Al-Talaba SC
Al-Talaba Sports Club is an Iraqi professional sports club based in Al-Rusafa, Baghdad. Its football team competes in the Iraq Stars League, the top flight of Iraqi football. Founded in 1969, the club was named Al-Jamiea but became known as Al-Talaba ahead of the 1978–79 season after being merged with a new club of the same name. Their home stadium is Al-Talaba Stadium.
Al-Talaba are one of Iraq's most successful teams having won five league titles, most recently in the 2001–02 season. They have also achieved two FA Cups, one Super Cup and a joint-record three Baghdad Championships. The club's best achievements on the continental stage include finishing fourth at the 1986 Asian Club Championship and finishing second and fourth at the 1995 and 1998–99 editions of the Asian Cup Winners' Cup respectively.
The club was owned by the National Union of Iraqi Students until 1993, when the club was attached to the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research with the minister being the honorary president of the club.
History
Origins (1961–1969)
In 1961, the University of Baghdad formed a football team made of the best football-playing students in the university, under the name of Montakhab Jami'at Baghdad, to compete in the 1960–61 Iraq Central FA Second Division, the second-tier league in the Baghdad region. The team was eliminated in the first round after losing 2–1 to the Railway Workers' Union on 22 February 1961. The team participated in the 1964 Republic Championship and also entered the Universities of Iraq League. The first president of the team was Hassan Kanah and the first technical staff consisted of the manager, Ghani Askar, and his two assistants, Moayad Al-Badri and Sami Al-Saffar.Formation of Al-Jamiea (1969–1978)
On 17 December 1969, the Jami'at Baghdad team was formed as the University of Baghdad re-entered the official Iraq Football Association league pyramid. By a special resolution from the IFA, the team's first participation was in the regional second tier without needing to compete in either the third or fourth tiers. In their first season, 1970–71, the team under the management of Thamir Muhsin finished top of the second-tier league and were promoted to the Iraq Central FA First Division. However, in the 1971–72 season, they finished in last place and were relegated back to the second-tier. In 1974, the team was banned from competing in the Iraq FA Baghdad Cup competition due to events that took place in, and their withdrawal from, their match against Kahrabaa Al-Wusta B in a second-tier league game.After three seasons, Muhsin left the team and Jamal Salih became the new manager, and the Jami'at Baghdad team became known as Al-Jamiea Sports Club with the introduction of the national club system in Iraq. Jamal Salih led the team to promotion to the top division in the 1974–75 season, after which the club acquired its own headquarters and elected an administrative body. After finishing eighth in their first Iraqi National League top-flight season in 1975–76, Al-Jamiea were the runners-up in the 1976–77 season, finishing five points behind the league leaders Al-Zawra'a.
Merger to become Al-Talaba (1978–1980)
On 27 December 1977, a new club named Al-Talaba Sports Club was formed under the same institution as Al-Jamiea Sports Club. Less than a year later, ahead of the 1978–79 season, the Ministry of Youth and Sports decided to merge the two clubs in order to unify the institution's sporting activity, with the merger club taking the name of Al-Talaba and retaining Al-Jamiea's place in the top division. The club took the Volleyball Training Centre on Al-Maghrib Street in Baghdad as its headquarters. Mohammed Debdeb, the president of the National Union of Iraqi Students, was named president of the club and Hadib Majhoul was named as vice-president, while nine other board members were also named.The board decided to replace manager Jamal Salih with Abdul Wahab Abdul Qadir, who led the team through the 1978–79 season. Al-Talaba finished in third place in the league, an improvement on Al-Jamiea's eighth-place finish the previous season. For the first time, an Al-Talaba player was among the league's top three goalscorers with Hussein Saeed scoring six goals and Haris Mohammed scoring five. Al-Talaba were disqualified from the 1978–79 Iraq FA Cup due to participating in an Arab University tournament without the approval of the Iraq Football Association. In 1979, Al-Talaba represented Iraq at the 1979 Summer Universiade in Mexico, finishing in 17th place out of 26 teams.
In the 1979–80 Iraqi National League, under the management of Khalaf Hassan, Al-Talaba finished in third place again with 27 points. Two of their most significant wins that season were beating the eventual league champions, Al-Shorta, 2–0 in the second round of matches on 26 September 1979 and beating Al-Tayaran 1–0 in the 20th round on 24 April 1980. In the 1979–80 Iraq FA Cup, Al-Talaba reached the final for the first time but they were defeated on 7 April 1980 by Al-Jaish 4–2 on penalties after drawing 1–1.
Golden years (1980–1986)
Under the management of Ammo Baba, known as the "Sheikh of Coaches", Al-Talaba won their first Premier League title in the 1980–81 season. Before the last round of matches, Al-Talaba had 17 points and Al-Shorta had 15. Al-Talaba avoiding defeat in the last round or Al-Shorta failing to win would secure the title for Al-Talaba but, in the last match, they lost 1–2 against Al-Tayaran and Al-Shorta won 3–0 against Al-Zawra'a to create a tie on points and goal difference, which was the first time such a phenomenon had happened in Iraqi football. Al-Talaba were awarded the title on number of wins as they had eight wins and Al-Shorta had six. Hussein Saeed was the top goalscorer of the league with eleven goals.After achieving their first league title, Al-Talaba succeeded in winning it again in the 1981–82 season under Jamal Salih. They finished the season as the league leaders with 34 points, two points ahead of second-placed Al-Tayaran. Hussein Saeed was the second top goalscorer with eleven goals behind Al-Zawra'a's Thamir Yousif, who scored fourteen.
In the 1982–83 season, Akram Salman was appointed as the team's new manager. Al-Talaba started the season with confidence having won the league in the last two seasons, but finished in second place, only one point behind the league leaders, Salahaddin. Salahaddin were undefeated in the league while Al-Talaba had a single loss, by 2–0 loss to Al-Sinaa in the second round of matches. The championship was decided in the last match of the season when Al-Talaba met Salahaddin with only one point between them, so Salahaddin needed a win or a draw to secure the title. Al-Talaba scored first and dominated the match until, in the last thirty minutes, Salahaddin managed to equalise. The score remained 1–1, which won Salahaddin the championship for the first time in their history. Hussein Saeed was the top goalscorer with 17 goals, eight goals ahead of another Al-Talaba player, Rahim Hameed.
Al-Talaba again finished second in the 1983–84, with 36 points, three behind league leaders, Al-Jaish. In 1984, Al-Talaba won its first international club competition, the 1984 Stafford Challenge Cup, winning four games and drawing one out of the five games they played in the tournament, which was hosted in Bangalore, India.
The 1984–85 Iraqi National League was abandoned midway through due to a perceived decline in public interest, described as becoming "non-existent", after the performances of the Iraq national football team in the 1986 FIFA World Cup qualification and winning the 1985 Arab Cup and the 1985 Arab Games. Al-Talaba were in third place with 29 points before the stoppage. They then participated in the Al-Rasheed Cup which was set up by Al-Rasheed after the abandonment of the league. The Al-Rasheed Cup contained twelve of the fourteen top division clubs as well as four lower division clubs. Al-Talaba reached the quarterfinals of the tournament but were knocked out by the eventual winners Al-Rasheed.
After Al-Rasheed was promoted to the top division, most of Iraq's national team players signed for them, which made it difficult for the other teams to compete. Even so, in the 1985–86 Iraqi National League and under the management of Yahya Alwan, Al-Talaba won their third league title against all expectations. They finished the season with 25 points, two points ahead of the favourites Al-Rasheed. On 27 December 1985, one of the most important matches of the season, which could have decided the championship, was played between Al-Talaba and Al-Rasheed in front of 50,000 spectators at the Al-Shaab Stadium. The match ended in a 1–0 win for Al-Talaba with the goal being from a penalty taken by Hussein Saeed in the 63rd minute. Saeed was the season's joint top goalscorer along with Ahmed Radhi and Rahim Hameed. Al-Talaba participated in the 1986 Asian Club Championship where they reached the final round but finished last in the table with a single point. Al-Talaba also participated in the Saddam International Tournament in 1986, hosted in Baghdad, but finished third in their group and failed to reach the semi-finals. By winning the league, Al-Talaba qualified for the 1986 Iraqi Perseverance Cup but were defeated 2–1 by Al-Rasheed.
Ups and downs (1986–1992)
Due to managerial changes and instability, the 1986–87 Iraqi National League ended with Al-Talaba in sixth place, having totaled 49 points, under the consecutive management of Ahmed Subhi, Yahya Alwan and Jamal Salih. The season after, Al-Talaba under the management of Yousif Abdul-Ameer finished in eighth place with only 30 points. After that season, they participated in the Saddam Qadisiya Championship but failed to win the tournament.Al-Talaba returned to form under the management of Jamal Ali in the 1988–89 season, which was played in a different format to previous seasons. They finished fourth in the Baghdad Group, just ahead of Al-Shorta, to qualify for the final tournament, where they finished second in Group 1, behind Al-Zawraa, to qualify for the semi-finals. In the semi-finals, Al-Talaba defeated Al-Tayaran 6–5 on penalties after a 1–1 draw. In the final, Al-Talaba faced their rivals, Al-Rasheed, at the Al-Shaab Stadium. The match ended 1–1 at full time with their goal scored by Ali Hussein. It went to penalties where Hussein Saeed missed his penalty and enabled Al-Rasheed to win 5–4. That season, Al-Talaba also finished as runners-up in the Al-Intisar Cup, behind Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya.
In the 1989–90 Iraqi National League, which returned to the normal league format, Al-Talaba finished in sixth place with 31 points, having won twelve matches, drawn seven and lost seven. In the cup, they reached the fifth round when they won at home to Al-Sulaikh 1–0 and lost 3–1 away. This was Hussein Saeed's final season with Al-Talaba before he retired. In the next season, under the management of the club's first foreign coach, Eddie Firmani, and Yahya Alwan, they finished second with 41 points.
In the 1991–92 season, Al-Talaba finished in fourth place with 55 points. The vice-president of Al-Talaba, Salim Rasheed, organised a competition called the Umm al-Ma'arik Championship, meaning Mother of all Battles Championship, in which only the top six teams in the league could participate with all the matches being played at the Al-Shaab Stadium. Al-Talaba won their first match against Al-Shorta 1–0 and lost their second match against Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya 1–0, qualifying them for the semi-finals where they lost to Al-Zawra'a 1–0 after an early goal by Mohammed Jassim Mahdi. In the third-place match, Al-Talaba faced Al-Karkh whom they defeated 4–3 on penalties after a 2–2 draw. The 1st Umm al-Ma'arik Championship ended with Al-Zawra'a as winners.