[From Iraq to the world - a build nation save - 30 Seasons in]

Oct - March 

We are flying in the first half of the season, top of the league, top of our CL group

We are undefeated in the league

But of course, already out of the cup due to losing to Erbil 

We sell Sibanda (AM) to a Saudi club for 650K 

We replace him with an Albanian player who will join us at the start of the next season, we also sign a Malian 17-yr old ST who will follow him 

In the meantime, we loaned in Mubarak from Qatar to replace him, we also sign a Saudi DM on loan to play in the CL 

[From Iraq to the world - a build nation save - 30 Seasons in]

Notable Transfers 

We activate the clauses from both sales last year

I will be aiming for 4M+ for the Mutero, I'm not in a hurry to activate it as I'm sure he will perform 

 

[From Iraq to the world - a build nation save - 30 Seasons in]

July to October 

Our salary spend goes up considerably, moving into 5th place 

No change on the sponsorship end 

We are once again predicted to be 1st, but Samara'a are still very strong, it will be a close fight 

We use the money we got from Muterero on a facility upgrade

[From Iraq to the world - a build nation save - 30 Seasons in]

2035-36 Transfer special 

I usually include this as part of the season preview, but this season it needs its own post

This has been the longest and most frustrating summer this entire save. The main antagonist of it was our chairmen 

Let's start with the outgoings 

Mister Chairman forced us to accept offers for Baraza (AM), Jawad (RB) and Yang Jie (GK) I could have gotten so much more for all of them, but the more damaging part is the no one resale clause 

He then sold Amir Jalal (DM) for 98K, again I was powerless to stop him. 

Then he came for the star man, Mutero, In the midst of a bidding war that I engineered, he accepted a 500K offer from Duhail when the current highest offer was 750K with the clause

After a very real threat of resigning, he withdrew his acceptance and I kept on pushing until I got 1.4M from Al Hilal 

Another decent deal is Bonaiface Abdullah(not pictured) going on loan to Al Taawoun with a mandatory buy clause and 50% of the sale 

He got the last laugh as he sold my backup GK  who would be promoted to starter on deadline day, forcing me to sign a replacement on triple the wages 

Incomings 

We signed two Tunisian CB on a free for the loan army 

Abbas Karim joined for 61K to be our new GK 

David Ngoma, was brought in for 155K to play AM

The biggest signing however is Haidar Ammar, I shared a screenshot of him as a 16-year-old earlier, and I decided to go all out to buy him. 200K will be a bargin. but his wages and incentive might bankrupt us, he could earn over half a million while the rest of the squad combined earns 1.5

[From Iraq to the world - a build nation save - 30 Seasons in]

End-of-Season Review 

A good season in Asia where we reach the QF, but we failed to make waves domestically 

Our reputation increased to 2 stars and we should be able to go after some better players now 

All facilities remain 

49 goals for Mutero in an incredible campaign, earns himself Poty

..... We get two new fans

[From Iraq to the world - a build nation save - 30 Seasons in]

Iraqi NT in 2035 - 36 

Building upon our great runs in the World and Asian Cups, we head into the Arab Cup and pick up our most significant piece of silverware in 20 years 

We beat Tunisia in the final, and we return to be joint record holders of the tournament alongside Morocco with four 

We also do the business in the World Cup qualifiers and are in through the final round 

We reach the SF of the WAFF tournament which is one I really don't care about anymore 

[From Iraq to the world - a build nation save - 30 Seasons in]

Iraqi Clubs in 2035-36

Sinaat Al Kaharabiya and Naft Maysan both went down straight away

Al Qasim returned to the PL after a year in the second division and were joined by Al Naft who have been away since 2028

Samara'a won the Iraqi PL for the first time since I left them

Naft Al Wasat beat us in the final of the Iraqi FA Cup

Iraqi Clubs in Asia 2035-36

Al Shorta lost in the Playoffs

They were knocked out in the playoffs 

Samara'a beat Perspolis to reach the GS, but finished bottom of their group with 3 points

We reached the QF in our first-ever participation in the CL 

A mediocre season sees us drop to 9th in the coefficient table 

However it does not impact our places, we will get one in the GS and two in the playoffs next season

[From Iraq to the world - a build nation save - 30 Seasons in]

March - July 

A lackluster second half of the season 

We were cruelly eliminated by Al Ittihad 6-5 on aggregate 

We finished third in the league 

We ..... lost the FA Cup final against Naft Al Wasat due to an 87th-minute corner 

We got 2 elite talents in the Intake but I lost the Screenshot 

 

[From Iraq to the world - a build nation save - 30 Seasons in]

Oct-March 

 A good start to the season, we are second in the league at the halfway point, trailing Samara'a 

We made it to the QF of the Asian CL, after getting 15 points and finishing second 

We then beat Estghlal in the round of 16 to set up a date against Al Ittihad 

We are still in the FA Cup 

We made three foreign signings in the winter, to get our loan army up and running 

We face the same problem we did at Samra'a, the only way we sign these players is to overpromise on their roles so they don't want to leave on loan 

70K we spent on Assana, a winger who will probably replace Banza next season if we manage to get a good fee for him 

[From Iraq to the world - a build nation save - 30 Seasons in]

Notable Transfers 

It took the beginning of our 5th season to have some transfers worth talking about 

Majrashi and Fame both head to Qatar for 100K each. One issue is that I currently keep 100% of the transfer revenue until I hit 4.Mil so we won't have money to upgrade our facilities for a while 

[From Iraq to the world - a build nation save - 30 Seasons in]

July - Oct 

We were very busy in the transfer window, we upgraded most of our local players. 

We also sold three of our foreign players, two of whom went for 100K 

We replaced Majrashi with 19-year-old Mutero who we spent 27K on 

We signed Chinese GK Yang Jie on a free, he has good stats for this level and I'm hoping we can get big money from one of the CSL teams, although the league isn't loaded 

Sibanda (which seems to be a very popular Zimbabwe regen name, this is the third Sibanda I sign this save) comes in to play AM 

Oliver Sidbe comes in to play CB in the CL, but won't be registered in the league. I did spend 28K on him so hopefully we get a good run in the CL 

Peng came in on loan so our Chinese Keeper has an easier time adapting 

We move up a few places on the salary front. Duhok almost tripled their wage spend from last season but they are still bottom 

We are predicted to finish 1st, we should be able to retain but judging how close it was last season it isn't a done deal 

[From Iraq to the world - a build nation save - 30 Seasons in]

End-of-season review 

A fantastic season where we won the league and reached the SF of the FA Cup. We improved our training facilities and youth recruitment, we hit an all-time high in our NT Ranking. 

Other clubs let us down as we lost a CL spot and dropped to 8th in the coefficient table

Fahad Majrashi scored an incredible 40 goals throughout the season, earning himself the much-deserved POTY. Attendance keeps improving, although it looks like a blip in our 30,000 seater 

Finances are in the red but nothing to worry about

[From Iraq to the world - a build nation save - 30 Seasons in]

Iraqi Clubs in 2034-35 

Nawroz went straight back down, joined by Al Qasim 

Al Sinaat Al Kahrabia and Naft Maysan were promoted 

We won the Iraqi Premier League!

Al Quwa Al Jawiya won the FA Cup, beating Zakho in the final 

Iraqi Clubs in 2034-35 

Zakho was given the CL spot over us despite us being above them in the league the entire season 

They were knocked out in the playoffs 

Samara'a also failed to make the Group Stages 

Al Jawita finished third with 6 points while Naft Al Wasat made it to the knockouts 

They were knocked out of the first knockout round by Al Ain

Another bad season sees us drop down to 8th, and we now lose a playoff spot 

[From Iraq to the world - a build nation save - 30 Seasons in]

March - July 

We get our first league title for Karbala, making it the 5th province to win the Iraqi League 

It was an incredibly tight affair, all the teams rounding up the top 4 all finished 4 points behind us, our strong end to the season secured us the title. 

We, of course, lose in the Iraqi FA Cup SF on penalties, at this point I think I'm going to win the World Cup before I win the FA Cup

Huge shoutout to Duhok, who stayed up with an incredibly tight budget and against all odds

We get another 3 Elite Talents in our Youth Intake

[From Iraq to the world - a build nation save - 30 Seasons in]

Campones 

جيب الكاس جيبه

[From Iraq to the world - a build nation save - 30 Seasons in]

Asian Cup 2035

After our impressive World Cup run, we went to Doha with big hopes for the Asian Cup in Jan of 2035

We received a huge blow right before the start of the tournament as our talisman Ammar Hammoud got injured a week before the tournament and was ruled out 

Nonetheless, we still had high hopes for using the remainder of the team 

We went three for three in our group which consisted off Syria, Bahrain, and Vietnam 

We then beat Lebanon 4-0 in the round of 16, before beating China 2-0 in the QF

We faced a formidable South Korean side in the SF, where the quality difference was apparent, and we lost 4-1

The Koreans beat Australia in the final, winning their 3rd title

[From Iraq to the world - a build nation save - 30 Seasons in]

Oct - March 

A fantastic start to the season where we see ourselves first in the league 

We are also still in the FA Cup after beating a couple of tough opponents 

Not much movement on the transfer front, we sell our backup CB and RB and replace them with better and younger local ones, at a net cost of about 40K 

We also get an upgrade to our training facilities 

[From Iraq to the world - a build nation save - 30 Seasons in]

July to October 

We sell two of our foreign players, Moussa Fall for 40K and Ahmed Mohammed for 20K 

Although I wanted to keep both, Fall is 29 and has very little value, so it doesn't make sense to waste a foreign spot on him 

Ahmed requested to leave so I cashed in on him for 20K. I wanted to keep him as I was sure his value would continue to rise but my hands were tied 

Ugandan winger Banza was already unregistered at the club, so I promoted him to the first team 

I signed Saudi striker Al Majrashi on a free transfer 

I got the idea to sign him after seeing Ahmed Mohammed get a lot of interest throughout the season from UAE clubs 

It makes sense as these players would not be counted as foreigners and naturally more teams would be interested in them 

The issue is that these players have high reputations and wages, so we can't really sign any good ones even if they are young 

I'm hoping Al Majarashi can bring us a six-figure fee if he performs well, I changed my tactic to feed one striker to get him as many goals as possible 

We make some reinforcements on our local players as well

Due to our WC run, a number of players from Samra'a and Al Jawiya were sold. For the first time, I have faith in being able to mount a title charge 

We are second bottom in wage spend at 1.5M, but spare a thought for newly promoted Duhok who are only spending 350K all season 

We move into 11th in the Sponsorship table 

We are predicted to finish 5th, but as I said, I don't think the top three are as strong as last season 

#

 

[From Iraq to the world - a build nation save - 30 Seasons in]

One to Watch 

It seems my good work at Samara'a is starting to pay off as this 16-year-old striker has come out of their youth set-up 

He is already one of the best in Iraq stats-wise, and he scored 2 goals in 4 games at the WAFF 

Hopefully he has a big future ahead, I submitted a 70K offer for him but he refused to Join us 

[From Iraq to the world - a build nation save - 30 Seasons in]

End-of-season review 

A season where not much happened, to repair the financial damage we got from our last round of facility upgrade

We finished with 10 more points than last season but the competition improved as well and we remained 4th 

I gave POTY to winger Yves Fame, who hit double digits in both goals and assists 

Our Youth recruitment finally improved to become one one-star 

Our NT Ranking reaches 42, only 3 spots away from Iraq's highest-ever ranking 

[From Iraq to the world - a build nation save - 30 Seasons in]

World Cup 2034

Hosted in China, the 2034 marks the third successive edition in which Iraq qualifies for the World Cup, and 4th overall 

We came in having never gotten a single point in any of our appearances on the world stage 

We were placed in Pot 3 and came up against France, and Egypt 

Match One 

France vs Iraq 

We came in with a fearless attitude, and managed to score 3 goals against the French 

However, Les Blues were never in danger as they took the lead in the fifth minute and did not take their foot off the gas 

Our CB pairing had a game to forgot as Rayan Cherki had free reign and scored a brace 

Match Two 

Iraq vs Egypt 

The Pharaohs were dismantled in style, as we beat them 5-0 

We were up 2-0 by Halftime, and as Egypt kept committing more men forward we hit them on the counter-attack and scored three more 

That marked our first ever win in a world cup match, and cemented a place in the round of 32 

Round of 32 

Iraq vs England 

In our first-ever World Cup knockout, we faced one of the title favorites, England 

Saka put the three lions ahead within 2 minutes, but our boys fought back and scored the equalizer through Abdullah Hafez 

We then put on a defensive masterclass, helped by a great performance from keeper Ali Khudhair 

Our CB got a second yellow card a few minutes before we went to penalties 

We scored our first 4 penalties, while England missed two of the five and we record a historic victory 

Round of 16 

Iraq vs Ivory Coast 

In a match where we faced an opponent that was better, but not invincible, we went in with several players suspended, and a couple injured, which significantly hurt our chances 

Ivory Coast scored twice in 4 minutes early in the first half, and we spent the rest of the match playing catch-up 

Ahmad Khaziravi's brace gave us a flattering scoreline, the reality is the Ivory Coast was in control the entire match. 

Despite the heartbreaking result, it was a huge tournament for us, and a much needed sign that the project is going somewhere 

My Former player at Samra'a, Will Ma Bamsoung, scored the winner for Cameroon to avenge us and knock out the Ivory Coast in the QF 

Spain beat Germany to win their second WC 

[From Iraq to the world - a build nation save - 30 Seasons in]

Iraqi clubs in 2032-2033

Mosul went straight down with 7 points, and were joined by Naft Al Basra 

Two Kurdish clubs are promoted as Nawroz bounce right back up, with Duhok finally returning to the Big time

Al Quwa Al Jawiya won the Premier League, making it 11 titles and closing in on Al Zawra'a's record

Samara'a won the FA Cup

Iraqi clubs in Asia 

One of the worst campaigns in recent memory 

Both myself and my former club lost in the Playoffs and failed to make the GS

Zakho and Al Jawiya both fail to make it out of the groups

We fall to 7th in the coefficient table, however, it does not affect the teams we send to the CL 

Al Ain of UAE won the title 

 

 

[From Iraq to the world - a build nation save - 30 Seasons in]

March- July 

We finish the season in 4th spot once again, however our CL Spot went to Zakho in 6th place for some unknown reason 

It was another close season where the top 3 were just much better than us 

We get 3 Elite Talents in the Youth Intake 

[From Iraq to the world - a build nation save - 30 Seasons in]

Oct-March 

We are in a top 4 race, but Jawiya are too strong to be challenged for the title 

Our FA Cup Curse reaches a comical low as we lose to third-tier side Al Hussein on penalties 

No notable movement in the winter transfer market

We are too broke to ask for any facility upgrades 

[From Iraq to the world - a build nation save - 30 Seasons in]

July to October 

The board forces us to sell Culubali to Al Jawiya, as well as Foku to Al Khor 

Both were sold for way below what I think they should be sold for, and we even lost 15K on Foku 

We signed Moussa Fall on a free transfer, what was once the best player in the league was handled terribly by Samara'a since I left, he hasn't scored at all in the last two seasons! 

We signed two other foreign players, as well as strengthening some of our local players 

I think another top 4 finish should be the aim, the squad isn't good enough to go all the way 

We are still third lowest on the wage budget

No changes on the sponsorship front 

 

Look How They Massacred My Boy 

 

Spoiler