Background After Al-Minaa Club entered into an administrative crisis last season, as
FIFA imposed a ban on contracting players, it was forced to play with the academy players. Despite all the difficulties, it was able to ensure its survival in the
Iraq Stars League since the 35th round and finished the league in 12th place, which was considered a football miracle. However, coach
Hassan Ahmed apologized for continuing with the team and withdrew after the end of the season. So the club's newly elected management began contracting with
Spanish coach
Pablo Grandes on 29 July to prepare a team that would compete for the league.
Summer transfer window The Iraq Stars League summer transfer window runs from 2 August to 2 September 2024. Al-Minaa announced from the first day the renewal of the contract of
right back Hameed Ali Hameed. On 5 August, Al-Minaa announced the signing of three professional players and the renewal of two local players. The club signed 22-year-old
Tunisian
attacking midfielder Abdallah Amri from Tunisian club
CS Sfaxien, 25-year-old
Gabonese international
defensive midfielder Clech Loufilou from
Omani club
Sur, and 23-year-old
Swedish left winger of Iraqi origin
Hamid Abdulla from Swedish club
Rosengård. The club also renewed the contracts of
goalkeeper Jaafar Shenaishil and
midfielder Ayad Abed Farhan. On 7 August, the club renewed the contract of the team's goalkeeper and the
U-17 national team, Ammar Ali, and on 8 August, it renewed the contract of the
right winger,
Sajjad Alaa, and announced the signing of the 24-year-old
Congolese right winger,
Tuisila Kisinda, coming from the
Moroccan club,
RS Berkane. On 9 August, the club renewed the contract of
defensive midfielder Haidar Salem. On 10 August, coach
Pablo Grandes arrived in
Basra from
Spain with his assistant Iván McCarroll to officially lead the Al-Minaa team. He was introduced to the media as the coach of Al-Minaa, and he said in the press conference that he wanted to compete for advanced positions in the league and that he chose Al-Minaa because it is the oldest club among the Iraqi clubs and that he would work to create a competitive team. On 12 August, the club announced the signing of 31-year-old Spanish
striker Lolo Plá from Spanish club,
Talavera. The contract of
central midfielder Mohammed Khudhair was also renewed, as was the contract of
centre back Hussein Amer after his return from a loan to
Naft Maysan. On 13 August, the club announced the signing of 29-year-old
Zimbabwean international centre back
Gerald Takwara from Saudi club
Ohod. Centre back Mohammed Ghaleb's contract was also renewed, as was goalkeeper
Abed Saleem's contract after he returned from loan to
Amanat Baghdad. On 18 August, the club renewed the contracts of left-back
Muslim Mousa and left-winger
Karrar Jaafar, and a day later announced the signing of 23-year-old midfielder
Amir Ahmed from
Al-Naft. On 21 August, the club renewed the contract of right-back Karrar Al-Amir Ali. On 26 August, the club announced the signing of 30-year-old striker
Mohannad Abdul-Raheem from
Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya. It also announced the signing of 24-year-old Spanish right-back
Raúl Parra from Portuguese club
Estoril. Thus, the club announced the completion of the six professional players, according to the
IFA regulations, which requires that the number of professional players not exceed six players. On 27 August, the club announced the signing of 36-year-old striker
Alaa Abdul-Zahra from
Al-Shorta. On 28 August, the club announced the signing of 28-year-old Swedish defensive midfielder of Iraqi origin,
Sumar Almadjed, from the Swedish club
Helsingborgs IF. On 30 August, the club announced the signing of 24-year-old Swedish defensive midfielder of Iraqi origin,
André Alsanati, from the Swedish club
IK Sirius.
Pre-season The
2024 WAFF U-16 Championship took place in
Jordan from 2 to 11 September. Two Al-Minaa first-team players were named in squads for the tournament, Ammar Ali and
Zain Al-Abidin Jassim. They played in the starting lineup in the first match against
Lebanon on 4 September, and Jassim scored two goals. The
Iraqi U-20 team left for
China on 1 September to play two friendly matches against
China in preparation for the
2025 AFC U-20 Asian Cup qualification. The travelling delegation was joined by three Al-Minaa first-team players who had previously been named in the squad:
Karrar Jaafar,
Muslim Mousa and Mohammed Ghaleb.
Gerald Takwara (Zimbabwe) was called up to respective country' senior squads for
international fixtures in September. On 1 September, Al-Minaa announced a pre-season tour to
Antalya, and the following day it was also announced that Spanish match analyst
Daniel Casas Trillo had joined the coaching staff, as he joined the team in Antalya with player
Raúl Parra. On 5 September, Al-Minaa took on
Süper Lig club
Antalyaspor.
Sajjad Alaa gave Al-Minaa an early lead.
Alaa Abdul-Zahra scored a second goal. In the second half,
Lolo Plá scored the third goal, helping Al-Minaa win 3–0. On 7 September, Tunisian
Abdallah Amri and Gabonese
Clech Loufilou joined the team's training in Antalya, along with 20-year-old goalkeeper Abbas Karim, who officially signed Al-Minaa from Al-Shorta. On 10 September, Al-Minaa played against the Iraq Stars League club Al-Zawraa in their second friendly match.
Sajjad Alaa gave Al-Minaa an early lead.
Lolo Plá scored a second goal, while Ibrahim Ghazi scored for Al-Zawraa. In the second half,
Hasan Abdulkareem scored for Al-Zawraa to end the match 2–2. On 14 September, Al-Minaa played their third friendly match against
Turkish Regional Amateur League club Kumluca Belediye Spor, with Hameed Ali Hameed scoring the only goal of the match in the second half to help Al-Minaa win 1–0, and with that the team ended their 14-day pre-season tour in Turkey and returned to Iraq the following day.
September Grandes's side kicked off their Iraqi Star League campaign with a 2–1 win over
Al-Hudood at home on 22 September. Al-Hudood's Hussein Jabbar in a 19th-minute opener with an own goal after
Parra's
free kick hit Jabbar's head and changed direction, deceiving the goalkeeper.
Almadjed added the second goal in the 51st minute after an assist from
Lolo, while Atheer Saleh scored the only goal for the visiting team after three minutes from a free kick. Four players from the first team were missed from the match,
Mohannad Abdul-Raheem due to injury, and three players, namely Muslim Musa, Mohammed Ghaleb and
Karrar Jaafar, were selected by the coach of the
U-20,
Emad Mohammed, to participate in the
2025 AFC U-20 Asian Cup qualification in
Thailand, which will be played from September 25 to 29. They played in the starting lineup in the first match against
Brunei and Karrar Jaafar scored two goals in this match. Al-Minaa travelled to the capital to face
Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya at
Al-Shaab Stadium in second round. Lolo opened the scoring from long range in the 23th minute. Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya drew level with a
penalty kick scored by
Saad Abdul-Amir on 88 minutes.
Mustafa Saadoon completed the turnaround for Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya in the extra time. The 2–1 loss left the Al-Minaa sitting eighth in the league table.
October Al-Minaa announced on 2 October that the arrival of
André Alsanati’s international card, and that he is now ready to participate with the team in the upcoming match. The team also regained its three players Muslim Musa, Mohammed Ghaleb and Karrar Jaafar, from the
U-20 team, and they are also ready to participate with the team. ==First-team squad==