2003–04 Iraqi Premier League
| Season | 2003–04 |
|---|---|
| Champions | None |
| AFC Champions League |
Al-Shorta Al-Zawraa |
|
← 2002–03 2004–05 → | |
The 2003–04 Iraqi Premier League kicked off on January 8, 2004. The name of the league was changed from Iraqi First Division to Iraqi Premier League. Due to the War in Iraq, the season was abandoned in May 2004 after ten group stage matchdays and no champions were able to be announced due to the competition's format.
The top four teams from each group were meant to advance to the elite stage, which would be followed by semi-finals, a third place match and a final, with the champions and runners-up qualifying for the 2005 AFC Champions League and the third-placed team qualifying for the 2004–05 Arab Champions League.
As this was not able to happen, the Iraq Football Association decided that a play-off would be held between the top four teams from the Central Groups to decide which two sides would qualify for the AFC Champions League, on the incorrect assumption that the leaders of the North and South Groups at the time of cancellation (Erbil and Al-Najaf) would be admitted into the Arab Champions League along with Al-Talaba, who were invited to compete.
Al-Shorta and Al-Zawraa were the teams to qualify to the AFC Champions League, but no teams were admitted to the Arab Champions League after Iraq withdrew from the tournament following UAFA's decision to only let them have one participant.[1]
Name changes
- Al-Difaa Al-Jawiya renamed to Al-Estiqlal.
Group stage
Note: As many teams had played different numbers of games to each other, the group standings were determined by points per game in order to decide which teams qualified for the play-off round or potentially for the Arab Champions League.
North Group
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Pts per game | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Erbil 1 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 19 | 8 | +11 | 21 | 2.10 | |
| 2 | Al-Mosul | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 13 | 8 | +5 | 16 | 2.00 | |
| 3 | Duhok | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 6 | +4 | 12 | 1.71 | |
| 4 | Zakho | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 9 | +2 | 15 | 1.50 | |
| 5 | Kirkuk | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 10 | –2 | 15 | 1.50 | |
| 6 | Al-Sulaymaniya | 9 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 6 | 17 | –11 | 6 | 0.67 | |
| 7 | Peris | 8 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 14 | –9 | 2 | 0.25 |
1 On the assumption that Iraq would be granted three slots for the 2004–05 Arab Champions League, the Iraq FA planned to admit Erbil into the competition as leaders of the North Group. However, UAFA only allowed Iraq to have one participant, leading to Iraq withdrawing from the tournament.
Central Group A
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Pts per game | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 | +13 | 18 | 3.00 | Play-off round |
| 2 | Al-Shorta | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 4 | +15 | 16 | 2.67 | |
| 3 | Al-Karkh | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 11 | +1 | 13 | 1.63 | |
| 4 | Al-Estiqlal | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 11 | 15 | –4 | 10 | 1.25 | |
| 5 | Diyala | 9 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 21 | –14 | 6 | 0.67 | |
| 6 | Salahaddin | 9 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 16 | –11 | 4 | 0.44 |
Central Group B
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Pts per game | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Al-Talaba 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | +4 | 6 | 3.00 | |
| 2 | Al-Naft | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 11 | 1.83 | Play-off round |
| 3 | Al-Zawraa | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 3 | 1.50 | |
| 4 | Al-Jaish | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 11 | 0 | 10 | 1.43 | |
| 5 | Samaraa | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 1.20 | |
| 6 | Al-Sinaa | 8 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 15 | –6 | 5 | 0.63 |
2 On the assumption that Iraq would be granted three slots for the 2004–05 Arab Champions League, the Iraq FA planned to admit Al-Talaba into the competition after they were invited to compete by ART. However, UAFA only allowed Iraq to have one participant, leading to Iraq withdrawing from the tournament.
South Group
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Pts per game | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Al-Najaf 3 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 4 | +9 | 18 | 2.57 | |
| 2 | Al-Kahraba | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 7 | +5 | 17 | 1.89 | |
| 3 | Al-Samawa | 9 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 11 | +1 | 15 | 1.67 | |
| 4 | Al-Minaa | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | –1 | 11 | 1.57 | |
| 5 | Al-Nasiriya | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 8 | 15 | –7 | 3 | 0.38 | |
| 6 | Al-Basra | 8 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 13 | –7 | 3 | 0.38 |
3 On the assumption that Iraq would be granted three slots for the 2004–05 Arab Champions League, the Iraq FA planned to admit Al-Najaf into the competition as leaders of the North Group. However, UAFA only allowed Iraq to have one participant, leading to Iraq withdrawing from the tournament.
Play-off round
First legs
| Al-Shorta | 3–2 | Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya |
|---|---|---|
A. Abdul-Hussein  T. Abdul-Hussein Ridha |
Mohammed Abdul-Wahid |
Second legs
| Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya | 1–1 | Al-Shorta |
|---|---|---|
| Khudhair Mohammed  |
Ridha |
Al-Shorta win 4–3 on aggregate to qualify for the 2005 AFC Champions League
Al-Zawraa win 6–0 on aggregate to qualify for the 2005 AFC Champions League