The Iraqi football club An-Najaf is going through its worst season in the Iraqi Premier League. The team is now under threat of relegation to the next division, as it sits in 19th (second-to-last) place with 14 points. Only 10 rounds are left in the league. The difficult situation was caused by coaching changes. Head coach Dr. Jasib Sultan decided to leave the team after coach Samer Said was added to the coaching staff without his knowledge. The new coach decided to exclude nine players from the team. The excluded players are: Ali Faez, Hamdi Naqaz, Mohammed Al-Amawi, the Jordanian goalkeeper Hamza Adnan, Sajjad Rad, Mohammed Jasim ('Batata'), Hussein Abbas, the Uzbek footballer Jaksor, and Mohammed Zammal. This decision caused a shock to the club's interim management, as the excluded players are considered key pillars of the An-Najaf team. There is great difficulty in replacing them with new players at the present time.
