 | |||
| Full name | Naft Al-Wasat Sports Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | Andaleeb Al-Furat (The Euphrates Nightingales) | ||
| Founded | 2008; 18 years ago (2008) | ||
| Ground | Al-Najaf International Stadium (league) Naft Al-Wasat Stadium (cup) | ||
| Capacity | 30,000 (league)[1] 5,000 (cup) | ||
| President | Dawood Salem Ahmed[2] | ||
| Manager | Imad Aoude | ||
| League | Iraqi Premier Division League | ||
| 2024–25 | Iraqi Premier Division League, 18th of 20 | ||
Naft Al-Wasat Sports Club (Arabic:نادي نفط الوسط الرياضي,lit. 'Midland Oil') is an Iraqisports club based inNajaf. Its professionalfootball team plays in theIraqi Premier Division League, the second tier ofIraqi football. The club's home stadium isAn-Najaf Stadium.
Founded in 2008, Naft Al-Wasat spent three seasons in theIraqi Second Division League and another three in theIraqi First Division League until they were promoted from the2013–14 Iraqi First Division League to theIraqi Premier League. In their first season in the Iraqi Premier League, Naft Al-Wasat became the champions by achieving the2014–15 Iraqi Premier League.
Their futsal club has participated in theAFC Futsal Club Championship.[3]
Naft Al-Wasat SC was found on 1 July 2008 by theMinistry of Oil. The founding board consisted of Riyadh Bahr Al-Ouloom, Abbas Fakhruddin, Firas Nouri, Haitham Abbas, Ali Juwad, Yasin Khudhair, Mustafa Mohammed, Hassan Juwad, Wisam Fawzi and Basim Radhi.[4] The club entered theIraqi Second Division League and was promoted to theIraqi First Division League in the 2010–11 season. In the 2011–12 season, Naft Al-Wasat made their first transfer from other clubs, signingKarrar Abd fromKufa FC in January 2012.[5] In the 2011–12 season, Naft Al-Wasat barely qualified for the second stage, after having 8 wins, 6 draws and 4 losses, only a point away from Kufa FC.[6] In the second stage, Naft Al-Wasat finished in 4th place in Group 2, at 12 points, with 4 wins and 4 losses, ending their first season in the First Division League in failure.[7]
In the2012–13 season, Naft Al-Wasat failed again to qualify. In the groups stage, they became in top of Group D, at 27 points, being won 7 matches, drawn in 5 and lost only one.[8] In the second stage they had a big breakdown, finishing in 5th place in Group 2, after winning only one match, drawing in 5 and losing 3.[9] In the2012–13 Iraq FA Cup, they reached the third round before being eliminated. In the first round, they defeatedSamawa 4–0, and in the second round they eliminated Al-Sinaat Al-Kahrabaiya by beating them 4–3 on aggregate (the first leg was 1–1 and the second leg was 3–2). In the third round, they lost the first leg toMasafi Al-Wasat 2–1 and drew the second leg 2–2, being knocked out 4–3 on aggregate.[10]
After the 2012–13 season, the technical staff was changed, signing the manager,Abdul Ghani Shahad, on 27 August 2013.[11] In the 2013–14 season, Naft Al-Wasat were promoted for the first time in their history. They were in top of Group E at 34 points, 8 points away fromAl-Diwaniya FC, which was a big difference from last seasons.[12] In the second stage, Naft Al-Wasat took the Group 4 lead, at 20 points, by winning 6 matches and drawing in two.[13] They ended their season as the leaders of Group 1 in the last stage, claiming promotion to theIraqi Premier League.[14]
After the end of the 2013–14 season, the club made major changes to get ready for the2014–15 Iraqi Premier League with the total of 8 players signed,[5] but the most important signing wasNoor Sabri.[15] Naft Al-Wasat were one of the teams that weren't expected to qualify to the second stage. Despite losing a third of their games in the first stage, finishing in 4th position out of ten teams in their group, Naft Al-Wasat just about managed to qualify for the final stage, after wins against the likes ofErbil andAl-Zawraa; this itself was considered a big success for the young team.[16] In the second stage, the team surprised everyone by defeatingAl Shorta SC (the defending champions and one of the strongest contenders for the league championship) twice.[17] After taking the Group 1 lead, Naft Al-Wasat got qualified to the league final,[18] where they won overAl-Quwa Al-Jawiya via apenalty shoot-out.[19]
Their league title win qualified them for the2016 AFC Cup. They finished top ofGroup B with a record of five wins and one loss, but they lost 1–0 in theround of 16 toAl-Jaish. They were not allowed to play their home matches in Iraq in this tournament due to security concerns. In the2015–16 Iraqi Premier League, Naft Al-Wasat finished in second place in their group, behind eventual champions Al-Zawraa, to qualify for the final stage. In the final stage, Naft Al-Wasat finished as runners-up, again behind Al-Zawraa. As the league's runners-up, Naft Al-Wasat qualified for the2016–17 Arab Club Championship, where they got revenge on Al-Jaish by knocking them out to qualify for the group stage.
After achieving the2014–15 Iraqi Premier League, Naft Al-Wasat became the second team to be crowned as the Iraqi Premier League champions in their first season, the other beingAl-Zawra'a in the1975–76 season.[20] Naft Al-Wasat are also the first team fromNajaf to achieve the league and the fifth team that isn't fromBaghdad to achieve it since its start in 1974.[21][22]
The season-by-season performance of the club over the recent years:
| Season | League | Rank | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | Cup |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011–12 | Iraqi First Division League | 3 – Group 2 | 26 | 12 | 6 | 8 | 29 | 23 | +6 | 42 | — |
| 2012–13 | Iraqi First Division League | 5 – Group 2 | 23 | 8 | 11 | 4 | 29 | 20 | +9 | 35 | R32 |
| 2013–14 | Iraqi First Division League | 1 – Group 1 | 25 | 18 | 7 | 0 | 45 | 12 | +33 | 61 | — |
| 2014–15 | Iraqi Premier League | 1 | 25 | 13 | 6 | 6 | 24 | 15 | +9 | 45 | — |
| 2015–16 | Iraqi Premier League | 2 | 24 | 14 | 7 | 3 | 34 | 20 | +14 | 49 | R16 |
| 2016–17 | Iraqi Premier League | 5 | 36 | 19 | 11 | 6 | 45 | 26 | +19 | 68 | RU |
| 2017–18 | Iraqi Premier League | 9 | 38 | 10 | 19 | 9 | 42 | 38 | +4 | 49 | — |
| 2018–19 | Iraqi Premier League | 7 | 38 | 11 | 17 | 10 | 38 | 37 | +1 | 50 | R16 |
| 2019–20(1) | Iraqi Premier League | — | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 4 | — | — | R16(2) |
| 2020–21 | Iraqi Premier League | 5 | 38 | 16 | 15 | 7 | 46 | 31 | +15 | 63 | R32 |
| 2021–22 | Iraqi Premier League | 5 | 38 | 17 | 13 | 8 | 50 | 36 | +14 | 64 | R16 |
| 2022–23 | Iraqi Premier League | 18 | 38 | 5 | 21 | 12 | 26 | 34 | –8 | 36 | R16 |
| 2023–24 | Iraq Stars League | 20 | 38 | 1 | 13 | 24 | 24 | 65 | –41 | 16 | 2R |
| 2024–25 | Iraqi Premier Division League | 18 | 38 | 8 | 18 | 12 | 28 | 32 | –4 | 42 | 1R |
As of 14 July 2025[update].[23]Rank = Rank in the league; P = Played; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points; Cup =Iraq FA Cup.
in = Still in competition; — = Not attended; 1R = 1st round; 2R = 2nd round; 3R = 3rd round; R16 = Round of sixteen; QF = Quarterfinals; SF = Semifinals.
1 The league was not completed and was cancelled.
2 Naft Al-Wasat had not yet been eliminated from the cup but it was abandoned midway through.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Manager: | Imad Aoude |  |
| Assistant manager: | | |
| Assistant manager: | | |
| Goalkeeping coach: | | |
| Fitness coach: | | |
| Technical and Statistical Analyst: | | |
| U-19 Manager: | | |
| Director of football: | | |
| Administrative director: | Firas Bahrul-Oloom | |
Updated to match played 3 July 2020
Source: almaalomah.com
Abdul Ghani Shahad(2013–2015)
Hamza El-Gamal(2015–2016)Thair Ahmed(2016–2017)Adel Nima(2017–2018)Emad Mohammed(Feb 2018–June 2018) Majed Najem(June 2018–Dec 2018)Radhi Shenaishil(2018–2020)Jamal Ali(2020–2021)Abdul Ghani Shahad(2021–present)
