The 1948–49 Iraq Football Association Cup was the first edition of what is now the

Iraq FA Cup The Iraq Cup (), commonly known as the Iraq FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in men's domestic Football in Iraq, Iraqi football organised by the Iraq Football Association. Firs ...

. Clubs and institute-representative teams participated in the tournament, which was won by Sharikat Naft Al-Basra, beating Al-Kuliya Al-Askariya Al-Malakiya 2–1 in Iraq's first ever national cup final, played at Al-Kashafa Stadium in

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

on 7 April 1949. The winning team's players and staff paraded the trophy around

Basra Basra () is a port city in Iraq, southern Iraq. It is the capital of the eponymous Basra Governorate, as well as the List of largest cities of Iraq, third largest city in Iraq overall, behind Baghdad and Mosul. Located near the Iran–Iraq bor ...

upon returning from Baghdad three days after winning the tournament.

Background

Within the first week of the founding of the

Iraq Football Association The Iraq Football Association (IFA) () is the governing body of football in Iraq, controlling the Iraq national football team, Iraqi national team and the Iraqi football league system. The Iraqi Football Association was founded in 1948 and has be ...

in October 1948, it was decided to hold league championships in four different regions:

Kirkuk Kirkuk (; ; ; ) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of the Kirkuk Governorate. The city is home to a diverse population of Kurds, Iraqi Turkmen, Iraqi Turkmens and Arabs. Kirkuk sits on the ruins of the original Kirkuk Cit ...

and Mosul (although the league in Mosul did not start until two seasons later). It was also decided to hold a 16-team national knockout cup tournament called the Iraq Football Association Cup between the top teams from each regional league. At the beginning of November, it was decided to increase the number of teams participating in the cup by allowing some second-tier teams from Baghdad to compete. After the season's Iraq FA Baghdad League had to be shortened to a single round-robin format rather than a double round-robin due to rainy weather postponing a number of games, the Iraq FA Cup was opened up to all clubs from Baghdad wishing to compete in order to compensate for the reduced number of regional matches. 25 teams (including one team who were disqualified from the first round) eventually took part in the competition. It was to be the last edition of the national knockout cup for clubs or institutions for another 26 years, with such cup tournaments being played at a regional level during that time (such as the

Iraq FA Baghdad Cup The Iraq FA Baghdad Cup was a regional knockout cup competition organised by the Iraq Central Football Association (IFA) in the 1973–74 season for teams from Baghdad and its neighbouring cities. Only one edition was played because the IFA decid ...

), until the Iraq FA Cup returned in the 1975–76 season as a clubs-only competition.

First round

The first round was played between Baghdad-based teams, starting on 21 January and ending on 13 February. Al-Kuliya Al-Askariya Al-Malakiya, Al-Malaki, Al-Ahli, Ittihad Muntada Al-Karkh,

Al-Haras Al-Malaki Al-Haras Al-Malaki () was an Iraqi football team based in Baghdad. They participated in the first ever national cup tournament held in Iraq: the 1948–49 Iraq FA Cup. They also won seven Iraq Central FA Premier League titles in a row (the top- ...

and Al-Tayour Al-Zarqaa received byes to the second round, while Al-Shorta Select XI were awarded a

walkover John Baxter Taylor and William Robbins (athlete)">William Robbins to refuse to race in protest. A walkover, also W.O. or w/o (originally two words: "walk over"), is awarded to the opposing team/player, etc., if there are no other players avail ...

due to their opponents Kuliyat Al-Huqooq being disqualified for not showing up for two matches in their regional league.

Second round

The second round started on 12 February and saw the entry of four Kirkuk-based teams; it ended on 24 February.

Kirkuk region

Baghdad region

Third round

The third round was held in February 1949 with three matches played in the Baghdad region.

Final phase

The quarter-final round was the first round in which teams from different regions faced each other. It included two Basra-based teams ( Sharikat Naft Al-Basra and

Al-Minaa Al-Mina'a Sports Club () is an Iraqi multi-sport club based in Al-Maqal, Basra that participates in the Iraq Stars League, the top tier of Iraqi football. It is one of the most popular clubs in Iraq, particularly in the south, and became the ...

) and one Mosul-based team (Adadiyat Al-Mosul).

Quarter-finals

The quarter-final matches were played between 10 March to 21 March.

Semi-finals

The semi-final matches were played on 1 April and 3 April.

Final

The final was played on 7 April at Al-Kashafa Stadium in Baghdad to crown the first ever Iraq FA Cup winners. The ball used in the final was supplied by the Baghdad Sports Depot.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:1949 Iraq FA Championship 1949 in Iraq 1940s in Baghdad