From Iraq to the world - a build nation save - 30 Seasons in

[Ace40]

A new save

Hello everyone, and welcome to my build a nation save with Iraq, I have been wanting to play this for a while but I finally have the chance to do so. I recently finished my journeyman save and will attempt a build nation save for the first time. I know that it is a hugely uphill battle playing with a poor nation, which is why I am using David's increased realism mod, which claims to make it an easier task without breaking the immersion. The save also uses Dave's around-the-world megapack, and a mod to add in the Gulf Cup and FIFA Arab Cup. I have tried to find a mod that adds the Arab Champions League, which is a real and active tournament like the previous two, however, I haven't found one that works well with the game. 

 

This save is close to my heart, as I am from Iraqi and the AR for Iraq in the game. The goal in this save is to take over the Iraqi NT eventually, win the Asian Cup, and go as far as possible in the world cup. On the league side, I want to make Iraq the highest coefficient in Asia and win the CL with multiple clubs. 

 

If you would like to read over my previous save, you can do so on this link Sacked in a month in Latvia, Last gasp drama in Wales,Cup magic in Denmark, an adventure in Greece, and glory in Spain - The ultimate Journeyman save [Finished]

Iraq 
Football is the most popular sport in Iraq, and despite the many setbacks the country has faced over the past century, Iraqi football has maintained itself as one of the best in Asia. They have numerous youth world cups and Olympic game appearances, finishing 4th in both the 2004 Olympics and 2013 U20 world cup. They have one senior appearance in the world cup in 1986, and many Asian football followers expect them to have more regular occurrences in the expanded format, as Iraq is no stranger to falling in the last round of world cup qualifiers, where Asia’s best 10 teams fight for 4 spots, with more spots to fight for, Iraq fancies its chances in going back onto the world stage. 

The Iraqi NT's biggest achievement, however, is defying the odds in winning the 2007 Asian Cup. In the midst of the civil war, Iraq managed to beat Australia, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia en route to lifting the trophy. 

Currently, the Iraqi NT is going through a rebuild, with Jesus Casas at the helm. The Spaniard was Luis Enrique’s assistant with Spain and is going through his first managerial job. He is renewing the team with new, young players and his efforts have paid off as Iraq won the Gulf Cup for the first time since 1979. 

The Iraqi Premier League 
The Iraqi Premier League was also a regional heavyweight in the eighties, winning three Arab CL, and having Baghdad-based club Al Shorta reach the Asian CL final, before withdrawing as they did not want to face Israeli opposition, who was awarded the title. Unlike the NT, the local league has failed to keep up, with the only bright spot is Al Quwa Al Jawiya winning three back-to-back AFC Confederation cups, Asia’s second competition.

 However, it should be noted that the drop-off between the CL, and the secondary competition is much larger than in other continents. Iraq only took part in the AFC Cup due to the fact that they did not meet most of the requirements to play in the CL, but the truth is the clubs they beat were not very strong, and since Iraq’s return to the CL in 2019, no club has come close to getting out of the group stage, with Iraq’s failures in the CL it is only a matter of time before they get demoted back into the AFC cup.

Iraqi football has been dominated by clubs from the capital city of Baghdad. Of the 11 teams that won the Iraqi league, six have been from Baghdad, combining for 41 of the 49 titles. Al Zawraa has 14 titles, followed by Al Jawiya with 7, and current champions Al Shorta with 6. We will be focusing on clubs from outside of Baghdad for this reason.

 

 

Edited October 18, 2023 by Ace40

[Ace40]

Our first club 

Our first club of this save will be Samar'a, a club in the second division of Iraq. Samarra is one of the most influential cities in Iraqi history, but it has fallen on hard times as with the rest of the country, 

The football club spent 22 consecutive seasons in the top flight, but has gotten relegated in 2011 and came back in 2021, only to go straight back down with 12 points 

Samarra are from the Saladin Governorate, one of the only provinces outside of Baghdad to have won the league. However, that honor belongs to their local rivals Saladin SC, who are now in the third division. 

The club itself only has one second-division title to its name, and we will try to change that 
 

The most famous monument in Samarra, The spiral Minaret which is a UNESCO world heritage site, and is over 1100 years old. It also sits on the center of our badge 

 

 

[Ace40]

Meet the squad 

As you can see it is mostly greyed-out players, most of the second-division teams are like this due to lack of available data. 

We have a spine of really good but really overpaid players. Noor Sabri in goal on 4k, Ahmed Ayad in defense on 3.8K, and Said Salman in midfield for 5.2K

Despite their quality I will try to sell them on to free up the wage budget.

The team also has absolutely no staff so we will work on getting that set up. 

The team is allowed 2 foreign slots in this division, while we have 4, so we need to get rid of at least two of them to not burn money on useless players.

The team is predicted to finish 5th in this season (finished 6th IRL) but just getting 23 warm bodies in will give us a chance. 

Only the top team from the group of 10 gets promoted, with the title decided in a one-off match against the leader in the second group

Edited July 21, 2023 by Ace40

[Ace40]

The Metrics 

These are metrics that I will be tracking each season. From my knowledge improving the facilities is very important in this type of save, so I will try to focus on that. 

Additionally, I will not be providing updates every month for this save as it won't be necessary due to the length of the save as we could go on for decades. 

I will start with every three months and adjust how I see fit. 

[Ace40]

The Tactic 

Nothing crazy here, we are going with a typical lower league 4-4-2 with two big bastards playing up top. 

We signed 12 players on loan to help us fill up the bodies, but the bulk of the starting 11 was inherited from the start. 

We failed to sell any of the foreigners, and any of our high wage players, which will make the finances for us very difficult this season. 

We have no choice but to go up the first time of asking.

The transfers put us 3rd in the predicted standings by the media 

 

Edited July 21, 2023 by Ace40

[Ace40]

The Kits 

Another first for me, which is creating kits for the team. I've never done this before and tbh I didn't spend too much time on these but I like the way they turned out 

Irl they wear a sold red and a sold white, but I thought that was boring

I will most likely spend way more time than I should create kits for the other teams, as there isn't a kit pack with Iraqi league jerseys, and they all suck anyways 

[acidmonkey]

Looking good, im a sucker for a building a nation save,

[FoxGe1994]

Will look forwards to you post - keep up the good work - nice start 

 

[Ace40]

12 hours ago, acidmonkey said:

Looking good, im a sucker for a building a nation save,

Thanks, I've been wanting to do this for a few years now, and with how crazy I presume Saudi will be next edition I think this could be my last chance to make it happen

[Ace40]

1 hour ago, FoxGe1994 said:

Will look forwards to you post - keep up the good work - nice start 

 

Thanks, glad to have you on board

[Ace40]

Nov - Feb 

The second division season starts in November and the winter transfer window opens in Feb so I thought this would be a good place for an update. 

We started the season with 6 straight league victories before losing against Al Bahri, in a game where we conceded 2 in the last five minutes. We also dropped points against Al-Sinaat Al Kahrabiya away from home 

Things have been going on even better in the cup, as we beat first-division side Naft Al Basra on pens to reach the QF. 

It looks like it will be a three-horse race for the sole promotion spot between us and the two sides that we failed to beat. 

On the transfers side, we sold one of our foreign players for free to get some space in the wage budget, and we replaced him with a free striker who will be our 4th option. 

We don't need him now, but at the moment he is the only player with a contract for next season. We also sold a young midfielder for 2K to Zakho, a side in the first division 

We are currently 500K in the red due to the ridiculous wages some of our players started with. 

Edited July 21, 2023 by Ace40

[Ace40]

Feb - June 

The second half of the season was a tight affair, we start with two straight-forward wins, before getting eliminated in the QF of the cup by Duhok, a team in the first division. 

We then lose our second league game of the season and drop points in March against Hawija, a relatively poor side. 

It all came down to the second to last match of the season, and a 2-0 win against Sinaat Al Kahrabaiya meant we all needed a point in our final game to get promoted. 

In May we played against Al Mina'a, the winner of Group B, to decide the winner of the second division trophy, which we took home. 

 

[Ace40]

Iraqi clubs in 2022-2023

As mentioned earlier, the second team to get promoted with us to the Premier League is Al Mina'a, the first side from outside of Baghdad to ever win the league back in the 70s. 

The team was relegated for the first time in the 21-22 season, but bounced back, both in-game and in real life. 

The Iraqi Premier League was won by Al Shorta, the same team that won the season IRL. 

The Iraqi FA Cup was won by Karbala, becoming the first club from outside of Baghdad to win the competition! 

For their efforts, all three teams have received some kits so they can play in fashion moving on. 

 

Iraqi Clubs in Asia 

It has been a poor poor season for Iraqi clubs in Asia, which saw us drop down in the coefficient to 14th place, being overtaken by Jordan 

Al Quwa Al Jawiya finished third in their group in the CL, a reasonable result given their level. 

However, the biggest surprise was Al Karakh, who lost out in the playoffs to Estghelal, then finished 3rd in the Confederation Cup group 

The reigning FA Cup champions finished dead last in the league and got relegated, I'm not sure how as in all the test runs I did they finished somewhere midtale 

However, they did have the displeasure of playing both Asian champions, as Estghelal won the CL, and Lebenase side Al Ansar won the AFC Cup

Edited July 23, 2023 by Ace40

[Ace40]

Iraqi NT in 2022-2023 

A disappointing debut year for Jesus Casas 

Unlike in real life, he has not called up any of the European-based players and depended solely on domestic talent, and they did not deliver 

the team was eliminated in the SF of the Gulf Cup against eventual winners Bahrain, a tournament that was on home soil.

In the Asian Cup, the team went out in the round of 16 against Saudi Arabia on Pens following a modest GS. The tournament was won by South Korea for the first time in over 50 years. 

With results, and lineups like these, I can't see Casas remaining at the helm for too long, but I'm afraid it is too early for us to be considered for the job. 

Edited July 23, 2023 by Ace40

[Ace40]

End of Season review 

A good season for us but a bad season for the project as the league regressed 

We weren't able to improve any of the facilities due to our financial situation 

The Youth Intake happens in June in Iraq close to the end of the season, but we did not have anyone worth writing about 

[Ace40]

Takeover Complete 

A takeover from a Consortium clears or debts and gives us a fighting chance to get something done next season 

We have 7.5K transfer budget and 35K in wages to spend. We currently have 1 player on the team, so it's an exciting challenge. 

The foreign quote is now up to 4, so more chance of us doing something 

[Ace40]

One thing that I did not anticipate that I probably should have .... not having any players means no one wants to join because the squad isn't strong enough 

[Ace40]

June - October 

After a grueling transfer window, we have enough players to go into the new season. 

A bunch of loans, a lot more free signings, and 700$ spent on an Iranian Goalkeeper 

The standout signings are Alex Orahoa was released by QPR, and Wakaa Romadhan  from Al Naft, we will rely on him to get the goals 

The season preview ... does not look encouraging, firmly last, the finances tell the whole picture  

We are dead last in wages, half of the team above us, we were spending 25K last season per week, while this season only 15K! 

Despite the doom and gloom, I believe I have a good squad, it is filled with journeymen and lower-division players, but they have some strong physicals 

which is vital at this level, I don't need them to set the world on fire, just be better than two other teams, how hard can it be? 

If do we end up going down, I have a team strong enough to bounce back, and my finances should be in a place where I can start getting some upgrades 

[Ace40]

Oct - Feb 

It has been a rough first half of the season, but we are still alive. 

two wins and three draws see us two points behind Al Hedood and safety. 

We are also in the round of 16 of the cup but we haven't beaten anyone worth talking about

Our squad is absolutely terrible, and our foreign signings have flopped, with one already shipped back out

We will try to improve the squad in the winter window, although players are still not keen on joining us.

[Ace40]

Training Facilities upgrade 

The silver lining of this season is we are getting our first facilities upgrade 

[Ace40]

Feb - June 

We signed 43-year-old Juan Arango on a free, as well as a midfielder from Guinea called Sana. 

We also added 6 new players on loan or free transfer to help us with depth 

Our journey in the cup ended at the hands of Zakho in a 7-4 thriller in the round of 16.

The new signings have made a difference and we finally climbed out of the relegation zone

However, it is still very close, we are only 2 points ahead of the drop with 4 matches to go 

one of the games is a relegation six-pointer against Al Diwanya 

[Ace40]

June - July 

4 points from the last 4 matches were enough to keep us in the division. 

Our youth Intake was disappointing, I assume it will be a long time until we get someone who could be useful 

[Ace40]

Iraqi clubs in 2023-2024

Al Naft and Al Karkh both bounced back to the Premier League to replace Naft Al Basra and Al Hedood 

The Iraqi Premier League was won by Al Quwa Al Jawiya for the 8th time in their history 

They were close to a domestic double but they lost to Al Zawraa in the final who won a record extended 16 FA Cups

Iraqi Clubs in Asia 

Another poor season for Iraq in Asia, however, we went up to12th in coefficient due to losing a bad year and teams around us losing a good one in the calculations  

Al Shorta finished last in a close group in the CL, only 3 points away from first. Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia won the tournament 

Al Quwa Al Jawiya finished a disappointing 3rd in their confederation cup group

Australian side Sydney FC won the tournament 

The coefficient bump means we will have two sides in the CL playoffs and one in the group stages. 

 

 

Edited July 23, 2023 by Ace40

[Ace40]

Iraq NT in 2023-24 

Another average season for Jesus Casas and the Iraqi side. 

The NT was knocked out of the Arab Cup by Syria in the QF, a tournament that was won by Morocco 

He has managed to get Iraq into the final round of the WCQ with some good results, and now he has to deliver the country its first WC appearance since 1986. 

It is a difficult group,, where the top two qualify directly and the next two go on to play in more qualifiers 

[Ace40]

End of Season review 

A season where the country made modest gains, and we survived our first season in the Premier League 

No changes on the club as the training upgrades kick in next season, I'm disappointed at the lack of movement in reputation as that means the transfer window will be hell once again 

I've given loanee Mahmoud Ahmed POTY for his contributions in keeping us up. 

[Ace40]

June to October 

You know the drill, free signings, loans, and a squad overhaul. 

We had some trouble offloading players, so we terminated a few contracts so we can free up space in the squad 

We also splurged the cash on a worldwide scouting plan, which helped us vastly improve the quality of our foreign signings 

The issue remains our domestic talent, as they make up the remaining 19 players in the squad, and we are still unable to attract any good ones. 

The marquee signings were Botswanan International Seglome Boy. 

We are still predicted to finish last this season, but I think we will avoid relegation, and we will have a better time this season. 

Our wages have doubled since last season, and we are no longer bottom in that regard!

Sponsorship money is unchanged 

[KristianT]

Following this with great interest. Great to see someone playing in Iraq, a rare country to see a save in. Well done surviving, hope you will manage the second time as well!

[Ace40]

31 minutes ago, KristianT said:

Following this with great interest. Great to see someone playing in Iraq, a rare country to see a save in. Well done surviving, hope you will manage the second time as well!

Thanks for following on, it's motivating to stick with a save when I know other people find it interesting. If you have any ideas on how to make this a more enjoyable read let me know

[KristianT]

Just keep going and see how far you can go. The Middle East is a largely unexplored terroritory in FM for me and it is challenging with all the teams starting with Al and some teams in different countries share the same names. Just tagging along to your save is nice

[Ace40]

Oct - Feb

What an incredible first half of the season! we won 5 of the first 6 league games, before going winless in 8. 

However, our early form means we've matched last season's point tally with half the games played. 

A huge part of our winless streak was that morale tanked, all the players leftover from last season are unhappy with their game time, and a couple of new signings are unhappy I broke some promises. 

The board on the other are very happy with me and has granted another upgrade to the training facilities and a first upgrade to the youth facilities. 

We are also in the round of 16 of the cup once again, where we will have a rematch with Zakho. Since our survival in the league is pretty much guaranteed, I will throw my whole focus into the cup to try and win some silverware. 

In the winter transfer market, we will be focusing on getting rid of the unhappy players and trimming down the wage budget a little bit. The good domestic players are finally starting to listen to offers, but we can not afford any of them. 

That does leave me with encouragement that we can fight for the title next season if we make the right signings 

 

[Ace40]

Feb- July 

The second half of the season saw a similar story to the first, runs of really bad form mixed in with runs of very good form. 

We ended up 7th in the standing, which is a fantastic result for us. 

Our dreams of an FA Cup run were quashed by Kahrabaa in the SF. 

We had our first Top Talent come from the Intake so we'll keep an eye on him 

The board has also decided to build a new stadium for reasons that escape, we currently average about 500 people in our 10K stadium 

 

 

Edited July 24, 2023 by Ace40

[Ace40]

Iraqi clubs in 2024-2025

Amanat Baghdad finally returned to the Premier League, alongside Al  Hedood who bounced back 

Two huge shocks went down, with Karballa, the team that won the first FA Cup this save finishing bottom, and Al Talaba, who finished 6th last season, joining them in the second division 

The Iraqi Premier League was won by Al Quwa Al Jawiya for the 9th time in their history in comprehensive fashion, 20 points ahead of first place.

This time they managed to win the double after winning the FA Cup.

Iraqi clubs in Asia 

This was a better season for our clubs in Asia

Al Quwa Al Jawiya finished second in their group in the CL on 9 points, In Asia's CL, the 3 best second-place teams go through, and Al Jawiya missed out by a point. Korean side Junbouk won the title. 

Al Zawra'a reached the west SF in the AFC Cup before losing to Omani side Dohfar. Thai side Buriam United won the cup, with the help of Iraqi CB Ruben Sulaka #

Their efforts mean that Iraq will move up a spot in the Coeffeciant race to 11th. 

Edited July 23, 2023 by Ace40

[Ace40]

Iraq NT in 2024-25 

Another average season for Jesus Casas and the Iraqi side. 

The NT lost in the Gulf cup final to Saudi Arabia, an acceptable result 

In the third round of the WCQ, Iraq finished 4th in the group, which qualifies to the fourth round of qualifiers in all Arab Affair on all sides

In this format, the leader of each group qualifies to the 2026 WC, the seconds play each other, and the winner qualifies to the worldwide playoffs 

Having lost twice to Syria in the third round, and the Arab Cup last year, Casas needs to figure out a way to beat them if Iraq are going to make it to 2026 

Edited July 23, 2023 by Ace40

[Ace40]

End of Season review 

A season where we made huge strides in becoming an established side in Iraq

A midtable finish, a Cup SF, and upgrades all around in facilities and reputation

Next season will be all about that extra push to break into the top 4. 

I've given club's top goal scorer Falah Abdulkareem POTY 

 

[Ace40]

Feb - Oct 

We made a lot of signings and sold one of our players for 2.5K because he was unhappy 

I'm really happy about the upgrades we've pulled off, the marquee signings are Cardo Siddik from Scunthorpe(currently at Palace IRL), and Ali Al Hammadi on loan from Wimbledon for 6 months

These may be unrealistic, but the game hasn't been updated to reflect their true ability (Ali was Wimbledon POTY irl, but barely plays in the save) so for our purposes 

We also significantly upgraded our domestic players and got in three very good foreign players to add to the one we retained

I learned from my mistake last time and decided to sign two players from the foreign players' nations to keep them happy, it is costing me 450 a month to keep two unregistered players but I'm hoping it will be worth it 

One of them is 19 and has decent potential at least 

The season preview has us at 10th, while I genuinely think we have the players to challenge for top 4, and even the league if Jawiya calm down a bit 

Still the third lowest wage budget in the league, and sponsorships money has risen a bit but the rest seem to have gotten most of the money 

We also spent 12K on a player making him our biggest signing yet. 

[Mr Jabay]

Hi Ace, great read, I am following along. Hopefully you produce more elite youths in the future...

[Ace40]

12 hours ago, Mr Jabay said:

Hi Ace, great read, I am following along. Hopefully you produce more elite youths in the future...

Thanks for tagging along. Hopefully we can produce more talent with the upgraded facilities and recruitment 

[Ace40]

Oct-Feb 

 A fantastic start to the season that sees us first at the halfway mark

However, it is a tightly contested season, with only 3 points separating us from seventh 

We also finally get access to our Vietnamese talent Campbell Delany, he has been on trial with us for 2 years waiting for him to turn 18 

He looks like a tidy player, unfortunately, one of our foreign players will have to make a way in order for him to play 

 

Campbell Delaney stats

Spoiler

 

Edited July 24, 2023 by Ace40

[Ace40]

Feb - May 

our brilliant form continues despite losing Ali Al Hammadi 

With 5 games to go, we are in the lead but it is a 3 horse race with two traditional powerhouses 

We are also into the QF of the FA Cup 

[Ace40]

We've DONE IT

 

[Ace40]

May - July 

Well we've won the Iraqi Premier League, I knew we had the team to do it, but we were lucky it was a weak season and opponents dropped so many points

We only finished with 9 more points as compared to last season when we finished 7th, to put it in perspective, Al Jawiya won the league with 20 more points than we did last season

Nonetheless, they all count the same, and we are Champions! 

The youth take provided us with two top talents this time, but once again I don't see it 

Edited July 26, 2023 by Ace40

[Ace40]

Iraqi clubs in 2025-2026

Al Samawa finally returned to the Premier League, adding another province in the league, and Al Talaba went straight back up 

The FA Cup curse continues as last year's finalists, Al Kahraba, went down, alongside Al Hedood. 

We won the Iraqi Premier League!!!!

Al Jawiya retained their FA Cup by beating Al Karakh.

Iraqi clubs in Asia 

So, during my test runs two issues would happen with the save that I could not fix, which is sometimes the game does not compute the teams that should be playing in Asia. 

My theory is this is because the Iraqi League runs until July, and the draw for the qualifiers happens before the season finishes if a few matches get delayed due to the NT playing in the summer, which happened this time. However, I am not sure if this is the cause 

We were supposed to get one team in the CL GS, one team in the playoffs of the CL, and one team in the AFC Cup GS. 

What ended up happening is that the teams in the playoffs and AFC Cup GS did not end up getting qualified, so we were only left with one team in the Asian CL 

This broke the AFC Cup, which had one group with 3 teams, and as a result, no games were held after the GS, and no winner was crowned in the rankings intact 

Another issue that sometimes happens is that the team in the Asian CL GS also goes to the AFC Cup GS. I have no clue why. This happened to us next season, so I will simply ''throw'' the AFC Cup for immersion's sake, even if it hurts the coefficient.

Al Jawiya once again lost out on the KO by one point but did well to get us enough points to make up for the game's **** up 

Edited July 26, 2023 by Ace40

[Ace40]

Iraqi NT in 2025-2026 

It has been a busy season for Jesus Casas and the Iraq squad, taking part in three tournaments 

First off he got a point against Syria, which put Iraq in the World Cup for only the second time in history Since 1986, where Syria was also the pivotal match that got Iraq qualified( we won that one tho)

Syria got their revenge in the GS of the Arab Cup, but we still made it out to the Knockouts, losing in the QF against Qatar. Morocco retained their title and is now within one more win of matching Iraq's record of 4 wins. 

He then took part in the World Cup and got handed a nightmare group with Serbia and Brazil, and the results went as expected

Finally, Iraq went into the West Asian Football Federation Championship (WAFF) and lost in the QF against Kuwait, the only result I consider disappointing, the U.A.E won the tournament 

All in all an acceptable, and very realistic year of football for Iraq. Should have done better in the WAFF but it is a friendly tournament so it isn't the end of the world 

His job is considered Stable, but I'm hoping he resigns or gets another job because we are now in a position where we would probably get the job 

[Ace40]

End of the Season Review 

A fantastic season this time where we managed to cause an upset and win the league

An acceptable season on the NT level, and got slightly screwed in Asia, but I know it is coming and will happen every few years 

We got another upgrade to the Training facilities. The reputation went up, but not enough to push us to two stars 

I've given Ahmed Jassim, a young CB who is spending his second season on loan, POTY due to his 7.15 avg rating, Unfortunately we were outbid for his services and won't be able to keep him fulltime 

[Ace40]

The new gameplan 

I mentioned last season, I bought a free agent to help settle in one of my signings. 

He was 19 years old, and had decent potential for this level, he spent 6 months in the U21s and then left on loan during the second half of the season to a second-division club

To my surprise, we received a club record offer for him, and I obviously took the money. 

It then dawned on me that he was the third foreign player that I sell to a domestic club, and all three would be one of the best foreign players in the league 

So the new game plan is to stockpile young players with potential, send them out on loan, then try to cash in on them 

This would both provide me with much-needed income, and raise the level of the league 

[Ace40]

July to October 

It has been a busy, and disappointing, summer transfer window

In addition to Sarr, I have sold Mbow to a Qatari club. He performed well but I signed a really good foreign striker and I needed to free up a foreign slot. 

I think I will come to regret that decision, as I failed to sign any of my CB targets and settled for worse players. I really thought that winning the league would get me any domestic player I want but we are still struggling with reputation

My strong defense is what won me the league last season, and I have downgraded two of them. 

However, I am hoping my attack makes up for it, as I broke my transfer record twice

Once on Ali Al Hammadi to bring him back on a permanent deal for 47.5K, rising to 65K 

Then a young Cameroonian called Will Ma Boumsong for a whopping 62K, rising to 110K 

I may have gone overboard with my ''gameplan'' as I signed 6 player to the U21, with two more joining when they turn 18 

All are for free except one player for 7K. 

We are predicted to finish 6th in the league, but once again I know we can fight for the title, but I am worried about my defence, and Al Jawiya look very strong this season

We are also one of the big spenders now, 7th in wage spending. 

Commercial income has increased, but not as much as I hoped. 

 

[Ace40]

Oct - Feb 

We got absolutely smacked in the CL, and as promised we threw the Confed cup, but still managed to pick up some points. 

The schedule has been absolute hell with three competitions, so now I'm hoping we can kick on the second half of the season 

We have been inconsistent in the league but done enough to stay in the title race, it will be a close one but I think we can retain. 

The focus in the winter window will be to find loans for our foreign youngstars

[Ace40]

Feb- June 

Less congested fixture list and a much-improved squad morale made us unstoppable in the league, and we cruised to a second straight title. 

We had a disappointing cup run, getting knocked out in the QF. 

We got another poor intake this season. We reached a point where we need a lot of money to upgrade facilities which we aren't making enough income

I'm hoping we can get some good fees in the summer for our title winning squad

[Ace40]

Iraqi clubs in 2026-2027

Naft Al Basra returned to the Premier League after a few years away, and they were joined by Al Sinaat Al Kahrabiya

Both promoted teams, Al Talaba, and Al Samawah went back down

We won the Iraqi Premier League!!!!

Naft Al Wasat won the Iraqi FA Cup for the first time, beating Al Mina'a in the final. 

Iraqi clubs in Asia 

We had a horrid time in Asia, we purposefully threw the AFC Cup, which we were not supposed to take part in, and got destroyed in the CL, despite our best efforts

We finally have some good news, however, as Al Jawiya managed to get out of the GS of the CL for the first time this save

Unfourtantly, they fell at the first hurdle against the Iranian side Esteghlal. Al Nassr retained the Asian CL

Al Jawiya's performance made up for ours, and we managed to close the gap to 10th place in the coefficient 

[Ace40]

Iraqi NT in 2026-2027 

Another underwhelming year for the Iraqi NT 

The team was knocked out by Oman in the Gulf Cup SF, who then lost to Bahrain. 

The team was knocked out in the round of 16 of the Asian Cup. Australia won their second title. 

Longtime manager Jesus Casas resigned in the summer, to take a job in England as the manager of Rotherham in the Championship

We didn't get to apply for his job... because it was offered to us straight away

 We have some time to settle in as we don't have any competitive football for the rest of the year

y 

 

Edited July 28, 2023 by Ace40