The Iraqi Super Cup (), previously called Iraqi Perseverance Cup (), is a super cup tournament in Iraqi football. Founded in 1986 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2026 by four teams: the winners and runners-up of the Iraq Stars League and the Iraq FA Cup.
Al-Zawraa are the most successful club with five titles. The current holders are Al-Shorta, who defeated Al-Karkh 1–0 in the 2022 final.
History Before 1973, league tournaments in Iraq were played at a regional level and there was a cup called the Iraq Central FA Perseverance Cup played between the winners and runners-up of the Iraq Central FA Premier League. Twelve years after the foundation of the Iraqi National Clubs League, the Perseverance Cup was played as a national tournament for the first time, and it was between Al-Talaba and Al-Rasheed, the winners and runners-up of the 1985–86 Iraqi National League.
It took another eleven years for the tournament to resume, returning in 1997 as a match between the winners of the Iraqi Premier League and the Iraq FA Cup. The 1997 and 1998 editions were played at the end of the season to bring a close to the campaign, but from 1999 onwards, the cup was played before the start of the following league season as a 'curtain-raiser' to the new league campaign.
From the 2003–04 season until the 2014–15 season, the Iraq FA Cup was either not played or not completed. It was finally completed in 2015–16, and therefore the Iraqi Perseverance Cup under the new name of Iraqi Super Cup was scheduled to be played in August 2016, but it was cancelled due to scheduling difficulties. The Iraqi Super Cup eventually returned in 2017 and was held four times until it was stopped after the 2022 edition.
On 24 May 2025, it was announced that the tournament would return for the following season with a new six-team format featuring the top four teams from the Stars League and the top two teams from the FA Cup. The six teams would be split into two groups of three, with each team facing the other teams in their group once. The group winners would qualify for the final, while the group runners-up would compete in a third place play-off. The competition was set to be held from 19–29 August 2025, however it was eventually cancelled after several teams announced their intention to withdraw from the tournament due to insufficient preparation time.
Rules Since 2026, the Super Cup has been a four-team tournament, with the Stars League champions playing the FA Cup runners-up in one semi-final, and the FA Cup winners playing the Stars League runners-up in the other semi-final. The winners of each semi-final match advance to the final to compete for the trophy. If the scores are level after 90 minutes, the teams play a penalty shootout. A maximum of five substitutions are available per match for each team.
If one of the FA Cup finalists finish in the Stars League's top two positions, the third-placed team in the Stars League enters the Super Cup, while if both FA Cup finalists finish in the Stars League's top two positions, the third and fourth-placed teams in the Stars League enter the Super Cup.
Finals by year Two-team format YearWinnersResultRunners-up Iraqi Perseverance Cup1986Al-Rasheed2–1Al-Talaba1987–1996Not held1997Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya3–1Al-Zawraa1998Al-Zawraa1–0Al-Shorta1999Al-Zawraa2–2 Al-Talaba2000Al-Zawraa1–0Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya2001Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya1–0Al-Zawraa2002Al-Talaba2–1 Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya Iraqi Super Cup2016Cancelled2017Al-Zawraa1–1Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya2018Not held2019Al-Shorta1–1Al-Zawraa2020Not held2021Al-Zawraa1–0Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya2022Al-Shorta1–0Al-Karkh
Four-team format YearFinalSemi-finalistsWinnersScoreRunners-up2026TBDTBD
Titles by club
TeamWinnersRunners-upYears wonYears runner-upAl-Zawraa531998, 1999, 2000, 2017, 20211997, 2001, 2019Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya241997, 20012000, 2002, 2017, 2021Al-Shorta212019, 20221998Al-Talaba1220021986, 1999Al-Rasheed101986—Al-Karkh01—2022
List of winning managers YearNationalityWinning managerClub1986Hazem JassamAl-Rasheed1997Ayoub OdishoAl-Quwa Al-Jawiya1998Anwar JassamAl-Zawraa1999Adnan HamadAl-Zawraa2000Adnan HamadAl-Zawraa2001Abdelilah Abdul-HameedAl-Quwa Al-Jawiya2002Thair AhmedAl-Talaba2017Ayoub OdishoAl-Zawraa2019Aleksandar IlićAl-Shorta2021Essam HamadAl-Zawraa2022Moamen SolimanAl-Shorta
References
External links Iraq Football Association