The 2025–26 season will be Al-Minaa's third season in the newly-formed Iraq Stars League, and their 49th season in the top division of Iraq football.
Review Background The club has been suffering from administrative instability for years. On 21 January 2025, the Iraqi Olympic Committee formed an interim administration for the club for the seventh time, in preparation for holding elections to appoint administrative body. This situation has significantly impacted the team's performance in recent seasons, as the team finished sixteenth in the league the previous season and narrowly avoided relegation. On 10 September 2025, elections were held to select a new administrative body under the supervision of a committee formed by the Iraqi Olympic Committee. Ten members were elected to form the administrative body after a period of tensions, failures, legal complaints, and personal conflicts.
On 22 July 2025, Luay Salah was appointed as the team's manager, along with his assistant staff consisting of Halgurd Mulla Mohammed and Ous Ibrahim, while Amer Abdul-Wahab continued as the goalkeeper coach.
Summer transfer window The Iraq Stars League's summer transfer window will run from 20 July to 20 September 2025, following a timing change by the Iraqi Football Association. Two months before the transfer window opened, the club's management renewed the contract of Congolese professional player Tuisila Kisinda for an additional season. On 30 June, the club's management decided to release a number of players due to their poor technical level, they're: Amir Ahmed, Hameed Ali Hameed, Jaafar Shenaishil, Sajjad Alaa, and Mohammed Ghaleb. Four players' contracts also expired and the club was unable to renew them due to unforeseen circumstances, they're: Waziri Shentembo, Gerald Takwara, Ousseynou Thioune and André Alsanati. On 21 July, the contract of the Gabonese midfielder Clench Loufilou was renewed. On 31 July, defensive midfielder Haider Salem has moved to Amanat Baghdad, and Al-Minaa officially announced the signing of Tunisian defender Dhiaeddine Jouini for one season. As well as the signing of Moroccan winger Reda Majji. On 6 August the club announced the signing of Nigerian striker Iyayi Atiemwen. On 7 August, the club announced its contract with the right-back Haider Ahmed and striker Mahmoud Khalil, and the next day he signed the right-back, Faisal Jassim, who played in a previous period for the team. On 9 August, the club announced its contract with goalkeeper Ali Ibadi and midfielder Ahmed Mahmoud, nicknamed the Japanese. On the same day, the club announced the signing of defensive midfielder Ali Al-Sajjad Sabah. On 16 August, the club announced the signing of midfielder Murtadha Ali Malas. On the same day, Hamid Abdulla left the team without a known reason, with one more season remaining on his contract with the club. On 18 August, Al-Minaa announced the departure of its striker and team captain, Alaa Abdul-Zahra, confirming that his contract would not be renewed. Meanwhile, the club announced the signing of Jordanian striker Mohammad Aburiziq, nicknamed Pogba. On 19 August, striker Salem Ahmed's contract was not renewed and moved to Al-Shorta. On 20 August, defender Hussein Amer moved to Al-Talaba, while goalkeeper Abed Saleem and defender Mujtaba Ali renewed their contracts with club, and the club announced the signing of defender Najm Shwan and goalkeeper Abdullah Ghazi. On 23 August, the club announced the signing of striker Mohammed Nassif from Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya. Later, defender Gerald Takwara moved to Al Ittihad Misurata.
Pre-season At its pre-season camp in Sousse, Tunisia, Al-Minaa played its first match on 25 August 2025, against CS M'saken. The match ended 1–0 after Iyayi Atiemwen scored the only goal for Al-Minaa. On 28 August, Al-Minaa played their second friendly match against ES Radès, defeating them 3–0. Mohannad Abdul-Raheem, Reda Majji, and Hassan Hamed scored the goals. In the third friendly match, Al-Minaa faced fellow Iraq Stars League side Al-Karma, and lost 3–1. In the fourth and final match of the pre-season camp, on 3 September, Al-Minaa played JS Kairouan, winning 2–1, with Mujtaba Ali and Reda Majji scoring the goals. The team thus concluded its preparations for the league and returned to Basra.
Stadium On 11 September 2025, the Al-Minaa media manager confirmed that the Al-Minaa Olympic Stadium is not prepared to host the Iraqi Stars League matches for the new season, indicating that the club management is seeking to adopt the Al-Fayhaa Stadium as a temporary stadium for the team.
September
Salah's side kicked off their Iraq Stars League campaign with a 3–1 win over Naft Maysan at away on 14 September. Iyayi Atiemwen scored his first goal in the 7th minute after an assist from Aburiziq. Atiemwen then assisted Majji in the 60th minute, who put it into the net. Atiemwen then scored his second goal in the 65th minute with an individual effort after stealing the ball from an opposing defender. The home team reduced the score in the 85th minute from a penalty kick that Daouda Diémé successfully converted after the referee consulted VAR. Al-Minaa suffered their first defeat of the season, losing 1–3 to Erbil at Al-Fayhaa Stadium. Mustafa Qabeel took advantage of two silly mistakes, one from defender Mujtaba Ali and the other from goalkeeper Ali Ibadi, to score a brace, while Sherzod Temirov managed to score the third goal for the visiting team while the defenders were distracted. The referee Mohanad Qasim awarded a penalty kick to Al-Minaa, from which Abbas Yas scored Al-Minaa's only goal. In the 83rd minute, Mujtaba Ali was sent off because of his reckless entry on Humam Tariq's foot. The team had just lost Tunisian defender Dhiaeddine Jouini to a back injury during training. He is expected to be sidelined for at least four months. The incident has been a major disappointment for the technical staff, given the importance of the player. Al-Minaa suffered their second defeat of the season, losing 0–1 to Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya at Al-Madina Stadium on 27 September. Al-Hareth Hatam managed to score an early, surprising goal in the fifth minute, and referee Yousef Saeed awarded a penalty kick to the home team, which was executed by Saad Abdul-Amir in the 21st minute, but Abed Saleem was able to save it. In the 75th minute, player Najm Shwan was sent off, and the match continued with great intensity, ending with a score of 1–0. The TV program, which evaluates referees' decisions, confirmed that the decision to sent off Najm Shwan was a wrong one.
October On 5 October, Al-Minaa secured their first home victory of the season, defeating Al-Najaf 4–2 at the Al-Fayhaa Stadium. Muslim Mousa scored the first goal, as Mohannad Abdul-Raheem provided him with an assist, and Abdul-Raheem returned to score a brace, the first with an assist from Mohammad Aburiziq, who provided a second assist for Ahamad Azzawi, from which he scored a goal. The visitors returned in the last four minutes of the match to score two goals. On 6 October, the club announced the signing of Guinean defender Ibrahima Conté. On 9 October, the draw for the Iraq FA Cup was held for the round of 32 matches, and the draw pitted Al-Minaa against Naft Al-Wasat in a home match. On 13 October, during the international break, Al-Minaa played Al-Gharraf in a warm-up match for the FA Cup, which ended in a 1–1 draw. Abdul-Raheem scored for Al-Minaa in the second half. On 17 October, Al-Minaa played their first FA Cup match against Naft Al-Wasat, which ended in a 2–1 victory. Azzawi and Aburiziq scored for Al-Minaa, while Alaa Mehaisen scored for the visiting team. On 26 October, Al-Minaa faced Diyala at their new stadium. Al-Minaa were the better side for the first twenty minutes, but Diyala quickly regrouped and took control of midfield. A goal scored by Mohannad Abdul-Raheem in the fourth minute of first-half stoppage time was disallowed by the referee due to a foul against Abdul-Raheem, and the match ended in a goalless draw. The management of Al-Minaa Club submitted an official objection against Diyala team due to legal violations, as the team list was changed four times during the match, and demanded that the Disciplinary and Appeals Committees of the Iraqi Football Association follow up on the objection and apply the legal regulations. On 31 October, Al-Minaa faced Al-Qasim at Al-Fayhaa Stadium, and managed to defeat them with a score of 2–0, with Azzawi scoring a brace.
November On 6 November, the club announced the signing of midfielder Ali Mohsin. On 7 November, Al-Minaa faced Masafi Al-Wasat at their home ground in Baghdad in FA Cup. The match ended in a 1–1 draw. The home team scored in the 69th minute by Ali Mohammed Sheer, and Aburiziq scored for Al-Minaa in the final minutes of extra time. Al-Minaa managed to win on penalties, with the goalkeeper Abed Saleem saving the final kick, resulting in a 5–4 victory. On 19 November, the Iraqi Football Association's disciplinary committee accepted the club's complaint against Diyala, and declared Al-Minaa the winner with a score of 3–0 in the fifth round match of the league, thus bringing the team's tally to 12 points in third place. On 22 November, Al-Minaa suffered a 2-0 defeat against Al-Karma in a match played that evening at Al-Ramadi Stadium, as part of the seventh round of the Iraq Stars League. Al-Karma took the lead through Moammal Abdul-Ridha in the 19th minute of the first half, which ended with Al-Karma ahead. The second half was no better than the first, and Al-Minaa players tried to equalize until the 86th minute when Al-Karma's Karrar Amer scored an own goal. The referee initially disallowed the goal but then consulted VAR, awarding a penalty against Al-Minaa. Ayman Hussein converted the penalty in the fourth minute of stoppage time, securing a 2–0 victory for Al-Karma. Refereeing experts on most television programs confirmed that canceling Al-Minaa’s goal was a wrong decision by referee Ahmed Kadhim, and that awarding a penalty kick to Al-Karma was also wrong. The referees committee, through a statement by the vice president of the referees committee on a television program, acknowledged the mistakes of referee Ahmed Kadhim in this match, as his decisions were unfair, as he canceled a valid goal for Al-Minaa, and awarded a phantom penalty kick to Al-Karma, and the committee punished him with suspension without announcing it.
First-team squad
No. Name Position(s) Date of birth (age) Signed from Goalkeepers1Abed Saleem GKAl-Karkh 39 022Ali IbadiGK Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya 1 030Abdullah Ghazi GKAl-Samawa 0 0 Defenders2Mohammed GhalebCBAl-Minaa Academy 27 03Ibrahima ContéCBUTA Arad 0 04Mujtaba AliCB / RB / LB Al-Minaa Academy 50 316Najm ShwanCB / DM Duhok 3 017Muslim MousaLB / LWBAl-Minaa Academy 61 521Haider AhmedRB / RWB Erbil 3 025Faisal JassimRB / CB Al-Shorta 24 033Abbas YasLB / CB / DMAl-Minaa Academy 154 5 Midfielders5Ali Mohsin DM / CMDuhok 0 015Ali Al-Sajjad Sabah DM / CMDiyala 1 020Ahamad AzzawiAMNewroz 4 179Clech LoufilouDM / CMSur 39 024Murtadha Ali Malas CMAl-Najaf 0 0 Forwards7Reda MajjiRW / LWDifaâ El Jadidi 4 18Mahmoud KhalilST / AMAl-Karma 3 09Mohammad AburiziqSTAl-Wehdat 4 010Mohannad Abdul-RaheemST / RW / AMAl-Quwa Al-Jawiya 32 711Karrar JaafarLW / ST / RWAl-Minaa Academy 84 1526Mohammed NassifST Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya 0 029Tuisila KisindaRW / RWBRS Berkane 40 288Iyayi AtiemwenLW / STAl-Najaf 4 2 Players transferred out during this season14Dhiaeddine JouiniCBUS Monastir 1 0
New contracts and transfers
New contracts DateName29RW Tuisila Kisinda79DM Clench Loufilou1GK Abed Saleem 4CB Mujtaba Ali
Transfers in