Naft Al-Wasat

Naft Al-Wasat were born on 1 July 2008, founded by the Iraqi Ministry of Oil as the club of the Midland Oil company, and settled in Najaf, the holy city of Shia Islam that guards the shrine of Imam Ali and the largest cemetery in the world. The Euphrates Nightingales, as they are known, wrote one of Asian football's most improbable pages: promoted to the top flight in 2014, they were immediately crowned champions of Iraq in 2014/15, in their very first season among the elite, earning a continental debut in the AFC Cup. In 2017 they made history again by becoming the first club from outside Baghdad to reach the Iraq FA Cup final. A newcomer that never asked for permission.