al-Mosul

1. Now known as Kirkuk.
2. Now known as Amanat Baghdad.
3. Now known as Peshmerga Sulaymaniya.

Most successful clubs

Club	Titles	Winning seasons
Al-Minaa	3	1986–87, 1989–90, 2022–23
Al-Mosul	3	1981–82, 2001–02, 2024–25
Al-Ittihad	2	1975–76, 1980–81
Al-Bahri	2	1978–79, 1985–86
Kirkuk	2	1982–83, 2000–01
Al-Karkh	2	2012–13, 2017–18
Diyala	2	1996–97, 2023–24
Al-Zawraa	1	1974–75
Al-Shabab	1	1977–78
Al-Adhamiya	1	1979–80
Al-Rasheed	1	1983–84
Samarra	1	1988–89
Amanat Baghdad	1	1990–91
Saad	1	1991–92
Al-Sulaikh	1	1995–96
Duhok	1	1997–98
Erbil	1	1998–99
Peshmerga Sulaymaniya	1	2009–10
Al-Shirqat	1	2010–11
Sulaymaniya	1	2011–12
Al-Samawa	1	2014–15
Al-Hussein	1	2015–16
Al-Diwaniya	1	2016–17
Al-Qasim	1	2018–19
Al-Sinaa	1	2020–21
Al-Hudood	1	2021–22

See also

• Iraq Stars League
• Iraq FA Cup
• Iraqi Super Cup