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Overview
12 teams completed, and Al-Shurta won the championship.
Final Round of the Season
Before the final round of the season, Al-Zawraa were in 1st place with 34 points and Al-Shorta were in 2nd place with 33 points. On Friday 2 May 1980 at Al-Shaab Stadium, Al-Shorta faced Al-Minaa in their final game of the season and won the game 3-1, earning themselves two points that moved them to the top of the table. Al-Zawraa were a point behind them with a game in hand, but they had inferior goal difference so they had to defeat Al-Shabab two days later at the same stadium in order to win the league. A draw would not be enough for them.
Al-Zawraa were clear favourites to beat Al-Shabab and had many national team players in their squad, but Al-Shabab shocked everybody when they went 1-0 up inside the first five minutes through Qasim Mousa. Al-Shorta could not believe their luck, but Al-Zawraa equalised 15 minutes later with a penalty kick scored by Thamir Yousif. Everybody expected Al-Zawraa to go on and get the victory they needed to win the title, but to everybody's surprise they couldn't find a winner. The final few moments were frantic with Al-Zawraa throwing everybody forward to attack; all Al-Shorta could do was watch on nervously. But the final whistle blew at 1-1, meaning that Al-Shorta won the league on goal difference as both teams had 35 points.
It was Al-Shorta's first ever Iraqi League title and one that their supporters will never forget.