Erbil

Early history and promotion to the top division

Erbil SC was founded on 3 November 1968, by the former Kurdistan-Iraq Football Association and spent decades in regional leagues and lower league competitions. The team finally qualified for the top division for the first time in the 1987-88 season, where they finished 15th out of 16th in the league, however the team escaped relegation as the FA decided to not relegate any team due to a planned expansion on the league. The following season, the FA adapted a bizarre league and playoff style, teams where split into one of four groups, where the top two teams from each group come together to play a knockout style playoff. Erbil surprisingly finished in the top ten. In the 1989-1990 season, Erbil would finish bottom of the league with only 8 points, however they would once again benefit from the FA deciding to increase the number of teams, and as such escaped relegation.

1990s

At the halfway stage of the 1990-91 season, Erbil were forced to withdraw from the competition due to the 1991 uprisings in Iraq. so the Iraq U19 team was brought in to play the remaining half of the season.

The club was allowed to stay in the league, after it was decided that their withdrawal was outside of their control in the previous season. In the 1991–92 season, Erbil finished bottom of the league with 19 points from 38 matches, however that season the FA decided that the bottom three teams would play a play-off to decide the relegated team, Erbil managed to survive the playoffs, meaning they managed to stay in the league despite finishing bottom for the third time in their young history.

Erbil would continue to avoid relegation for three more seasons, however their stint in the stars league came to an end in the 94-95 season where they finished in the bottom 12 teams, all of whom were relegated.

Erbil would spend the next four seasons in the second division, before winning the 1998-99 second division title, which earned them a return to the top flight ahead of the new Millennium. In their best ever result up to that point, Erbil finished 10th that season, with the team winning 70 points in a 50-game season. That same year, Erbil beat Nineveh side Makhmur 13–0 in the Iraqi FA Cup, which is the second-largest margin of victory in the competition's history.

2000s and rise to the top of domestic football

Erbil finished 6th in the 2001-02 season, continuing their upward trajectory in domestic football.

The following two seasons were abandoned due to the 2003 Iraq war and the ensuing internal conflicts, which made it unsafe to continue holding football matches.

The football federation was successful in hosting the 2004–05 season, where Erbil reached the final stage but finished 2nd in their group behind Al Quwa Al Jawiya.

In the summer of 2005, Nadhim Shaker left rivals Duhok SC to coach Erbil. In the 2005–06 season, Erbil started slow, only just managing to finish third in Group A just ahead of Sirwan FC on goal difference to advance to the second round. Erbil topped their group in the second round to advance to the end of season play-offs where they met southern giants Najaf FC in a two-legged home and away tie. Erbil were beaten by Najaf by a 4–1 scoreline which basically dented all hope of reaching the play-off final for the title. In the home leg, Erbil were winning 1–0 when the match got suspended with a replay taking place five days later with the match resulting in a 1–1 scoreline. This meant Erbil were knocked out of a chance of winning the championship but would instead take part in the third-place play-off match. This match did not take place as in the other semi-final match between the two Baghdad giants, Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya and Al-Zawra'a. The second match of the leg was cancelled as the Al-Quwa players walked off the pitch, resulting in their disqualification and Erbil getting the automatic third-place finish. All in all, it was a strong first season under Shaker and that summer the team improved personnel ready for the next season. Their 3rd-place finish meant that the team would qualify to the Arab Club Championship.

The great season that Erbil enjoyed led to a spur of investment, combined with the several deteriorating security situation in Baghdad and the southern provinces, Erbil became the premier destination for local players, including Luay Salah, and the runner up top goal scorer of the previous season, Mustafa Karim. Erbil rode that momentum throughout the season, leading to them winning the league title for the first time in the 06-07 season. Erbil became the first Kurdish club to win the Iraqi league title, and only the third team outside of Baghdad to win the title. Ahmed Salah was the top goal scorer that season, the first time a player from Erbil to finish as top goal scorer of the season, and the team was captained by Rafid Badr Al-Deen.

Winning the Iraqi league meant that Erbil would take part of the Asian Champions League for the first time ever Their first match was against Qatari sideAl-Gharafa SC, which finished in a 1–1 draw. The team finished 3rd in group D with 8 points.

The team hired Akram Salman to be the team's new coach. The side would continue their great performances locally heading into the following season. the team would finish top of their group in the first two stages, as they reached the final of the playoffs to decide the league champions, in front of a crowd of 50,000 fans in Baghdad, defeated Al-Zawraa'a to retain their league title, after Ahmed Salah Alwan scored the winner in the 99th minute during extra time

Due to the poor performance of Iraqi clubs in the Asian Champions League, the club would qualify to Asia's second-tier club competition, The AFC Cup. The team reached the quarter final before they lost against Al-Kuwait club. Ahead of the 08-09 season, Erbil hired manager Thair Ahmed to replace Akram Salman. The team also signed Ismail Bango and Camara Flouseen, who became the first foreign players to play in Iraq. The change in personnel did not effect Erbil, who won their third straight league title, after beating Al Najaf on penalties. The duo of Ahmed Salah and Luay Salah finished as the top two top goal scorers in the league, with 15 and 11 goals respectively.