2016–17 Al-Talaba SC season

The first step that was taken by the administrative board was to renew Ayoub Odisho's contract for another season, announcing it on their Facebook page on 10 June 2016 with a worth of 300m IQD.[1][2] With Kareem Salman being taken to the Iraq national under-23 team as an assistant manager, Al-Talaba were left to sign a new assistant, contacting Mudhaffar Jabbar and Saadi Toma, who refused the offer,[3] and Shaker Mahmoud who approved and was signed on 15 July.[4]

Al-Talaba announced on 13 June their first six signings.[5] They signed eight other players including two big names, Ameer Sabah and Mustafa Karim, on 20 June, returning to their home club.[6][7] The board also renewed the contracts of 12 players including last season's captain, Younis Mahmoud,[8] second captain Mahdi Karim, and the team's playmaker, Samer Saeed.[9] Al-Talaba released Mustafa Karim and Ameer Sabah in August, after two months of signing them due to a financial dispute with the board along with signing the three allowed foreign players who were all from Africa.[10]

Al-Talaba started their 2016–17 Iraqi Premier League campaign on 15 September 2016 with a 1–1 draw against their rivals Al-Shorta, equalizing the score just before the end of the first half with a header from the team's captain, Samer Saeed, from a corner after the opponent took advantage of a miscommunication between Ali Abdul-Hassan and Ehab Kadhim and scored the first goal.[11] In the second round, Al-Talaba managed to get a 1–0 win against the title holders Al-Zawra'a with Samer Saeed's goal from Saad Jassim's cross.[12] Against the newly promoted club Al-Hussein, Al-Talaba claimed their second win with a goal from Karrar Ali Barri while playing with ten men due to the injury of Muthana Khalid and having no substitutes left.[13]

After their match against Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya was postponed, Al-Talaba faced the newly promoted side Al-Bahri away. The match ended in a 2–2 draw with the goals of Mustafa Al-Ameen, which went in from a deflection in the second minute of the match, and Ehab Kadhim from a penalty in the second half before Al-Bahri equalized in the last minutes with a penalty as well.[14] Al-Talaba returned to their winning ways with a comfortable 3–0 against Karbalaa at home. Two goals were scored by Yassir Abdul-Mohsen and the last one was scored from a penalty by Mahdi Karim.[15]

Al-Talaba went into their sixth game of the season with no losses to face Al-Naft away. After only 12 seconds, Al-Naft scored and in the 18th minute, they extended the lead, ending the first half at 2–0. In the second half, Samer Saeed pulled one back before the team captain Mahdi Karim equalized from a penalty in the extra time.[16] On 6 November, the club announced its bankruptcy and decided to stop all of its activities and withdraw from the league.[17] After two days, they took back their decision after the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Abdul-Razzaq Al-Essa promised the club to pay for all of its dues after an interference from the Minister of Youth and Sport Abdul-Hussein Aptan to solve the situation.[18] In the 8th round, Al-Talaba faced Erbil at home. They dominated the match but Erbil's defense denied them many goals which resulted in a 0–0 draw.[19]

The squad for the season consisted of the players listed in the tables below:

Note 1: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Note 2: Players with squad numbers marked ‡ joined the club during the 2016–17 season via transfer, with more details in the following section.

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Iraqi Premier League		Iraq FA Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
2	DF		Mustafa Mohammed	2	0	2	0	0	0
3	DF		Saad Jasim	6	1	6	1	0	0
4‡	DF		Burhan Juma'a	7	0	7	0	0	0
5‡	DF		Haider Saadoun	2	0	2	0	0	0
6	MF		Mohammed Faisal	3	0	3	0	0	0
7‡	FW		Karrar Ali Barri	11	2	11	2	0	0
8	MF		Samer Saeed	8	3	8	3	0	0
9	FW		Younis Mahmoud	0	0	0	0	0	0
10	MF		Mustafa Al-Ameen	11	2	11	2	0	0
13‡	DF		Mohammed Saeed Mijbal	1	0	1	0	0	0
14	DF		Abbas Ayyad	0	0	0	0	0	0
15‡	DF		Muhannad Arzayej	10	0	10	0	0	0
16	FW		Yassir Abdul-Mohsen	7	0	7	0	0	0
17	MF		Ehab Kadhim	6	1	6	1	0	0
18	DF		Mahdi Karim	6	2	6	2	0	0
19‡	FW		Ahmed Abdul-Abbas	1	0	1	0	0	0
20	MF		Muthana Khalid	5	0	5	0	0	0
22	MF		Murtadha Juwad	0	0	0	0	0	0
23	GK		Haider Jamal	1	0	1	0	0	0
24	MF		Mohammed Ridha	6	1	6	1	0	0
25‡	MF		Sattar Yaseen	11	0	11	0	0	0
28‡	FW		Kabiru Akinsola	3	0	3	0	0	0
29‡	MF		Shihab Razzaq Farhan	1	0	1	0	0	0
30‡	FW		Abou Kone	8	0	8	0	0	0
31‡	MF		Omar Adnan	8	0	8	0	0	0
33‡	MF		Ahmed Khalid	0	0	0	0	0	0
34‡	DF		Fallou Sarr	5	0	5	0	0	0
35	GK		Ali Abdul-Hassan	10	0	10	0	0	0
39	DF		Ahmed Nadhim	8	0	8	0	0	0
–‡	GK		Karrar Mahmoud	0	0	0	0	0	0
–‡	DF		Samir Salman	0	0	0	0	0	0
–‡	MF		Samir Majid	0	0	0	0	0	0
–‡	MF		Karrar Nabeel	0	0	0	0	0	0
–‡	MF		Hassan Jassim	0	0	0	0	0	0
–‡	FW		Ibrahim Bayish	0	0	0	0	0	0

Last updated: 16 December 2016

Rank	Position	Nationality	Number	Name	Iraqi Premier League	Iraq FA Cup	Total
1	MF		8	Samer Saeed	3	0	3
2	FW		16	Yassir Abdul-Mohsen	2	0	2
	FW		7	Karrar Ali Barri	2	0	2
	DF		18	Mahdi Karim	2	0	2
	MF		10	Mustafa Al-Ameen	2	0	2
3	FW		30	Abou Kone	1	0	1
	MF		17	Ehab Kadhim	1	0	1
	DF		3	Saad Jasim	1	0	1
	MF		24	Mohammed Ridha	1	0	1
TOTALS					15	0	15

Last updated: 11 December 2016

Rank	Nationality	Number	Name	Iraqi Premier League	Iraq FA Cup	Total
1		35	Ali Abdul-Hassan	6	0	6
TOTALS				6	0	6

Last updated: 16 December 2016

Updated to match played 16 December 2016
Source: Competitions