Duhok SC
Iraqi association football club

Football club
Duhok SC
Full nameDuhok Sports Club
NicknameMountain Hawks
Founded1970; 56 years ago (1970)
GroundDuhok Stadium
Capacity22,800
ChairmanAbdullah Jalal moustafa
ManagerAbdul-Ghani Shahad
LeagueIraq Stars League
2024–25Iraq Stars League, 7th of 20
Websiteduhoksc.com

Duhok Sports Club (Kurdish: Yana Dihok ya Werzişî, Arabic: نادي دهوك الرياضي) is an Iraqi professional sports club, based in Duhok, Kurdistan Region, Iraq. Founded in 1970, the club competes in the Iraq Stars League. Duhok SC's biggest rivals are also their neighbours Zakho, producing passionate and fierce matches every season, with whom they contest the "Badinan Derby".

Duhok has won the Iraq Stars League once and the Iraq FA Cup once. Duhok became the first Iraqi club to both participate in and win the AGCFF Gulf Club Champions League, having been crowned champions in the 2024–25 season.

Club history

Duhok SC was founded by the youth of Duhok city when three teams joined together to establish the club on 14 December 1970.

Duhok Football Club began its football journey in rural league competitions until the 1974–75 season, when the club decided to suspend its activities to support the post-nationalistic struggle to defend the rights of the Kurdish people in Iraq. In 1976, Duhok Football Team participated in the Iraqi Third Division, and by 1978, the team had moved up to the Iraqi Second Division. During the 1990–91 season, the team did not participate in the league due to a major uprising. The club resumed participation in the 1992–93 season in the Iraqi Fourth Division, earning promotion to the Third Division a year later. In the 1993–94 season, Duhok SC played in the Third Division and was once again promoted, this time to the Second Division.

During the 1980s, Duhok SC had several talented players, one of the most notable being Wahid Kovli. Around 1985, he emerged as a key striker for the team, known for his goal-scoring abilities and impact on the squad’s performance. His skills made him a feared forward in the league and a crucial player for Duhok SC.

The 1994–95 season was a defining moment for Duhok SC, as they claimed the Second Division title and secured a spot in the Iraqi First Division for the 1995–96 season. Duhok SC remained in the First Division throughout the 1996–97 season.

In the 1997–98 season, Duhok SC secured promotion to the Iraqi Premier League by winning the First Division. Since then, the club spent many years in mid-table, occasionally challenging the top Iraqi teams. However, everything changed after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, which brought new opportunities and freedom for Kurdish sports teams and athletes, allowing them to excel in both national and international competitions.

Duhok SC finally realized its full potential during the 2009–10 season when they won their first-ever Iraqi Premier League championship, defeating Talaba SC 1–0 to claim the title. In the 2011–12 season, Duhok SC finished as runners-up, qualifying for the AFC Cup for the second time in its history. The last time Duhok SC played in the AFC Cup was in the 2010–11 season, where they reached the quarter-finals.

Official sponsors

  • Asia cell 2006/2007.
  • Korek Telecom 2009/2010.
  • Newroz Telecom 2012/2013.
  • Adidas, even though it is not a legitimate sponsor, because the club only took one of the Adidas World Cup designs 2013/2014
  • Fastpay 2022/2023
  • First Iraqi Bank 2024/Present

Stadium

Duhok Stadium is the stadium where Duhok Sport Club play their home games. It is a multiuse stadium in Duhok, Kurdistan. The stadium originally held 10,000 people, but after reconstruction it now holds 25,000 people, making it one of the largest in Iraq. It was built in 1992. It is located on Raza Road, Duhok.

Rivalries

Duhok FC fans consider Zakho FC and Erbil SC to be their main rivals. Zakho FC are the club's traditional rivals with whom they contest the "Duhok Derby" but differing fortunes have somewhat diluted the clubs' dislike of each other, even though now Zakho FC are back in the Iraqi Premier League and the rivalry is set to continue and to be more heated than ever. Erbil SC and Duhok SC also share very heated rivalries, as the two main Kurdish teams in the Iraqi league both teams are very much still rivals, even though these clubs are bitter rivals, the number of incidents and violence has decreased incredibly now these clubs share very safe but still heated encounters.

Crest and Nickname

The Duhok SC logo features the club's primary colors, yellow and blue. It depicts a hawk, symbolizing the club's nickname, "Mountains' Hawks" (صقور الجبال)(ئەلھۆیێن چیا). The logo also includes the letters "DSC" at the top, representing Duhok Sports Club, and displays the year of the club's founding at the bottom.

Kits

Playing kit

Duhok's home shirts are now always yellow and blue, in 2012 Duhok Sc introduced a new home kit for the season 2012/2013, a yellow kit with sky blue hoops. Traditionally the home kit has always been yellow, the away kit would usually be blue or blue and white. Duhok SC has made the colours yellow and blue the club's prime colours.

Past kit

Current squad

First-team squad

As of 15 January 2026
Duhok SC squad
No. Pos. Player Nationality Notes
31 GK Ali Yaseen Iraq Iraq
12 GK Ahmed Bashar Iraq Iraq
33 GK Zana Jawzal Iraq Iraq
3 CB Josef Al-Imam Iraq Iraq
4 CB Saad Natiq Iraq Iraq
14 CB Khadim Rassoul Senegal Senegal
44 CB Hamoud Mashaan Iraq Iraq
99 RB Siyaband Ageed Iraq Iraq
27 RB Bayar Abubakir Iraq Iraq
6 LB Sadiq Jamal Iraq Iraq
LB Khaled Kourdoghli Syria Syria
2 LB Ahmed Al-Wajeeh Yemen Yemen
55 DM Léo Costa Brazil Brazil
CM Zana Allée Iraq Iraq
10 CM Haron Ahmed Iraq Iraq Captain
18 CM Ahmad Allée Iraq Iraq
17 AM Hassan Emad Iraq Iraq
25 AM Muntadher Mohammed Iraq Iraq
8 SS Karim Darwiche Lebanon Lebanon
80 SS Yannick Zakri Ivory Coast Ivory Coast
7 RW Peter Gwargis Iraq Iraq
19 RW Andre Al-Sanati Iraq Iraq
26 LW Mustafa Nawaf Iraq Iraq
11 CF Pashang Abdulla Iraq Iraq
16 CF Zhiyar Ibrahim Iraq Iraq
20 CF Bouly Sambou Senegal Senegal
77 CF Youssef Ben Souda Tunisia Tunisia
88 CF Alaa Abbas Iraq Iraq

Technical staff

Position Name Nationality
Head coach Abdul-Ghani Shahad Iraq Iraq

Club managers

Recent history

Season Pos. Pl. W D L GS GA P AFCCL AFCC FA Cup Notes
2000–01 5 30 16 7 7 44 24 55
2001–02 7 38 19 13 6 61 38 70 Round 1
2002–03 — 27 9 7 11 30 40 34 Round 3 League abandoned due to war
2003–04 — 7 4 0 3 10 6 League abandoned due to war
2004–05 2nd round 20 9 6 5 25 16
2005–06 2nd round 16 6 6 4 13 10
2006–07 2nd round 17 6 6 5 18 21
2007–08 4th Place 24 14 6 4 22 13
2008–09 3rd Place 27 19 7 1 48 11
2009–10 1 42 26 8 8 71 29
2010–11 1st round 26 12 4 10 36 28 Quarter-finals
2011–12 2 38 21 13 4 57 21 76
2012–13 5 34 16 10 8 54 35 58 Round of 16 Abandoned
2013–14 7 23 7 10 6 30 32 31
2014–15 2nd round 22 6 8 8 22 28
2015–16 Relegated 9 2 1 6 8 15 Semi-finals
  • From 2004/05 season, the competition changed from League system to various rounds including table and knockout rounds.
  • From 2011/12 season, the competition went back to the single league system.
  • From 2014/15 season, the competition returned to a system with various rounds.

Backroom staff and club officials

Name Position
IraqSulayman Ramadhan coach
Iraq Harjang Babaker Fitness coach
Iraq Maan Jameel Goalkeeping coach
Iraq Physiotherapist

Boardroom positions

Position Name Nationality
Chairman: Abdullah Jalal Iraq
Club Secretary / supervisor: Jassim Mohammed Haji Iraq
Director : Khalid Mushir Iraq
Member of the administrative board: Millat Jamal Iraq

Honours

Type Competition Titles Seasons
Domestic
(national) 		Iraq Stars League 1 2009–10
Iraq FA Cup 1 2024–25
Iraqi Premier Division League (second tier) 1 1997–98
Iraqi First Division League (third tier) 1 1994–95
Domestic
(regional) 		Kurdistan Premier League 1 2006–07
International AGCFF Gulf Club Champions League 1 2024–25

Performance in international competitions

2011: Quarter-finals
2013: Round of 16
2024–25: Winners

Individual honours

2009 FIFA Confederations Cup

The following players have played in the FIFA Confederations Cup whilst playing for Dohuk :
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