Al-Rasheed
| Full name | Al-Rasheed Sports Club |
|---|---|
| Founded | 23 November 1983 |
| Dissolved | 18 August 1990 |
| Ground | Al-Rasheed Stadium, Baghdad, Iraq |
| Capacity | 6,000 |
|
Iraqi Premier League, 2nd |
Al-Rasheed Sports Club (Arabic: نادي الرشيد الرياضي) was an Iraqi sports club based in Karkh, Baghdad. Its professional football team played in the Iraqi Premier League, the top tier of the Iraqi football, from 1984 until 1990. The club's home stadium was Al-Karkh Stadium (then known as Al-Rasheed Stadium).
Founded in 1983 by Uday Hussein, Al-Rasheed were promoted to the top tier in their first season of existence and went on to win 3 league titles in the row, 2 FA Cups, 3 Arab Champions Cup titles, and reach the final of the 1988–89 Asian Club Championship. In 1990, the club was dissolved and all its properties as well as its place in the top division were transferred to Al-Karkh SC.
Taking the Al-Karkh Stadium as his club's, on 23 November 1983, Uday Hussein founded a new sports club named Al-Rasheed. The team was put straight into the second division of Iraqi football by Uday. A few days after their foundation, they played their first match in the second division (Baghdad Group) and it was against Al-Karkh, the team that would replace them seven years later; Al-Rasheed won the game 4–0. They were promoted to the Iraqi Premier League in their first ever season, after achieving the 2nd Division title. Uday Hussein brought most of the Iraq national team players into the club, managed by Ammo Baba, the head coach of the national team at the time. The most popular of them were Ahmed Radhi, Adnan Dirjal, Samir Shaker, Haris Mohammed, Habib Jafar, and Laith Hussein. Many of them, including Ahmed Radhi, were forced to join the club and had no choice in the matter. Uday Hussein was also known to punish players who did not perform up to standards by ordering his guards to beat them, and often forced them to completely shave their heads before matches to embarrass them in public. The club's taking of most of Iraq's best players as well as the fact that they made domestic football much less competitive made the team very unpopular among fans.
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