Naft Al-Wasat SC

Naft Al-Wasat
Full name Naft Al-Wasat Sports Club
Nickname(s) Andaleeb Al-Furat (The Euphrates Nightingales)
Founded 2008 (2008)
Ground An-Najaf Stadium
Ground Capacity 12,000[1]
Owner Midland Oil Company[2]
President Abbas Fakhruddin
Manager Abdul-Ghani Shahad
League Iraqi Premier League
2015–16 Iraqi Premier League, 2nd

Naft Al-Wasat Sports Club (Arabic: نادي نفط الوسط الرياضي‎‎; translates to Midland Oil) is an Iraqi sports club based in Najaf, Iraq. Its professional football team plays in the Iraqi Premier League, the top tier of the Iraqi football. The club's home stadium is An-Najaf Stadium.

Founded in 2008, Naft Al-Wasat spent three seasons in the Iraq Division Two and another three in the Iraq Division One until they were promoted from the 2013–14 Iraq Division One to the Iraqi Premier League. In their first season in the Iraqi Premier League, Naft Al-Wasat became the champions by achieving the 2014–15 Iraqi Premier League.

History

Naft Al-Wasat SC was found on 1 July 2008 by the Ministry 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.[3] The club entered the Iraq Division Two and was promoted to the Iraq Division One in the 2010–11 season. In the 2011–12 season, Naft Al-Wasat made their first transfer from other clubs, signing Karrar Abd from Kufa FC in January 2012.[4] In the 2011–12 season, Naft Al-Wasat barely qualified to the second stage, after having 8 wins, 6 draws and 4 losses, only a point away from Kufa FC.[5] In the second stage, Naft Al-Wasat finished in 4th place of the Group 2, at 12 points, after having 4 wins and 4 losses, ending their first season in the Division One with failure.[6]

In the 2012–13 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.[7] 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.[8] In the 2012–13 Iraq FA Cup, they reached the third round before being eliminated. In the first round, they defeated Samawa 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 to Masafi Al-Wasat 2–1 and drew the second leg 2–2, being knocked out 4–3 on aggregate.[9]

After the 2012–13 season, the technical staff was changed, signing the manager, Abdul Ghani Shahad, on 27 August 2013.[10] 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 from Al-Diwaniya FC, which was a big difference from last seasons.[11] In the second stage, Naft Al-Wasat took the Group 4 lead, at 20 points, by winning 6 matches and drawing in two.[12] They ended their season as the leaders of Group 1 in the last stage, claiming promotion to the Iraqi Premier League.[13]

After the end of the 2013–14 season, the club made major changes to get ready for the 2014–15 Iraqi Premier League with the total of 8 players signed,[4] but the most important signing was Noor Sabri.[14] 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 of Erbil and Al-Zawraa; this itself was considered a big success for the young team.[15] In the second stage, the team surprised everyone by defeating Al Shorta SC (the defending champions and one of the strongest contenders for the league championship) twice.[16] After taking the Group 1 lead, Naft Al-Wasat got qualified to the league final,[17] where they won over Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya via a penalty shoot-out.[18]

Their league title win qualified them for the 2016 AFC Cup. They finished top of Group B with a record of five wins and one loss, but they lost in the round of 16 1–0 to Al-Jaish. They were not allowed to play their home matches in Iraq in this tournament due to security concerns. In the 2015–16 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 the 2016–17 Arab World Club Cup.

Crest

Crest of Naft Al-Wasat consists of the colors, green and white.[19] In the top side of the crest there are two drilling rigs with fire coming out of its top and across the rigs, an Iraqi flag coming out of the five-ringed symbol of the Olympic Games and under it (2008 N.W.S.C), the foundation date and a short version of the team's English name.[19] In the bottom side is the Arabic name of the club and their hometown name, Najaf, written under it.[19]

Records

After achieving the 2014–15 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 being Al-Zawra'a in the 1975–76 season.[20] Naft Al-Wasat are also the first team from Najaf to achieve the league and the fifth team that isn't from Baghdad to achieve it since its start in 1974.[21] When the final match of the 2014–15 season, between Naft Al-Wasat and Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya, ended in a 6–5 win for Naft Al-Wasat via a penalty shoot-out, Noor Sabri remained undefeated in every penalty shoot-out throughout his career since 1999.[22]

Statistics

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 Iraq Division One 3 – Group 2 26 12 6 8 29 23 6 42 —
2012–13 Iraq Division One 5 – Group 2 23 8 11 4 29 20 9 35 3R(1)
2013–14 Iraq Division One 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

As of 22 May 2016.[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 Naft Al-Wasat were knocked out in the third round of the 2012–13 Iraq FA Cup, but the tournament ended up being abandoned later on.

Squad and personnel

Current squad

As of 18 August 2016[24]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
2 Syria MF Alaa Al Shbli
3 Iraq DF Ali Jassim
4 Iraq DF Mustafa Nadhim
5 Iraq DF Nabeel Abbas (Captain)
7 Iraq MF Salih Sadir
9 Iraq MF Ameer Sabah Khudhair
11 Iraq MF Thamir Barghash
12 Iraq DF Ali Kadhem
14 Iraq DF Ayad Khalaf
22 Iraq GK Salam Mottaleb
24 Iraq MF Aqeel Hussein
32 Syria DF Nadim Sabagh
33 Brazil MF Rivaldo Barbosa
34 Iraq MF Hozan Ismail
No. Position Player
— Iraq MF Khaldoun Ibrahim
— Iraq GK Mohammed Hameed
— Iraq GK Jalal Hassan
— Iran DF Alireza Mohammad
— Iraq DF Haidar Aboodi
— Iraq MF Sattar Jabbar
— Iraq MF Ammar Abdul Jaleel
— Iraq MF Amjad Attwan
— Lebanon FW Mohammed Ghaddar
— Iraq FW Bassam Qabil
— Iraq FW Mustafa Karim
— Iraq MF Samer Saeed

Current technical staff

Position Name
Coach Iraq Abdul-Ghani Shahad
Assistant coach Iraq Hassan Sami
Fitness coach Iraq Mouayad Ibrahim
Goalkeeping coach Iraq Abdul-Kareem Naeem

Honours

Domestic

References

  1. ↑ "Stadiums in Iraq". World Stadiums.
  2. ↑ "Shield of all shiels between the sixth for Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya and the first for Naft Al-Wasat" (in Arabic). Alnoor News. July 7, 2015.
  3. ↑ Al-Athari, Munthir (July 26, 2015). "Naft Al-Wasat – Story of A Small Club With Big Achievements". Al-Batal (in Arabic) (322).
  4. 1 2 "Naft Al-Wasat Players Transfers". Goalzz.
  5. ↑ "Iraqi First Division League 2011–2012". Goalzz.
  6. ↑ "Iraqi First Division League 2011–2012 – Second Stage". Goalzz.
  7. ↑ "Iraqi First Division League 2012–2013 – Groups Stage". Goalzz.
  8. ↑ "Iraqi First Division League 2012–2013 – Second Stage". Goalzz.
  9. ↑ "Iraqi FA Cup 2012/2013". Goalzz.
  10. ↑ "Abdul Ghani Shahad is named Naft Al-Wasat manager" (in Arabic). Holy Najaf Province Media Center. August 27, 2013.
  11. ↑ "Iraqi First Division League 2013–2014 – Group stage". Goalzz.
  12. ↑ "Iraqi First Division League 2013–2014 – Second stage". Goalzz.
  13. ↑ Al-Rikabi, Bassim (August 4, 2014). "Naft Al-Wasat are the first qualifiers to the Premier League and Al-Kahraba are in the lead" (in Arabic). Az-Zaman.
  14. ↑ Al-Fili, Mushtaq (December 5, 2014). "Noor Sabri leaves Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya and joins Naft Al-Wasat" (in Arabic). IMN News Center.
  15. ↑ Hatam, Uday (May 5, 2015). "Manager of Naft Al-Wasat considers his teams qualification to the Premier League second stage a great success" (in Arabic). Al-Sumaria.
  16. ↑ "Naft Al-Wasat gets qualified to the league final after winning over Al-Shorta" (in Arabic). Iraq Al-Qanoon. July 4, 2015.
  17. ↑ "Today, Premier's final between Naft Al-Wasat and Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya" (in Arabic). As-Sabah Al-Jadeed. July 11, 2015.
  18. ↑ Essa, Sami (July 12, 2015). "Naft Al-Wasat eliminates Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya and achieves the Iraqi League" (in Arabic). Kooora.
  19. 1 2 3 "Naft Al-Wasat Media". Facebook (in Arabic). February 8, 2015.
  20. ↑ "Iraq 1975/76". RSSSF.
  21. ↑ "Iraq – List of Champions". RSSSF.
  22. ↑ Al-Husseini, Maitham (July 12, 2015). "Godfather of the penalty shoot-outs, Noor Sabri: The crowning with Naft Al-Wasat has a special taste to it". Al-Mashriq.
  23. ↑ Stokkermans, Karel (October 15, 2015). "Iraq 2014/15". RSSSF.
  24. ↑ "Players Transfers of Naft Al-Wasat". Kooora (in Arabic).
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