Al-Rasheed Sports Club ( ar, نادي الرشيد الرياضي) was an Iraqi sports club based in Karkh, Baghdad. Its professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team played in the Iraqi Premier League, the top tier of the

Iraqi football The Iraq national football team ( ar, منتخب العراق لكرة القدم) represents Iraq in international football and is controlled by the Iraq Football Association (IFA), the governing body for football in Iraq. Iraq's usual home ...

, from 1984 until 1990. The club's home stadium was Al-Karkh Stadium (then known as Al-Rasheed Stadium). Founded in 1983 by Uday Hussein, the son of Saddam Hussein, Al-Rasheed were promoted to the top tier in their first season of existence and went on to win 3

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

titles in the row, 2 FA Cups, 3

Arab Champions Cup The Arab Club Champions Cup ( ar, كأس العرب للأندية الأبطال, french: Ligue des Champions Arabe) is an annual regional club football competition organised by the Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA) and contested by eli ...

titles, and reach the final of the

1988–89 Asian Club Championship The 1988–89 Asian Club Championship was the 8th edition of the annual Asian club football competition hosted by Asian Football Confederation. Al-Sadd of Qatar won the final and became Asian champions for the first time. Qualifying Group round ...

. In 1990, the club was dissolved and all its properties as well as its place in the top division were transferred to Al-Karkh SC.

History

Taking the Al-Karkh Stadium as his club's, on 23 November 1983, Uday Hussein founded a new sports club named Al-Rasheed. The team was put straight into the second division of Iraqi football by Uday. A few days after their foundation, they played their first match in the second division (Baghdad Group) and it was against

Al-Karkh Karkh or Al-Karkh (Arabic: الكرخ) is historically the name of the western half of Baghdad, Iraq, or alternatively, the western shore of the Tigris River as it ran through Baghdad. The eastern shore is known as Al-Rasafa.Iraqi Premier League in their first ever season, after achieving the 2nd Division title by beating

Al-Najaf Najaf ( ar, ٱلنَّجَف) or An-Najaf al-Ashraf ( ar, ٱلنَّجَف ٱلْأَشْرَف), also known as Baniqia ( ar, بَانِيقِيَا), is a city in central Iraq about 160 km (100 mi) south of Baghdad. Its estimated popula ...

1–0 in their final game. Uday Hussein brought most of the Iraq national team players into the club, managed by Ammo Baba, the head coach of the national team at the time. The most popular of them were

Ahmed Radhi Ahmed Radhi Humaiesh Al-Salehi, ( ar, أحمد راضي هميش الصالحي, 21 April 1964 – 21 June 2020) was an Iraqi footballer who played as a forward. Regarded as one of Iraq and Asia's best players of all-time, Radhi scored the onl ...

Adnan Dirjal Adnan Dirjal ( ar, عدنان درجال مطر; born 26 January 1960 in Baghdad) is an Iraqi former footballer, national team coach, and as of May 2020 heads the Iraqi Ministry of Youth and Sports. He was one of Iraq's most prominent national t ...

Samir Shaker Samir Shaker Mahmoud (born 28 February 1958) is an Iraqi former professional footballer who played as defender. He represented the Iraq national team in the 1986 FIFA World Cup. He also played for Al-Rasheed Club. Career Samir Shaker was on ...

Haris Mohammed Haris Mohammed Hassan (born 3 March 1958) is an Iraqi football midfielder who played for Iraq in the 1986 FIFA World Cup. He also played for Al-Rasheed Club. Haris Mohammed was a skilful and creative right sided attacking midfielder, born ...

Habib Jafar Habib ( ar, حبيب, ''ḥabīb''; ), sometimes written as Habeeb, is an Arabic masculine given name, occasional surname, and honorific, with the meaning "beloved" or "my love", or "darling". It also forms the famous Arabic word ‘''Habibi’'' ...

, and Laith Hussein. Many of them, including Ahmed Radhi, were forced to join the club and had no choice in the matter. Uday Hussein was also known to punish players who did not perform up to standards by ordering his guards to beat them, and often forced them to completely shave their heads before matches to embarrass them in public. The club's taking of most of Iraq's best players as well as the fact that they made domestic football much less competitive made the team very unpopular among fans. Al-Rasheed SC squad - 1984-85 season

Al-Rasheed dominated the Iraqi football from the club's foundation until its dissolving. In their first season in the Iraqi Premier League, the 1984–85 season, Al-Rasheed were in 1st place, at 43 points, but because of the league being abandoned, no champions were announced. After the abandonment of the league, Al-Rasheed set up the Al-Rasheed Cup which contained 12 of the 14 Iraqi League teams as well as four lower division teams. Al-Rasheed won this tournament by beating Al-Zawra'a in the final. They participated in the

1985–86 Asian Club Championship The 1985–86 Asian Club Championship was the fifth edition of the annual Asian club football competition hosted by the Asian Football Confederation, and was the first such tournament in 14 years. Several clubs played in the qualifying round in t ...

but were knocked out in round 2 of the qualifiers. They finished 2nd in the 1985–86 Iraqi League, but won the 1986 Saddam International Tournament which contained teams from all around the world including Iraq, Brazil, Kenya, Jordan, Morocco and Kuwait. Being managed by Ammo Baba, they achieved the league in the 1986–87 season, along with the Iraq FA Cup, after beating Al-Jaish. In the

1987 Asian Club Championship The 1987 Asian Club Championship was the 7th edition of the annual Asian club football competition hosted by Asian Football Confederation. Several Asian clubs started the qualifying round in Fall of 1987. Yomiuri FC (Japan) became the second Jap ...

they were knocked out in the final group stage. Another double success came under the management of

Jamal Salih Jamal Salih ( ar, جمال صالح) is a former Iraq national football player and coach, and currently as a sports director for Sharjah FC, and has been in the role since march of 2018. Career He began his career as a player with Al-Omma Sport ...

in the 1987–88 season. In the 1988–89 season, Al-Rasheed achieved the league to be their last ever achievement. Al-Rasheed became the first team to win the Iraqi Premier League three times in the row since it started in 1974. Al-Rasheed also achieved the

three times in the row; defeating USM El Harrach in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

in Al-Shaab Stadium, ES Tunis in

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

Stade El Menzah Stade El Menzah is a multi-purpose stadium, located in the north of Tunis, Tunisia. History Stade Vélodrome is the historical stadium that preceded Stade El Menzah. It was built in 1927 in the same location and became the stadium of US Tunis an ...

, and beating

Al-Ittihad Al-Ittihad (Arabic: الاتحاد "The Union"), sometimes transliterated as Al-Etihad or Al-Ettihad may refer to: Sports Football Libya *Al-Ittihad Club (Tripoli), a football club based in Bab Ben Gashier * Al Ittihad Gheryan, a football club bas ...

in the final of

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

in Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium. Al-Rasheed also finished third in the

1989 Arab Cup Winners' Cup The 1989 Arab Cup Winners' Cup is the first edition of the Arab Cup Winners' Cup held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia between 20 Sep – 1 Oct 1989. The teams represented Arab nations from Africa and Asia. Stade Tunisien of Tunisia won the final against ...

. Al-Rasheed's biggest achievement in AFC competitions is that they reached the 2nd place of the

, after losing by the away goal rule to

Al Sadd Al Sadd Sports Club ( ar, نادي السد الرياضي, lit=Dam Sports Club) is a Qatari sports club based in the Al Sadd district of the city of Doha. It is best known for its association football team, which competes in the ...

. They were the first Iraqi team to reach the final of Asia's main club competition since Aliyat Al-Shorta in

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

. In the next edition of the Asian Club Championship in 1989–90, Al-Rasheed were very close to reaching the final again, but they failed to. They also failed to win the league title, and they failed to win the cup as they were surprisingly knocked out by lower division team Al-Tijara 3–2 on aggregate. Therefore, they ended the season without winning a trophy. On 18 August 1990, the

Iraqi Olympic Committee The National Olympic Committee of Iraq (NOCI) ( ar, اللجنة الاولمبية الوطنية العراقية) is the National Olympic Committee (NOC) for Iraq. It was established in 1948 and recognized by the International Olympic Committe ...

decided to dissolve Al-Rasheed Sports Club and transfer all of its properties to Al-Karkh Sports Club and replacing Al-Rasheed with Al-Karkh in the Iraqi Premier League. It is believed that the decision to dissolve the club was made by Saddam Hussein, due to Saddam being fed up that the club was very unpopular among supporters and players, and fans often chanted against the team.

Stadium

In 1984, Al-Rasheed took over the Al-Karkh Stadium and turned it into theirs after renovating it and allowing shops to be opened around it. In the dissolving of Al-Rasheed, the stadium returned to its old name as the stadium of Al-Karkh SC.

Statistics

In domestic competitions

In Asia

On July 26, 1990, the second-to-last month of the club's existence:

Honours

Domestic

International

* * shared record

Friendly

*Saddam International Tournament **Winners (1): 1986 *Al-Rasheed Cup **Winners (1): 1985 *Uday Saddam Hussein Championship **Winners (1): 1984

Other sports

Basketball

* Iraqi Division I Basketball League: **Champions (3): 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87 * Arab Club Basketball Championship: **Champions (3): 1987, 1988, 1990

Volleyball

Arab Clubs Championship (volleyball) The Arab Clubs Champions Championship is a sport competition for club volleyball teams, currently held annually and organized by the Arab Volleyball Association. the first edition was played in Libya in 1978. Results By Club By Country Se ...

: **Champions (1): 1988

References

{{Iraq Super League Football clubs in Iraq Sport in Baghdad 1983 establishments in Iraq Association football clubs established in 1983 Association football clubs disestablished in 1990 Football clubs in Baghdad Defunct football clubs in Iraq