Iraqi Pro League Association

The Iraqi Pro League Association ( ar, رابطة دوري المحترفين العراقي; ) is a sports association responsible for administering the two professional football leagues in Iraq, the Iraq Stars League and, from the 2024–25 season, Iraqi Premier Division League, with the possibility of the Iraqi First Division League becoming under its umbrella in the future. Founded in 2023, the organisation will have independent legal status from the Iraq Football Association (IFA) and it is autonomous in its operations. Its main role, in addition to defending its members' interests, is to organise the national league championship in conjunction with the IFA.

The headquarters are temporarily based in the Iraqi FA headquarters in Zayouna, until the completion of the new sports complex that will house the headquarters of both the IFA as well as the IPLA independently.

Competitions

The 20 member clubs (this number will increase from next season) of the IPLA are grouped into two divisions: ''Stars League'' (20 clubs) and, from next season, '' Premier Division League'' (20 clubs). In any given season a club plays each of the others in the same division twice, once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents. This makes for a total of 38 games played each season in the Stars, Premier Division and First Division Leagues.

During the 2023–24 seasons of each the Premier Division League and the First Division League, which features 22 and 26 teams respectively, the number of relegated teams at the end of the season has been adjusted accordingly in order to make the number of teams equal to 20 in each of the leagues for the 2024–25 season.

For the 2023–24 season:

Clubs gain three points for a win, one for a draw, and none for a defeat. At the end of each season, the club with the most points in the Iraq Stars League is crowned champion. If points are equal, the head-to-head records determine the winner. If still equal, the goal difference, number of wins and goals scored then become the deciding factors. As for the Iraqi Premier Division League, at the top end two clubs win promotion to the Stars League, with the bottom club and the loser of the relegation playoff between 18th and 19th place from the Stars League taking their places. For the 2023–24 season, four clubs are relegated to the Iraqi First Division League, with two clubs (the top team from each of the two groups in the second round) from the third tier getting promoted. The bottom three teams from each group of the first round of the First Division League are automatically relegated, while the teams in 6th place out of the two groups that have 9 teams (Group 3 only has 8 teams) will play against each other in the relegation playoff, so 10 teams will be relegated to the Iraqi Second Division League, while four teams from the Second Division League join the First Division League in their stead.

Member clubs

Structure

General Assembly

The General Assembly is the deliberative assembly of the "Iraqi Pro League Association". It is composed of the football clubs and public limited sports companies that make up the Stars League and Premier Division. Each club is usually represented by its respective president.

Chief Executive Officer

The CEO, along with the other members of the executive committee, is responsible for the day-to-day running of the organisation. The current CEO is Matteo Mantovani, who holds the post from the founding of the association to the current day.

Sponsorships

Match balls

German sportswear company Puma became the official provider of match balls, as announced during the opening ceremony for the Iraq Stars League on 21 October 2023.

* 2023–present: Puma Orbita

See also

* Iraq Stars League
* Iraqi Premier Division League
* Iraqi First Division League
* Iraqi football league system
* Iraq Football Association
* Football in Iraq

References

{{Football in Iraq

Sports organizations established in 2023
Football in Iraq
Association football organizations
Sports governing bodies in Iraq