season The following season saw Zakho to return to sporting activities after head of the Olympic Committee Uday Hussein guaranteed not to interfere with any Northern Iraqi sportsmen. Zakho were once again in the Northern group after being drawn with Duhok SC, Qaraqosh, Al Karama and Tel Afar. Zakho topped the group after 5 wins and 3 draws and qualified to the final round. In the final round Zakho were to play each of Samawa FC, The Neighborhood and Al Hillah. The format was each team to play each other in a single-legged tie. Zakho won the group with 7 points and were crowned Iraqi Third Division champions and qualified to the second division. New stadium On June 3, 2015 Zakho FC celebrated the opening of their new stadium, known as Zakho International Stadium with an unofficial friendly against the Iraqi national team. The match was notable as Shwan Jalal made his Iraq debut and kept a clean sheet in a 2-0 victory for Iraq. Despite this, the new stadium has been a success and the club's fans hope there will be bright times ahead for Zakho FC. Premier League Zakho continued to compete in the Iraqi Premier League. In 2015-16 the club narrowly missed out on progression to the elite league, finishing 5th in their area group just one point behind the final elite league spot. Zakho now competes in the unified Iraqi Premier League which has eliminated the initial stages based on area for one league containing all clubs. Zakho finished 16th in the 2016-17 season having won twice and drawn 16 times during the seasons 32 games. Zakho lost the other 14 games. Rivalries Zakho SC's biggest rivals are their neighbours Duhok SC, with whom they contest the Bahdinan Derby. Also, the rivalry between Zakho SC and Erbil SC is known as the "Kurdish derby". Current squad First-team squad Current technical staff {| class="toccolours" !bgcolor=silver|Position !bgcolor=silver|Name !bgcolor=silver|Nationality |- bgcolor=#eeeeee |Coach:||Hamza Hadi|| |- |Assistant coach:||Mustafa Karem|| |- bgcolor=#eeeeee |Fitness coach:||Mustafa Jasm|| |- |Goalkeeping coach:||Nabil Awad|| |- bgcolor=#eeeeee | Team manager:||Naaman Kocher|| |- | Team supervisor:||Shvan Abdi|| |-bgcolor=#eeeeee | Club doctor:||Makram Halabi|| |- |Reserve team coach:||Khamis Humoud|| |- bgcolor=#eeeeee |Reserve ass. coach:||Nawzad Ali|| |- |U-19 Head coach:||Hussein Abdullah Al-Samawi|| |- bgcolor=#eeeeee |U-16 Manager:||Bahdin Ali|| |- |U-13 Manager:||Adnan Khairallah|| |- bgcolor=#eeeeee |Director of football:||Taha Zakholi|| |- |Administrative Coordinator:||Dr. Sherzad Zakariya|| |-bgcolor=#eeeeee |Director of public relations:||Dilzhar Adnan|| |-bgcolor=#eeeeee Former players Arian