1965–66 Iraq Central FA Premier League
The 1965–66 Iraq Central FA Premier League was the 18th season of the Iraq Central FA League (the top division of football in Baghdad and its neighbouring cities from 1948 to 1973), and the first under the name of Premier League. It kicked off on 15 October 1965 with its last matches being played on 2 June 1966.
| Season | 1965–66 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Al-Firqa Al-Thalitha (1st Al-Firqa Al-Thalitha title) (1st Al-Jaish title) |
| Top goalscorer | Nouri Dhiab Mahmoud Assad (7 goals each) |
← 1964–65 1966–67 → | |
With Al-Firqa Al-Thalitha all but guaranteed their first title, a decision to end the league with three games still to play was made on 11 July 1966 following a meeting held between the Iraq Central Football Association and the participating teams two days earlier. This was the first season that featured a double round-robin format where each team was scheduled to play all the other teams in the league twice, once home and once away.
Al-Firqa Al-Thalitha's Shidrak Yousif won the best player award while their duo Nouri Dhiab and Mahmoud Assad shared the top scorer award with seven goals each. Al-Firqa Al-Thalitha also beat Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya 1–0 in the Iraq Central FA Perseverance Cup on 9 June 1966.[1]
League table
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GAv | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Al-Firqa Al-Thalitha | 9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 25 | 6 | 4.167 | 14 | League Champions |
| 2 | Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 18 | 13 | 1.385 | 10 | |
| 3 | Maslahat Naqil Al-Rukab | 9 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 14 | 12 | 1.167 | 10 | |
| 4 | Aliyat Al-Shorta | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 15 | 21 | 0.714 | 8 | |
| 5 | Al-Kuliya Al-Askariya | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 15 | 0.600 | 6 | |
| 6 | Al-Firqa Al-Khamisa | 10 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 9 | 23 | 0.391 | 6 |