We decided to launch a series of articles that will focus on the opponents of the Saudi teams in the AFC Champions League Elite Group Stage. We will introduce our noble opponents to you and hope that with this insight you will all look forward to the Champions League games with even more excitement. Letโs start with Iraqi champion ๐๐น ๐ฆ๐ต๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ฎ, who already established their value with keeping 1 point at home ground against the Riyadhi giant Al Nassr, despite the huge difference between the squad values (โฌ4.43m vs โฌ190.5m).
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Al-Shorta, the reigning Iraqi champion is seated in one of the nine administrative districts in Baghdad: Al-Rasafa. The English translation of their name would be: Police Sports Club. Do not be mistaken, it is not a coincidence; the founder of the club, Mudhafar Ahmed, was the director of the Police Schools in Baghdad. The club was founded in 1932 and thus it is one of the oldest existing club in Iraq. During their history, the team went through several changes, including combining their forces with other police teams and reached their final form around the time when the Iraq Football Association enacted a clubs-only policy that preferred the sport clubs against institute-representative teams. A bit later Al Shorta was established as a sports club in 1978 and was attached to the Ministry of Interior. Although reflecting the times of war in 1983 (i.e. during the First Gulf War) the club changed its name once again for one season to Qiwa Al-Amn Al-Dakhili (Internal Security Forces), Al Shorta was operated already in the form of a modern sports club โ and in the meanwhile, kept embracing their ties to the law enforcement institution.
As of today, Al Shorta is one of the most decorated football clubs in Iraq by winning the Iraqi Championship seven times; or eight times, depending on whether one also considers their first place in the 2013-14 season as a championship title, given that the league that year ended prematurely due to the aggravating war conditions in the country. Either way, no one can deny that Al Shorta is the face of Iraqi Football since 2018. Starting from the 2018/19 season Al Shorta won the championship in each year, apart from 2020/21 when their rival Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya (a club with another institutional heritage, given their name โAir Force Sports Clubโ) dethroned them for a year. However, after this Al Shorta reclaimed their title with an overwhelming performance and finished at top of the league with a 21-points lead. Since then, they did not give away their title to anyone.
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The big four clubs of Baghdad are Al Shorta, Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya, Al-Zawraa, and Al-Talaba. The term โBaghdad derbiesโ covers every matches when two of these teams are playing against each other. These matches are regularly heated derbies and attract more fans than any other matches in the country. No wonder, winning the most Baghdad derbies can grant you the league title. But even if it does not, the prestige of such an accomplishment is almost equal to winning a league title. Out of these four teams, the longest rivalry is between Al Shorta and Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya, as it started since their formation in 1931 and 1932.
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The first logo of the team depicted a star as due to its origins it was reflecting the logo of the Iraqi Police. The first version of the currently used emblem that is based on a harp (Al-Qithara) was used in 1992-93, after Majid Abdul-Haq, a famous television reporter stated that the teamโs fabulous playing style resembles the tunes of this musical instrument. The emblem reached its present form in 2013.
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Al Shorta played their home game in the famous Al-Shorta Stadium for many years. A bit more than 10 years ago Al Shorta announced its plans to build a sport complex named Al Shorta Sports City Stadium that will include a hotel, restaurants, theatres, sport facilities and a shopping centre as well. However, the construction works were suspended for a while and although they resumed already, they could not yet be completed. In the meanwhile, Al Shorta play its home games on neutral grounds, such as Al-Shaab Stadium or Karbala International Stadium.
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As Al Shorta scored the most goals last season in the league, but there were 5 teams who conceded less goals then them, it is safe to say that their most formidable line on the pitch is the offensive line. An Al Shorta match without a goal scored by the team is very very rare. Accordingly, we would say that their key players are Mahmoud Al-Mawas (who was second only to Iraqi Football Legend Aymen Hussein on the list of top scorers last year) as the most valuable player of the club, and Mohanad Ali, a very dangerous centre-forward. However, you should keep an eye on Mohammed Dawood as well, who has just returned from a half-year loan from Al Najaf FC and already made an impact: equalized against Al Nassr in the AFC Champions League Elite.
