In the 1980–81 season, Al-Talaba won their first ever league title after tying with Al-Shorta on both points and goal difference in the end where the Iraq Football Association declared Al-Talaba as champions due to them having more wins than Al-Shorta, even though Al-Shorta had scored more goals. Hussein Saeed was the top goalscorer of the league with 11 goals in 11 matches out of Al-Talaba's total 19 goals. In the cup, Al-Talaba reached the final for the second time in the row and came up against Al-Zawra'a and lost again in the final 1–0. In the 1981–82 season, Al-Talaba retained their league title, sitting in 1st at 34 points with Saeed being the second top goalscorer of the league with 11 goals, along with Al-Amana's Ghazi Hashim and behind Al-Zawra'a's Thamer Yousif. They reached the cup final for the third time in the row and lost to Al-Zawra'a again 2–1. The next season, Saeed continued his battle for the top goalscorer in which he scored 17 goals surpassing his teammate, Rahim Hameed, with 8 goals. Al-Talaba finished in 2nd place with one point away from the champions, Salahaddin.