Full name | Al-Shorta Sports Club |
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Nickname(s) |
Al-Qeetharah (The Harps) Al-Khadra (The Greens) Al-Shortawiyah (The Policemen) |
Founded | 14 November 1932 | as Montakhab Al-Shorta
Ground |
Al-Shaab Stadium, Baghdad |
Capacity | 34,200 |
Owner | Ministry of Interior |
President | Ayad Abdul-Rahman |
Manager | Mohamed Youssef |
League | Iraqi Premier League |
2015–16 | Iraqi Premier League, 7th |
Website | Club home page |
Active departments of Al-Shorta SC | ||
---|---|---|
Football | Basketball | Handball |
Futsal | Volleyball | Swimming |
Athletics | Archery | Wrestling |
Boxing | Weightlifting | Bodybuilding |
Wushu | Taekwondo |
Al-Shorta Sports Club (Police Sports Club, Arabic: نادي الشرطة الرياضي) is an Iraqi sports club based in Rusafa District, East Districts of the Tigris River, Baghdad. It has teams in many different sports including football, basketball,handball,futsal, volleyball, swimming, athletics, archery, wrestling, boxing, weightlifting, bodybuilding, wushu and taekwondo. The oldest and best known section of the club is the football team.
Al-Shorta were founded in 1932 under the name Montakhab Al-Shorta and are the third-oldest existing football club in the country. They are widely regarded as one of Iraq's best teams and they are one of only three Iraqi teams to ever win any major continental club competition, having lifted the Arab Club Championship trophy in 1982 and being widely considered across Asia as the winners of the AFC Champions League in 1971. They won all the games they played en route to the final of the tournament, but refused to face Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv in protest at the Israeli occupation of Palestine, instead waving the Palestinian flag around the field. They were regarded as champions in the Iraqi media (the Al-Mal'ab newspaper headline the following day read: "The Champions of Asia Return to Baghdad") and were greeted with a heroes' reception upon their return to the country; they are now regarded by vast majority of people in Asia as the winners, with the subsequent expulsion of Israel from the AFC.