Newroz

Two Kurdish sides from Sulaymaniyah, Azmar and Kamal Salim, had been playing under their own names since 1994 before joining forces in 2008 to form Newroz SC. The colours it took on, yellow and green, read straight off the Kurdistan flag, and supporters settled on "A City's Hope" as its nickname.

For most of its existence Newroz sat in the lower tiers of Iraqi football. That changed in the 2020–21 season, when the club finished runner-up in the Iraqi First Division League and went up to the Iraq Stars League for the first time, taking its place among the country's elite in 2021–22. A year earlier, the 2019–20 Kurdistan Premier League campaign had been abandoned under COVID-19 restrictions with Newroz top of the table, though no title was handed out for it.

Newroz spent years playing out of Sulaymaniyah Stadium while a new home was built, and moved into the 14,500-capacity Newroz Stadium in October 2024.

The club has yet to land a major trophy. With top-flight football now a fixture rather than a novelty, staying there is the challenge in front of it.