President Ayad Bunyan Ground Al Shorta Stadium Baghdad Cup Winners | Iraqi Premier League Winners | |
Top goalscorer League:Amjad Kalaf (9)All:Amjad Kalaf (9) | ||
In the 2012–13 season, Al Shorta won both the 2012–13 Iraqi Premier League and the Baghdad Cup.
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Al Shorta won the Iraqi League on the last day of an historic season, thrashing Al Talaba 3-0 to ensure that they clinched the title for the first time since the 2002–03 Iraqi Premier League season and finished two points ahead of second-placed Arbil, losing just two games in the entire season. Al Shorta also triumphed in the Baghdad Cup, with a 1-0 win over rivals Al Zawraa. Hussein Karim scored the winning goal in the match.
The season witnessed Al Shorta sign their first ever foreign players. Cameroonian defender Innocent Awoa was the first to join, and he became a key player for Al Shorta, scoring a goal on the opening day of the season. Suwaria Mohammed, an Ivorian defender, joined the club soon after Innocent Awoa's arrival, however he left the club without playing a single game due to homesickness. Cameroon international striker Jean Michel N'Lend signed a contract with the club at the start of the season and he bagged six goals during his relatively short spell at the club, including an historic hat-trick against rivals Al Quwa Al Jawiya. He became the first ever non-Iraqi to score a hat-trick in an Iraqi Premier League match and he left the club in May 2013. Nigerian striker Minusu Buba joined the club on loan a few games into the season and became a star striker, scoring eight goals including a goal in the final match of the season (the 3-0 victory over Al Talaba). Defender Paul Koulibaly, a Burkina Faso regular, joined in the winter transfer window and he provided solidity and experience to the league's second-best defence (only Baghdad FC conceded less goals than Al Shorta in the season).
Many of these signings were orchestrated by Al Shorta's Iraqi manager Thair Jassam, who joined the club at the very beginning of the season. He led the team to a league and cup double, cementing his place as a legend for the club.
Al Shorta's league top scorer was Iraqi forward Amjad Kalaf for the third season in a row; this time he netted nine goals.
Squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Score overview
Win Draw Loss
Note: Al Shorta goals listed first.
Classification
Updated to games played on 4 September 2013.
Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.
Results by round
Source: Soccerway
Ground: A = Away; H = Home. Result: D = Draw; L = Loss; W = Win; P = Postponed.
N = Neutral.