Naft Al-Wasat SC

Naft Al-Wasat SC was found on 1 July 2008 by the Ministry of Oil. The founding board consisted of Riyadh Bahr Al-Ouloom, Abbas Fakhruddin, Firas Nouri, Haitham Abbas, Ali Juwad, Yasin Khudhair, Mustafa Mohammed, Hassan Juwad, Wisam Fawzi and Basim Radhi.[4] The club entered the Iraq Division Two and was promoted to the Iraq Division One in the 2010–11 season. In the 2011–12 season, Naft Al-Wasat made their first transfer from other clubs, signing Karrar Abd from Kufa FC in January 2012.[5] In the 2011–12 season, Naft Al-Wasat barely qualified to the second stage, after having 8 wins, 6 draws and 4 losses, only a point away from Kufa FC.[6] In the second stage, Naft Al-Wasat finished in 4th place of the Group 2, at 12 points, after having 4 wins and 4 losses, ending their first season in the Division One with failure.[7]

In the 2012–13 season, Naft Al-Wasat failed again to qualify. In the groups stage, they became in top of Group D, at 27 points, being won 7 matches, drawn in 5 and lost only one.[8] In the second stage they had a big breakdown, finishing in 5th place in Group 2, after winning only one match, drawing in 5 and losing 3.[9] In the 2012–13 Iraq FA Cup, they reached the third round before being eliminated. In the first round, they defeated Samawa 4–0, and in the second round they eliminated Al-Sinaat Al-Kahrabaiya by beating them 4–3 on aggregate (the first leg was 1–1 and the second leg was 3–2). In the third round, they lost the first leg to Masafi Al-Wasat 2–1 and drew the second leg 2–2, being knocked out 4–3 on aggregate.[10]

After the 2012–13 season, the technical staff was changed, signing the manager, Abdul Ghani Shahad, on 27 August 2013.[11] In the 2013–14 season, Naft Al-Wasat were promoted for the first time in their history. They were in top of Group E at 34 points, 8 points away from Al-Diwaniya FC, which was a big difference from last seasons.[12] In the second stage, Naft Al-Wasat took the Group 4 lead, at 20 points, by winning 6 matches and drawing in two.[13] They ended their season as the leaders of Group 1 in the last stage, claiming promotion to the Iraqi Premier League.[14]

After the end of the 2013–14 season, the club made major changes to get ready for the 2014–15 Iraqi Premier League with the total of 8 players signed,[5] but the most important signing was Noor Sabri.[15] Naft Al-Wasat were one of the teams that weren't expected to qualify to the second stage. Despite losing a third of their games in the first stage, finishing in 4th position out of ten teams in their group, Naft Al-Wasat just about managed to qualify for the final stage, after wins against the likes of Erbil and Al-Zawraa; this itself was considered a big success for the young team.[16] In the second stage, the team surprised everyone by defeating Al Shorta SC (the defending champions and one of the strongest contenders for the league championship) twice.[17] After taking the Group 1 lead, Naft Al-Wasat got qualified to the league final,[18] where they won over Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya via a penalty shoot-out.[19]

Their league title win qualified them for the 2016 AFC Cup. They finished top of Group B with a record of five wins and one loss, but they lost 1–0 in the round of 16 to Al-Jaish. They were not allowed to play their home matches in Iraq in this tournament due to security concerns. In the 2015–16 Iraqi Premier League, Naft Al-Wasat finished in second place in their group, behind eventual champions Al-Zawraa, to qualify for the final stage. In the final stage, Naft Al-Wasat finished as runners-up, again behind Al-Zawraa. As the league's runners-up, Naft Al-Wasat qualified for the 2016–17 Arab Club Championship, where they got revenge on Al-Jaish by knocking them out to qualify for the group stage.

After achieving the 2014–15 Iraqi Premier League, Naft Al-Wasat became the second team to be crowned as the Iraqi Premier League champions in their first season, the other being Al-Zawra'a in the 1975–76 season.[20] Naft Al-Wasat are also the first team from Najaf to achieve the league and the fifth team that isn't from Baghdad to achieve it since its start in 1974.[21] When the final match of the 2014–15 season, between Naft Al-Wasat and Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya, ended in a 6–5 win for Naft Al-Wasat via a penalty shoot-out, Noor Sabri remained undefeated in every penalty shoot-out throughout his career since 1999.[22]

The season-by-season performance of the club over the recent years:

As of 3 June 2020.[23] Rank = Rank in the league; P = Played; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points; Cup = Iraq FA Cup.
in = Still in competition; — = Not attended; 1R = 1st round; 2R = 2nd round; 3R = 3rd round; R16 = Round of sixteen; QF = Quarterfinals; SF = Semifinals.

¹ The league was abandoned midway through and was declared null and void.
² Naft Al-Wasat had not yet been eliminated from the cup but it was abandoned midway through.

Position	Name	Nationality
Manager:	Abdul-Ghani Shahad
Assistant manager:	Haidar Najim
Assistant manager:	Hassan Hadi
Goalkeeping coach:	Jalil Zaidan
Fitness coach:	Haider Abdul Qader
Technical and Statistical Analyst:	Moayed Ibrahim
Director of football:	Nabeel Abbas
Administrative director:	Firas Bahrul-Oloom

Updated to match played 3 July 2020
Source: almaalomah.com

• Abdul Ghani Shahad (2013–2015)
• Hamza El-Gamal (2015–2016)
• Thair Ahmed (2016–2017)
• Adel Nima (2017–2018)
• Emad Mohammed (Feb 2018–June 2018)
• Majed Najem (June 2018–Dec 2018)
• Radhi Shenaishil (2018–2020)
• Jamal Ali (2020–2021)
• Abdul Ghani Shahad (2021–present)

• Club page on Goalzz