Al Minaa Basra

The men who founded the club in Basra were dockworkers and sailors of the Marine Transportation Company: Al-Safana, the Sailors, though older supporters also call it Al-Areeq, the deep-rooted one. The club took shape on 22 November 1931 in a port city.

For decades Iraqi football ran through Baghdad, which is what makes the 1977–78 season stand out: under coach Jamil Hanoon, Al Minaa went through the campaign unbeaten, took the title with eight wins and five draws from twenty-one points, and became the first club from outside the capital to win the national championship. Jalil Hanoon top-scored that season and later passed his name to the club's youth academy alongside Ali Abdul Zahra and Hadi Ahmed. A First Division title in 1987 brought the club back into the top flight after a spell away, and an FA Cup final appearance in 2005 ended in a 2–0 defeat to Al Quwa Al-Jawiya.

Basra derbies against Naft Al-Basra are played out now at the 30,000-capacity Al Minaa Olympic Stadium in blue and white. The club's website has gone quiet, but its history has not.