Al-Shorta V Home United

Al-Shorta Sports Club ( ar, نادي الشرطة الرياضي, lit=''Police Sports Club'') is an Iraqi sports club based in Al-Rusafa, Baghdad. It has teams in 17 different sports, more than any other Iraqi club, and the best known section of the club is the football team, whose origins date back to 1932. In 1974, following the Iraq Football Association's decision to implement a clubs-only policy for domestic competitions, Al-Shorta were established as a sports club.

Al-Shorta are one of Iraq's most successful clubs, having been crowned the inaugural Arab Club Champions Cup winners in 1982, and are the current Iraqi Premier League champions, winning their fifth title in the 2021–22 season. Al-Shorta have reached the final of the Iraq FA Cup on five occasions without success, but are joint-record winners of the Iraqi Elite Cup having become the first team to win the trophy three consecutive times.

Al-Shorta hold numerous Iraqi Premier League records, including the joint-longest unbeaten run (39), the most consecutive wins in a season (11) and the most consecutive games scored in (37). In the 2021–22 season, Al-Shorta set records for the earliest league title win (seven rounds remaining) and the largest title-winning margin (21 points), and also became the first club to beat all other teams in a 20-team season and the first club to win all Baghdad derbies home and away in one season.

History

The first Police football team in Baghdad was formed in 1932, participating in the second edition of the Prince Ghazi Cup in the 1932–33 season. The team's first trophy came in 1938, when they won the Taha Al-Hashimi Cup. The team became known as Madaris Al-Shorta (Police Schools) after a new Police team called Al-Quwa Al-Siyara (Mobile Force) was formed.

For the inaugural Baghdad league season in 1948–49, it was decided that a Police select team would play in the top-flight. The Police select team (Montakhab Al-Shorta) were relegated from the top-flight that season, and therefore competed in the second division in the 1949–50 season. In the 1950–51 season, Madaris Al-Shorta entered the newly-formed third division and Al-Quwa Al-Siyara competed in the second tier instead of the Police select team, and the two teams were both leading their respective divisions before the season was abandoned.

From the 1951–52 season, Madaris Al-Shorta and Al-Quwa Al-Siyara combined to form the Police select 'A' and 'B' teams to compete in the region's top-flight and second division respectively. Montakhab Al-Shorta 'A' finished as runners-up of the top-flight in 1957–58, while Montakhab Al-Shorta 'B' finished as runners-up of the second division in 1958–59. In 1960, the Police Games Committee was formed to control Police sports in Iraq, and they decided to expand the Police force's sporting activities for the 1960–61 season. Al-Quwa Al-Siyara re-entered the IFA's football pyramid as an individual team, joining the regional second division along with newly-formed Police teams Aliyat Al-Shorta and Shortat Al-Najda, while the Police select 'A' and 'B' teams continued to compete in the top-flight and second division respectively. After finishing as Iraq Central FA League runners-up again in 1960–61, Montakhab Al-Shorta 'A' won the league title for the first time in the 1962–63 season.

At the end of that season, Aliyat Al-Shorta secured promotion to the top-flight, meaning there were two Police teams in the top division. As a result, Madaris Al-Shorta re-entered the IFA's football pyramid in place of the Police select 'A' team to compete in the top-flight from the 1963–64 season, while the Police select 'B' team were disbanded. From this point, the Police select team would only compete in the Republic Championship and in matches against visiting foreign teams. Formed from the best players of the individual Police teams, the Police select team (Montakhab Al-Shorta) won the Republic Championship in both 1968 and 1969. The select team was led by the coach of Aliyat Al-Shorta, Mohammed Najeeb Kaban, and included many of the star players from Aliyat Al-Shorta, a team that went on to win four league titles and reach the final of the 1971 Asian Champion Club Tournament where they refused to face Israeli side Maccabi Tel Aviv.

In 1974, the Iraq Football Association (IFA) decided to implement a clubs-only policy for domestic competitions, forming the Iraqi National Clubs First Division which was only open to clubs and not institute-representative teams such as the individual Police teams. With the IFA dictating that only a single club would be allowed to represent the Police in the new top-flight, Al-Shorta Sports Club was established on 18 August 1974 by the Iraqi Olympic Committee, being attached to the Ministry of Interior. The Police Games Directorate, which controlled Police sports in Iraq, were strongly opposed to the IFA's new clubs-only policy and decided to field a team of amateurs for Al-Shorta to compete in the inaugural 1974–75 season in protest. After suffering heavy defeats in their first two games, the amateur players were replaced by players from the Shortat Al-Najda and Kuliyat Al-Shorta teams, before ten Aliyat Al-Shorta players joined the team for the 1975–76 season which led to an improved third-place finish. In 1976, Al-Shorta won the first of three Arab Police Championships while representing the Iraq Police team, with further titles coming in 1978 and 1985. Al-Shorta won their first national league title in the 1979–80 season, finishing ahead of rivals Al-Zawraa on goal difference under the leadership of former player Douglas Aziz. This qualified them for the inaugural Arab Club Champions Cup in 1981–82, and Al-Shorta became the first ever Arab champions with a 4–2 aggregate win over Al-Nejmeh in the final.

In 1983, the club changed their name to Qiwa Al-Amn Al-Dakhili (Internal Security Forces) while Iraq was at war; that name only lasted for one season before they returned to the name Al-Shorta. On 23 December 1990, Al-Shorta played their first match at their new Al-Shorta Stadium, which was built with the help of volunteers and club workers, beating Al-Tijara 3–2. In the 1993–94 season, Al-Shorta striker Younis Abid Ali scored 36 league goals which remains an Iraqi record for most goals scored by a player in one league season.

There were three contenders for the 1997–98 Iraqi Premier League title going into the final day of the season; Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya were on top of the league with Al-Shorta in second and Al-Zawraa third. Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya were playing Al-Zawraa at the same time as Al-Shorta were playing Al-Sulaikh. Al-Shorta were 2–1 down to Al-Sulaikh before an 84th-minute goal from Mufeed Assem and a 91st-minute penalty kick from league top scorer Mahmoud Majeed earned a dramatic 3–2 victory, which was enough to overtake Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya (who had drawn 1–1 with Al-Zawraa) and achieve their second Premier League title and first for eighteen years. In the process, Al-Shorta broke the Iraqi records for most consecutive wins in a league season (11) and most consecutive league games scored in (37). That season also saw them reach the quarter-finals of the Asian Cup Winners' Cup, earning wins over Al-Seeb and Bargh Shiraz before being eliminated in the quarter-final.

Al-Shorta reached the quarter-finals of the 1999–2000 Asian Club Championship before making history by becoming the first club to win the Iraqi Elite Cup three times in a row, winning the trophy in 2000, 2001 and 2002. They were also in the lead of the 2002–03 league competition before it was cancelled due to the Iraq War. In April 2003, the club's former goalkeeper and captain Raad Hammoudi became Al-Shorta's president and he saved the club from bankruptcy after the war. Al-Shorta participated in the 2003 edition of the Arab Club Champions Cup and the 2004 and 2005 editions of the AFC Champions League but were knocked out in the group stage each time.

After an unstable post-war period which culminated in a relegation battle in the 2010–11 season, Al-Shorta returned to the top of Iraqi football in the 2012–13 season, securing their third Iraqi Premier League title with a final-day 3–0 victory over rivals Al-Talaba at Al-Shaab Stadium. Al-Shorta finished in first place in the Premier League in 2013–14 under Brazilian coach Lorival Santos but the season was ended prematurely due to the worsening war situation in the country. Al-Shorta also appeared in the 2014 AFC Champions League qualifiers, losing 1–0 to Al-Kuwait, and they were eliminated from the group stage and round of 16 at the 2014 and 2015 AFC Cups respectively. Al-Shorta won the Premier League title again in 2018–19, led by Montenegrin coach Nebojša Jovović, equalling the Iraqi record for most consecutive league games unbeaten (39) in the process. Al-Shorta won the Iraqi Super Cup for the first time in 2019 with a penalty shootout win over Al-Zawraa, before reaching the quarter-finals of the 2019–20 Arab Club Champions Cup and being eliminated from the group stages of the 2020 and 2021 AFC Champions Leagues, the former on goal difference.

Under the management of Egyptian coach Moamen Soliman, Al-Shorta enjoyed one of the best league seasons in their history in 2021–22. Al-Shorta set a record for the earliest Iraqi Premier League title win with seven rounds of the competition remaining, finishing a record 21 points clear at the top of the table, and became the first club to beat all other teams in a 20-team season and the first club to win all Baghdad derbies home and away in one season. Their tally of 91 points equalled the record for the most points in a 38-game season in Iraq. Al-Shorta went on to win the 2022 Iraqi Super Cup with a 1–0 victory over Al-Karkh

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases