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| Full name | Al-Shorta Sports Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | Al-Qithara (The Harp) | ||
| Founded | 1932; 93 years ago (1932) | ||
| Ground | Al-Shorta Stadium | ||
| Capacity | 10,089 | ||
| President | Abdul-Halim Fahem | ||
| Head coach | Moamen Soliman | ||
| League | Iraq Stars League | ||
| 2024–25 | Iraq Stars League, 1st of 20 (champions) | ||
| Website | alshortasc | ||
 Current season | |||
| Active departments of Al-Shorta SC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Al-Shorta Sports Club (Arabic:نادي الشرطة الرياضي,lit. 'Police Sports Club') is an Iraqisports club based inAl-Rusafa,Baghdad. It has teams in 19 different sports, and the best known section of the club is the football team, whose origins date back to 1932. Al-Shorta was formally established as a sports club in 1978 after a clubs-only policy was introduced to Iraqi football.
Al-Shorta's football team is one of the most successful in Iraq, having won theIraq Stars League eight times and theIraq FA Cup once, completing the domesticdouble in the2023–24 season. Al-Shorta were crowned the inauguralArab Club Champions Cup winners in1982 and are one of only two Iraqi clubs to have won the tournament. Al-Shorta have won twoIraqi Super Cup titles and are the only team to have won theBaghdad Championship three times in a row.
Al-Shorta hold the Iraq Stars League records for the most consecutive titles (four in a row) and the longest winning streak (11 matches). They also hold the league's joint-record for the longest unbeaten run (39 games). In the2021–22 season, Al-Shorta became the first club to win allBaghdad derbies home and away in one league season.
The Al-Shorta (Police) football team was formed in 1932 by Mudhafar Ahmed, the director of the Police Schools in Baghdad.[1] Al-Shorta participated in the second edition of the Prince Ghazi Cup in the 1932–33 season, and claimed their first trophy in 1938 by winning the Taha Al-Hashimi Cup, followed by victories in the Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya Cup and Al-Olympi Club Cup in 1939.[2] The team later became known as Madaris Al-Shorta (Police Schools) after a new Police team called Al-Quwa Al-Siyara (Mobile Force) was formed.[3]
TheIraq Football Association was established in 1948 and it was decided that an Al-Shorta Select XI (Montakhab Al-Shorta) would compete in the inaugural Baghdad top-flight league season in1948–49.[4] The Al-Shorta Select XI were relegated from the top-flight that season, and therefore competed in the second division in the 1949–50 season.[3] 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 Al-Shorta Select XI,[5] and the two teams were both leading their respective divisions before the season was abandoned.[6]
From the 1951–52 season, Madaris Al-Shorta and Al-Quwa Al-Siyara combined to form the Al-Shorta Select XI 'A' and 'B' teams to compete in the region's top-flight and second division respectively.[3] Al-Shorta Select XI 'A' finished as runners-up of the top-flight in1957–58, while Al-Shorta Select XI 'B' finished as runners-up of the second division in 1958–59.[7] In 1960, the Police Games Committee (later renamed to Police Games Directorate) 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 teamsAliyat Al-Shorta and Shortat Al-Najda,[8] while the Al-Shorta Select XI 'A' and 'B' teams continued to compete in the top-flight and second division respectively.[9][10] After finishing asIraq Central FA Premier League runners-up again in1960–61, Al-Shorta Select XI 'A' won the league title for the first time in the1962–63 season.[11]
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.[12] As a result, the Al-Shorta Select XI 'A' team were replaced in the top-flight by Madaris Al-Shorta from the1963–64 season, while the Al-Shorta Select XI 'B' team were disbanded. From this point, the Al-Shorta Select XI would only compete in the Republic Championship and in matches against visiting foreign teams.[13] Formed from the best players of the individual Police teams, the Al-Shorta Select XI won the Republic Championship in both 1968 and 1969. The Al-Shorta Select XI 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 the1971 Asian Champion Club Tournament where they refused to face Israeli sideMaccabi Tel Aviv.[14]
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In 1974, theIraq Football Association (IFA) decided to implement a clubs-only policy for domestic competitions, forming theIraqi National Clubs League which was only open to clubs and not institute-representative teams such as the individual Police teams.[15] 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 provisionally established on 18 August 1974 by theIraqi Olympic Committee and was placed under the control of the Police Games Directorate (PGD) until the club's formal establishment.[13] The PGD was strongly opposed to the IFA's new clubs-only policy and thus decided to field a team of amateurs for Al-Shorta to compete in the inaugural1974–75 season in protest.[2] After suffering heavy defeats in their first two games,[16] the amateur players were replaced by players from the Shortat Al-Najda and Kuliyat Al-Shorta teams for the remainder of the season,[2] before ten Aliyat Al-Shorta players joined the team for the1975–76 season.[17] Al-Shorta was formally established as a sports club in 1978, registering as such with theMinistry of Youth and Sports and being attached to theMinistry of Interior.[18] Al-Shorta won their first national league title in the1979–80 season, finishing ahead of rivalsAl-Zawraa on goal difference under the leadership of former playerDouglas Aziz.[19] This qualified them for the inauguralArab Club Champions Cup in1981–82, and Al-Shorta became the first ever Arab champions with a 4–2 aggregate win overAl-Nejmeh in the final.[20]
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.[22] In 1985, Al-Shorta won the Arab Police Championship for the third time while representing the Iraq Police team, having previously won in 1976 and 1978.[23] On 23 December 1990, Al-Shorta played their first match at theoriginal Al-Shorta Stadium, which was built with the help of volunteers and club workers, beatingAl-Tijara 3–2.[24] In the1993–94 season, Al-Shorta strikerYounis Abid Ali scored 36 league goals which remains an Iraqi record for most goals scored by a player in one league season.[25]
There were three contenders for the1997–98 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 playingAl-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 (43).[26][27] That season also saw them reach the quarter-finals of theAsian Cup Winners' Cup, earning wins overAl-Seeb andBargh Shiraz before being eliminated in the quarter-final.[28]
Al-Shorta reached the quarter-finals of the1999–2000 Asian Club Championship before making history by becoming the first club to win theUmm al-Ma'arik Championship (later known as the Baghdad Championship) three times in a row, winning the trophy in the2000–01,2001–02 and2002–03 seasons. They were also in the lead of the2002–03 league competition before it was cancelled due to theIraq War.[29] In April 2003, the club's former goalkeeper and captainRaad Hammoudi became Al-Shorta's president and saved the club from bankruptcy after the war.[30] Al-Shorta participated in the2003 edition of theArab Club Champions Cup and the2004 and2005 editions of theAFC Champions League but were knocked out at the group stage each time.[31][32]
After an unstable post-war period which culminated in a relegation battle in the2010–11 season,[33] Al-Shorta returned to the top of Iraqi football in the2012–13 season, securing their thirdIraqi Premier League title with a final-day 3–0 victory over rivalsAl-Talaba atAl-Shaab Stadium. Al-Shorta finished in first place in the Premier League in2013–14 under Brazilian coachLorival Santos but the season was ended prematurely due to the worsening war situation in the country. Al-Shorta also appeared in the2014 AFC Champions League qualifiers, losing 1–0 toAl-Kuwait, which was followed by a group stage elimination at the2014 AFC Cup and a round of 16 exit at the2015 AFC Cup. Al-Shorta won the Premier League title again in2018–19, led by Montenegrin coachNebojša Jovović, equalling the Iraqi record for most consecutive league games unbeaten (39) in the process.[34] Al-Shorta won theIraqi Super Cup for the first time in2019 with a penalty shootout win overAl-Zawraa, before reaching the quarter-finals of the2019–20 Arab Club Champions Cup and being eliminated from the group stages of the2020 and2021 AFC Champions Leagues, the former on goal difference.[35][36]
Under the management ofEgyptian coachMoamen Soliman, Al-Shorta enjoyed one of the best league seasons in their history in2021–22. 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 allBaghdad derbies home and away in one season.[37] Their tally of 91 points equalled the record for the most points in a 38-game season in Iraq.[38] Al-Shorta went on to win the2022 Iraqi Super Cup with a 1–0 victory overAl-Karkh,[39] and then retained their Iraqi Premier League crown by clinching the2022–23 title in the penultimate round of the season.[40] Al-Shorta also reached the semi-finals of the2023 Arab Club Champions Cup, defeatingCS Sfaxien andAl-Sadd before losing 1–0 toAl-Nassr from a penalty scored byCristiano Ronaldo.[41] Al-Shorta were crowned champions of the2023–24 Iraq Stars League, the first edition of the competition since it had been transformed into a professional league,[42] and coupled that success with their firstIraq FA Cup title, beatingAl-Quwa Al-Jawiya 1–0 in thefinal to secure the domesticdouble for the first time.[43] Al-Shorta became the first club in Iraq to win four consecutive league championships when they clinched the title again in the2024–25 season.[44] Thenew Al-Shorta Stadium with a capacity of 10,089 seats was opened for its first match on 8 November 2025.[45]
Al-Shorta's first club crest was the same as the logo of theIraqi Police, with the addition of theOlympic rings at the bottom alongside the club's name and the year 1978, which was the year of the club's formal establishment.[46] Al-Shorta began to wear a harp on their shirts in the 1992–93 season, after television presenter Majid Abdul-Haq coined the now-popular nicknameAl-Qithara (The Harp) to refer to the club on his programLetter of the League by likening the team's attractive style of play to the tunes of a musical instrument.[47] In 2002, laurel leaves were added either side of the harp on the shirt, and the Olympic rings were added underneath it.[46]
In 2005, Al-Shorta adopted a new emblem which was blue with a green outline, with a harp featuring in the centre of the crest along with theIraq flag. Under the presidency ofRaad Hammoudi, the club decided to recognise 1975 as its year of foundation, as this was the year in which the Police Games Directorate accepted the new clubs-only policy in Iraqi football and integrated its top players into Al-Shorta Sports Club which had been provisionally established along with theIraqi National Clubs League a year prior. Thus, 1975 was written on either side of the logo in English and Arabic, and this remained the club's crest for the next seven years.
In 2012, the club's new administrative body decided to recognise 1932 as the club's year of foundation, as the club's origins date back to the football team that formed in 1932 and went on to compete in theIraq Central FA Premier League. This came with a change to the club's logo in the form of a new white circular crest with a green outline, which contained the harp, laurel leaves and Olympic rings inside it along with the club's name and year of foundation at the bottom.[46]
On 12 December 2013, before the start of the2014 AFC Champions League qualifying play-off, Al-Shorta announced the change to a new logo which was designed by Luay Abdul-Rahman, the artistic director of Al-Shorta's newspaper. The centre of the logo features a golden harp on a green and white backdrop, and the club's year of foundation and the Iraq flag feature at the top and bottom of the logo respectively. The club's name in English is displayed in a golden banner towards the bottom of the logo.[48]
On 18 November 2020, the club revealed a brand new crest as part of a ceremony to celebrate its 88th anniversary. However, the logo change was abandoned after a negative reception from supporters.[49]
In 1958, the Al-Shorta Select XI had a yellow and brown kit,[50] and also had an all-white kit.[51] The team began to wear purple kits under the leadership of coach Mohammed Najeeb Kaban in the 1960s. Since 1978, Al-Shorta have mainly worn green home kits, white away kits and purple third kits,[52] with the exception of the 1983–84 season when they wore a black home shirt while playing under the name Qiwa Al-Amn Al-Dakhili (Internal Security Forces).[53]
Since the2016–17 season, Al-Shorta have worn purple as the away kit colour rather than white. In August 2020, Al-Shorta launched their own clothing brand calledQitharah to manufacture kits and other apparel for the club,[54] which continued until August 2025 when the club signed a contract with kit manufacturerKelme.[55]
Al-Shorta's shirts have featured a number of different sponsors' logos over the years:[56][57][58][59]
| Period | Shirt sponsor |
|---|---|
| 1995 | Abu Saif Markets |
| 1998–1999 | Al-Mansour Tea |
| 1999–2003 | Samsung |
| 2003 | Peugeot |
| 2003 | New Iraq Charitable Foundation |
| 2005 | Motorola |
| 2005–2006 | Lay's |
| 2006 | Kotsons |
| 2007 | MTC-Vodafone |
| 2008 | Asia Cell (on front) IraqCom (on back) |
| 2014–2015 | Royal Arena Sport |
Al-Shorta are one of the most widely supported clubs in Iraq. In a poll conducted on theAsian Football Confederation's official website in 2020,[60] Al-Shorta ranked as the second most popular club in Iraq behind rivalsAl-Zawraa.[61] Al-Shorta are also the second-most followed Iraqi club on bothFacebook andTwitter,[62][63] behind Al-Zawraa.[64][65]
Ultras Green Harp is anultras group that was formed in 2012 at the start of the2012–13 season and has grown to become one of Iraq's largest fan groups. It is a self-financed group that travels to both home and away matches across Iraq, providing flags and banners for fans to wave during the game. Before kickoff, the Ultras Green Harp members often hold up a large banner which can vary depending on the opposition.[66] Another prominent fan group calledMajaneen Al-Qithara was founded in 2017.[67]
Al-Shorta are one of the top four clubs inBaghdad along withAl-Quwa Al-Jawiya,Al-Zawraa, andAl-Talaba; these four clubs together contest theBaghdad derbies.[68] The Baghdad derbies are often considered to be the most important games of a season and they are usually held at neutral venues such asAl-Shaab Stadium to accommodate a larger number of spectators.[69]
Al-Shorta's rivalry with Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya is the longest-standing, with its origins dating back to the 1930s.[70] Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya are also Al-Shorta's local rivals as the two clubs' stadiums are located within a short distance of each other onFalastin Street.[71]
Al-Shorta also compete in the "Al-Dakhiliya derbies" with fellowMinistry of Interior clubsAl-Hudood andAliyat Al-Shorta.[72]
In their early years, the Al-Shorta Select XI played their home matches on the playing field at the team's headquarters, located on what would becomeFalastin Street in the early 1960s. After the establishment of theIraqi National Clubs League, the club played their home games at theLocal Administration Stadium inAl-Mansour and later at Al-Furusiya Stadium owned by theMinistry of Interior.[46]
In the 1980s, the club decided to build their own stadium at the club's headquarters, with construction of the four stands being overseen by club president Abdul-Qadir Zeinal and work being carried out by club workers and volunteers. Theoriginal Al-Shorta Stadium was opened for its first match on 23 December 1990 with Al-Shorta beatingAl-Tijara 3–2. The stadium was able to hold 8,634 people, while the white hall on the side of the field (named the Abid Kadhim Hall in honour of former player and managerAbid Kadhim) can hold approximately 2,000 people.[46]
In the 2012–13 season, Al-Shorta announced plans to build a sports complex called Al-Shorta Sports City, which would include a new all-seater stadium. The complex was to be constructed by Swedish company Nordic Sport through its regional partner Nynord, along with Emirati company AKG Engineering.[73] Börje Österberg, the owner of Nordic Sport, announced the initiation of construction of Al-Shorta Sports City on 16 December 2013,[74] and the club's existing stadium was demolished in March 2014.[46] Al-Shorta played their home matches atAl-Shaab Stadium while the new stadium was being constructed.[75]
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On 7 January 2015, AKG Engineering released a video showing what the sports complex was expected to look like once construction is completed.[76] The complex would include a new all-seater stadium with a capacity of 10,089, as well as a training ground with athletics tracks, a hotel, a club office, an indoor swimming pool with 1,500 seats, a multi-purpose closed hall with 2,500 seats, a full-quality recreation club (with sports facilities), restaurants, theatres and a shopping centre.[73][77][78][79]
Construction work on the sports complex was suspended in December 2015 before resuming in November 2022,[80] however the project was scaled down to only include the all-seater stadium and the training ground. Thenew Al-Shorta Stadium was opened for its first match on 8 November 2025.[81]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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| Position | Name | Nationality |
|---|---|---|
| Head coach: | Moamen Soliman |  |
| Assistant coach: | Amrou Fathi | |
| Assistant coach: | Hussein Abdul-Wahed |  |
| Fitness coach: | Haidar Abdul-Qadir | |
| Goalkeeping coach: | Essam Saber | |
| Technical analyst: | Moataz Abdul-Haseeb | |
| Physiotherapist: | Tonello Marilia |  |
| Team manager: | Hashim Ridha | |
| Position | Name | Nationality |
|---|---|---|
| President: | Abdul-Halim Fahem | |
| Vice-president: | Ali Al-Shahmani | |
| Board secretary: | Alaa Bahar Al-Uloom | |
| Financial secretary | Tahseen Al-Yassri | |
| Member of the Board: | Uday Al-Rubaie | |
| Member of the Board: | Abdul-Wahab Al-Taei | |
| Member of the Board: | Ghalib Al-Zamili | |
| Member of the Board: | Ihsan Ali | |
| Member of the Board: | Mustafa Jabbar Alak | |
| Member of the Board: | Hussein Subhan | |
In 1958, the Al-Shorta Select XI appointed their first foreign manager in Palestinian coach Dennis Nasrawi. Since 1974, Al-Shorta have been coached by ten foreign managers from seven countries. The first of these was Yugoslavian coach Rajko Menista who took charge of Al-Shorta from 1982 to 1983.[22]
Since 2013, Al-Shorta have hired two Brazilian managers (Lorival Santos andMarcos Paquetá), three Egyptian managers (Mohamed Youssef,Moamen Soliman andMohamed Azima), one Jordanian manager (Haitham Al-Shaboul as caretaker), one Montenegrin manager (Nebojša Jovović), one Serbian manager (Aleksandar Ilić) and one Tunisian manager (Chiheb Ellili). The rest of the club's managers throughout history have been of Iraqi nationality.[12]
The following managers won at least one major trophy when in charge of the team:
| Name | Period | Trophies |
|---|---|---|
| Al-Shorta Select XI | ||
 Fahmi Al-Qaimaqchi | 1951–1955, 1960–1966 | Iraq Central FA Premier League |
| Al-Shorta SC | ||
| Douglas Aziz | 1979–1982, 1983, 1987–1989, 1990–1991, 1993 | Iraq Stars League,Arab Club Champions Cup |
| Abdelilah Abdul-Hameed | 1997–1998, 2002–2003 | Iraq Stars League |
| Ahmed Radhi | 1999–2001 | Baghdad Championship |
| Yassin Umal | 2001–2002 | Baghdad Championship |
| Basim Qasim | 1994, 1996, 2002, 2003, 2011–2012 | Baghdad Championship |
| Thair Jassam | 2012–2013, 2015, 2018 | Iraq Stars League |
 Nebojša Jovović | 2018–2019 | Iraq Stars League |
 Aleksandar Ilić | 2019–2020, 2020–2021 | Iraqi Super Cup |
| Moamen Soliman | 2021–2023, 2024, 2025–present | Iraq Stars League (3),Iraq FA Cup,Iraqi Super Cup |
| Ahmed Salah | 2018, 2019, 2023, 2024 | Iraq Stars League |
| Type | Competition | Titles | Seasons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Al-Shorta SC | |||
| Domestic (national) | Iraq Stars League | 8 | 1979–80,1997–98,2012–13,2018–19,2021–22,2022–23,2023–24,2024–25 |
| Iraq FA Cup | 1 | 2023–24 | |
| Iraqi Super Cup | 2 | 2019,2022 | |
| Baghdad Championship | 3s | 2000–01,2001–02,2002–03 | |
| International | Arab Club Champions Cup | 1 | 1981–82 |
| Al-Shorta Select XI | |||
| Domestic (regional) | Iraq Central FA Premier League | 1 | 1962–63 |
| Competition | Titles | Seasons |
|---|---|---|
| Al-Shorta SC | ||
| Baghdad Cup | 1 | 2013 |
| Al-Quds International Championship | 1 | 2002 |
| Baghdad Day Cup | 1 | 2000 |
| Great Victory Championship | 1 | 1996 |
| Al-Qadisiya Championship | 1 | 1988 |
| President's Gold Cup | 1 | 1983 |
| Al-Shorta Select XI | ||
| Republic Championship | 2 | 1968, 1969 |
| Hilla Mutasarrif Cup | 1 | 1957 |
| Al-Olympi Club Cup | 1 | 1939 |
| Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya Cup | 1 | 1939 |
| Taha Al-Hashimi Cup | 1 | 1938 |
| # | Name | Goals | First year | Last year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Younis Abid Ali | 135 | 1983 | 1999 |
| 2 | Hashim Ridha | 99 | 1998 | 2011 |
| 3 | Mohanad Ali | 79 | 2014 | 2025 |
| 4 | Alaa Abdul-Zahra | 78 | 2014 | 2024 |
| 5 |  Mahmoud Al-Mawas | 67 | 2021 | Present |
| 6 | Ali Hussein Mahmoud | 60 | 1974 | 1983 |
| 7 | Amjad Kalaf | 58 | 2007 | 2016 |
| 8 | Saad Qais | 45 | 1983 | 2001 |
| 9 | Faisal Aziz | 42 | 1977 | 1989 |
| Mufeed Assem | 1996 | 2003 |
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{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)| Arab Club Champions Cup | |
|---|---|
| Arab Unified Club Championship | |
| Arab Champions League | |
| UAFA Club Cup | |
| Arab Club Championship | |
| Arab Club Champions Cup | |
