Iraq national under-23 football team

Iraq Iraq U-23
Nickname(s) Asiad Asia
Association IFA
Confederation AFC (Asia)
Head coach Abdul-Ghani Shahad
Captain Bashar Resan
FIFA code IRQ
First colours
Second colours
Olympic Games (Since 1992)
Appearances 2 (first in 2004)
Best result Fourth place (2004)
Asian Games (Since 2002)
Appearances 2 (first in 2006)
Best result Silver Medal (2006)
AFC U-23 Championship
Appearances 3 (first in 2013)
Best result Champions (2013)

Iraq national under-23 football team (also known as Iraq Under-23 or Iraq Olympic Team) represents Iraq in international football competitions in Olympic Games and Asian Games, as well as any other under-23, under-22, and under-21 international football tournaments. It is controlled by the Iraq Football Association. Iraq Olympic Team reached fourth place in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens won the silver medal in the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, and the bronze medal in the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon.

History

2004 Athens Olympics

After 16 years without participation, Iraq qualified for the 2004 Summer Olympics after winning the 2004 Olympic Asian Qualifiers under head coach Adnan Hamad and were scheduled to play against Costa Rica, Morocco and Portugal in the group stages. At the Olympics Iraq started with a shocking 4–2 win against Portugal. That was followed by a 2–0 win against Costa Rica and a 2–1 loss to Morocco. The quarter-finals saw them beat Australia 1–0, and in the semi-final against Paraguay, Iraq lost 3–1. In the bronze medal match, Iraq lost 1–0 and finished fourth.

2013 AFC U-22 Championship

Iraq's first major honour on U-23 level was the 2013 AFC U-22 Championship. The tournament started with a 3–1 win against Saudi Arabia. That was followed by a 2–1 win against Uzbekistan and a 1–0 win against China. The quarter-finals saw them beat Japan 1–0, and the semi-final against favourites Korea Republic with another 1–0 win.

The final was against local rivals Saudi Arabia, and Mohannad Abdul-Raheem scored the only goal to win the tournament for Iraq. This victory secured Iraq's first Asian Cup U-23 title.

2016 AFC U-23 Championship

The 2016 AFC U-23 Championship final tournament is to be held in Qatar from 12–30 January 2016. Iraq qualified for the tournament by topping the group in the qualification stage in Oman in March 2015.

Iraq advanced from the group stage, beating Yemen 2–0, Uzbekistan 3–2, and a 1–1 tie with South Korea. In the quarterfinals, Iraq beat UAE 3–1 in extra time to progress to the semifinals. Iraq lost 2–1 to Japan.

In the third place match, Iraq came back from behind to beat Qatar 2–1 to qualify for 2016 Olympics.

2016 Rio Olympics

Iraq line-up before a match with Brazil at the 2016 Rio Olympics

Iraq qualified for the 2016 Olympics by clinching third place at the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship. The first game saw Iraq play against Denmark, and the score turned out as a 0–0 draw, despite Iraq having 18 shots in the match. The second game was played against the hosts and pre-tournament favourites, Brazil, which also ended up as a 0–0 draw, which was hailed as a great result for Iraq. In the third game, Iraq tied South Africa 1–1, despite having a huge 29 shots in the match. This result, coupled with Denmark's defeat to Brazil, saw Iraq get eliminated at the group stage.

2018 AFC U-23 Championship

Iraq qualified for the 3rd tournament by topping the group in the qualification stage in Saudi Arabia in July 2017.

In the final tournament, with the defending champion Japan not bringing their strongest squad, Iraq had many chances to repeat 2013 success. In the group stage, they finished at the top of the group after beating Malaysia 4-1 and Jordan 1-0, with a 0-0 draw against Saudi Arabia. Iraq advanced into the quarter-final as the first seed of group C and was scheduled to face off against Vietnam. A 3-3 draw after extra time meant that the result would be settled via a penalty shoot-out, in which Vietnam emerged victorious with the score of 5-3, thus eliminating Iraq from the tournament.

Competitions Record

Olympic tournaments

Olympic Games

Matches

Recent results and fixtures

  Win   Draw   Lose

Coaching staff

Position Name
Head coach Iraq Abdul-Ghani Shahad
Assistant coaches Iraq Haider Jabbar
Goalkeeping coach Iraq Abdulkareem Naeem
Team manager Iraq Abdulkareem Farhan
Fitness coach Spain Gonzalo Rodriguez
Team doctor Iraq

Team

Current squad

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1 1GK Ahmed Basil (1996-08-19) 19 August 1996 6 0 Iraq Al-Shorta
12 1GK Ali Abdul-Hassan (1996-09-19) 19 September 1996 0 0 Iraq Al-Talaba
22 1GK Hayder Mohammed (1996-10-23) 23 October 1996 0 0 Iraq Al-Zawraa
2 2DF Ahmed Abdul-Ridha (1997-04-02) 2 April 1997 5 0 Iraq Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
3 2DF Hamza Adnan (1996-02-08) 8 February 1996 10 0 Iraq Al-Minaa
4 2DF Burhan Jumaah (1996-07-01) 1 July 1996 5 0 Iraq Al-Najaf
5 2DF Ali Lateef (1996-01-18) 18 January 1996 6 0 Iraq Al-Shorta
14 2DF Khudhur Ali (1998-06-19) 19 June 1998 0 0 Iraq Al-Najaf
17 2DF Alaa Ali Mhawi (1996-06-03) 3 June 1996 13 1 Iraq Al-Shorta
18 2DF Ruslan Hanoon (1996-03-04) 4 March 1996 0 0 Iraq Naft Maysan
23 2DF Ali Kadhim Mohammed (1997-09-26) 26 September 1997 3 0 Iraq Al-Najaf
6 3MF Ali Raheem (1995-02-17) 17 February 1995 3 0 Iraq Al-Zawraa
7 3MF Hussein Ali Al-Saedi (1996-11-29) 29 November 1996 6 1 Qatar Qatar SC
8 3MF Mohammed Jaffal (1996-06-01) 1 June 1996 2 1 Iraq Al-Minaa
13 3MF Bashar Resan (1996-12-22) 22 December 1996 16 5 Iran Persepolis
15 3MF Ibrahim Bayesh (2000-01-01) 1 January 2000 3 0 Iraq Al-Zawraa
16 3MF Safaa Hadi (1998-10-14) 14 October 1998 6 0 Iraq Al-Zawraa
19 3MF Amjad Attwan (1997-03-12) 12 March 1997 14 2 Iraq Al-Najaf
21 3MF Ahmed Mohsin Jaber (1995-01-24) 24 January 1995 4 0 Iraq Al-Naft
9 4FW Farhan Shakor (1995-10-15) 15 October 1995 4 0 Iraq Al-Najaf
10 4FW Ayman Hussein (1996-03-22) 22 March 1996 14 11 Tunisia CS Sfaxien
11 4FW Alaa Abbas (1997-07-27) 27 July 1997 0 0 Iraq Naft Al-Wasat
20 4FW Waleed Kareem (1997-06-10) 10 June 1997 0 0 Iraq Al-Naft

Recent callups

  • The following players have also been called up to Iraqi squad for the last 12 months.
Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club Latest call-up
GK Amjad Raheem (1996-01-05) 5 January 1996 0 0 Iraq Al-Zawraa v.  Syria, 29 June 2017
DF Alaa Raad Al-Hamadani 0 0 Iraq v.  Saudi Arabia, 23 July 2017
DF Raad Fanar 1 0 Iraq Al-Naft v.  Saudi Arabia, 23 July 2017
DF Niaz Mohammed 0 0 Iraq Naft Al-Wasat v.  Syria, 29 June 2017
MF Ahmed Mohsen Ashour (1996-01-04) 4 January 1996 0 0 Iraq Al-Minaa v.  Saudi Arabia, 23 July 2017
MF Mahdi Kamel (1995-01-06) 6 January 1995 28 6 Iraq Al-Shorta v.  Syria, 29 June 2017
MF Ahmed Jalal (1998-03-17) 17 March 1998 0 0 Iraq Al-Naft v.  Syria, 29 June 2017
MF Abdullah Abdul-Amir 0 0 Iraq Amanat Baghdad v.  Syria, 29 June 2017
FW Mazen Fayad (1997-04-02) 2 April 1997 3 0 Iraq Al-Naft v.  Saudi Arabia, 23 July 2017
FW Jabbar Kareem 0 0 Iraq Al-Najaf v.  Saudi Arabia, 23 July 2017
FW Ameer Sabah (1998-06-03) 3 June 1998 0 0 Iraq Naft Al-Wasat v.  Syria, 29 June 2017
FW Emad Mohsin (1996-11-03) 3 November 1996 0 0 Iraq Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya v.  Syria, 29 June 2017

Previous squads

Olympic Games
AFC U-23 Championship
Asian Games

Wild card players

Honours

Major tournaments

Fourth place: 2004
Winners: 2013
Third place: 2016
Runners-up: 2006
Third place: 2014

Minor tournaments

  • Emir Abdullah Al-Faisal Cup
Winners: 2003
  • Rajiv Gandhi Gold Cup
Winners: 1998

See also

References

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