Duhok SC's biggest rivals are also their neighbours Zakho, always producing the most passionate and fierce matches every season, with whom they contest the "Badinan Derby".

In the 1997–98 season, Duhok SC secured promotion to the Iraqi premier league by winning the first division.

since then Duhok SC spent many years in mid-table obscurity occasionally challenging the top Iraqi sides.

However all this changed after the invasion of Iraq, with this came liberation and freedom for all Kurdish sport teams and personalities who have excelled in both domestic and international competitions.

Zakho FC are the club's traditional rivals with whom they contest the "Duhok Derby" but differing fortunes have somewhat diluted the clubs' dislike of each other, even though now Zakho FC are back in the Iraqi Premier League and the rivalry is set to continue and to be more heated than ever.

Erbil SC and Duhok SC also share very heated rivalries, as the two main Kurdish teams in the Iraqi league both teams are very much still rivals, even though these clubs are bitter rivals, the number of incidents and violence has decreased incredibly now these clubs share very safe but still heated encounters.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply.