In September 2020, one person showed up to the first class. That was the whole academy. Today around 70 people train here, and close to 300 have come through the door.
Team Elwany was founded by two brothers, Ahmed and Al-Hakam Elwany, with a direct affiliation to the Renzo Gracie Academy in New York. That affiliation isn’t honorary. Ahmed travels to New York every five months and stays about six weeks each trip, training under Rafael Costa at Renzo Gracie HQ. What the brothers learn there, they bring straight back to Erbil.
It matters in a concrete way. Renzo Gracie HQ approves every belt promotion at Team Elwany, and students are registered with the IBJJF under the Renzo Gracie banner. When you earn a belt here, it carries the lineage behind it.
Ask Ahmed why he built this in Erbil and he keeps it simple: “It’s my passion, it changed my life, and we knew it would make a difference in the region for everyone — for all different ages, religions and nationalities.”
That’s how the room looks now. Kurdish locals, Arab Iraqis, expats, people from the oil and diplomatic community — a big mix that turned into one family. English is the language on the mats, and when someone needs it, a coach translates to Arabic or Kurdish. Nobody gets left behind a language barrier.
We were first in Kurdistan. We were the first Renzo Gracie academy in the Middle East. And we’re still the academy other gyms in Iraq look to.