Al Karkh

Ahmad Abdul-Jabar's name still comes up whenever the talk turns to Al-Karkh.

Founded in 1963, Al-Karkh spent long stretches of its history outside Iraq's top flight, and its path back into it owed something to circumstance: when Al-Rasheed SC was dissolved in 1990, its place in the first division passed to Al-Karkh rather than being fought for on the pitch. The club has carried the nickname Al-Canary ever since, a reference to the yellow of its kit.

The honours board is short but real. Al-Karkh won the Iraqi First Division League in 2012–13 to confirm their return among the country's leading clubs, then went further in 2021–22, lifting the Iraq FA Cup for the first time.

Home games are played at Sharar Haidar Stadium, a ground that has changed its name more than once over the years, most recently having carried the name of Ahmad Radhi, Iraq's former international forward, before taking its current one. It holds a little over five thousand people, in keeping with a club that has built its identity in the district rather than in the stands.

Among the forwards who wore the shirt, Mohammed Gassid is remembered as the kind of player Al-Karkh's supporters built their expectations around, the sort of name that still gets mentioned before the club's cup run does.