Back-to-back wins for Erbil in Iraqi Premier League

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region’s Erbil Sports Club won 3-0 on Sunday to claim all three points in their Iraqi Premier League encounter with Al-Hudod.

After a slow start to the game at the Franso Hariri Stadium, Erbil opened the scoring from a corner kick in the 30th minute through Brazilian Marcelo Silva.

The Kurdistan Region club was the dominant side throughout the half and continued to threaten the opposition goal.

The Kurdish club eventually doubled its lead from another corner kick when Neiaz Muhammed headed the ball into the net on the stroke of half time.

Aso Rustam added the third in the 70th minute, his second goal in as many games.

The 3-0 win keeps Erbil’s hopes of a top-half finish in the Iraqi Premier League alive as only 11 points separate them from fourth spot and possible qualification in Asia’s continental club tournaments.  

Erbil’s (10-9-11) next match is away to league leaders Al-Hudod (22-7-1) on June 9.

Related Article: Iraqi Premier League: Kurdistan Region’s Erbil secures 3-0 win

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 have finished runners-up on two occasions, in 2012 and 2014.