Kurdistan’s Erbil football club end Iraqi Premier League season with goalless draw

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region’s Erbil Sports Club concluded their 2018/19 Iraqi Premier League campaign with a goalless draw away to Al-Zawraa on Monday.

Although each side had their share of chances in either half of the game, neither could find a goal and had to settle for a 0-0 draw.

The game meant little as the Iraqi Premier League title race was decided a couple weeks ago as Al-Shorta Sports Club (27-8-2) beat rivals Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya (24-9-4) to claim the coveted trophy.

Meanwhile, Erbil (12-12-14) finish the season in 11th place with 48 points.

The Kurdistan Region club will be eager to improve their form in the 2019/20 season and fight for the title.

Next season will also see two teams from the autonomous Kurdish region compete in the Iraqi Premier League after Zakho Sports Club won promotion from Iraq’s second-tier league last week.

Related Article: Erbil come from behind to beat opponents Al-Bahri 3-1 in Iraqi Premier League

One of the league’s most successful football clubs, Erbil withdrew from Iraq’s Premier League during the 2016/17 season due to financial issues.

They have been crowned Iraqi Premier League champions four times, most recently in the 2011/12 season, when they only lost one match.

Erbil is also the first club from the Iraqi league to qualify for continental club tournaments. In 2008, they qualified for the Asian Champions League but failed to progress from the group stage.

However, in Asia’s second-tier continental tournament, the AFC Cup, Erbil has finished runners-up on two occasions, in 2012 and 2014.