Football in Iraq

The sport of football in the country of Iraq is run by the Iraq Football Association.[1][2] The association administers the national football team as well as the Iraqi Premier League.[3][4][5][6][7] Football is the most popular sport in Iraq.[8]

Football in Iraq
Karbala International Stadium
CountryIraq
Governing bodyIraq Football Association
National team(s)men's national team
Club competitions
International competitions

National teams
Bashar Resan with Iraq

The national team have qualified for the final tournament of the World Cup once in 1986 which was held in Mexico. Success in the Asian Cup has been more widespread, winning the tournament in 2007 and finishing fourth in 1976 and 2015. As of 2015 the women's national team have not entered either of these competitions.

The under-23 side has had success at the Asian Games winning silver at the 2006 edition in Qatar and bronze in the 2014 tournament, held in South Korea. Their best placing in Olympic football has been fourth at Athens in 2004.

As of 11 June 2020 the men's team were ranked 70th in the world[9] while the women's team were not ranked due to being inactive.[10]

Club tournaments

Al-Shorta reached the final of the AFC Champions League, the biggest tournament in Asian football, in 1971 but withdrew from the final due to it being against an Israeli team; Israel were subsequently expelled from the AFC. Al-Rasheed also reached the final in 1989 but lost on away goals. Those same two clubs are the only Iraqi teams to have won the Arab Club Champions Cup; Al-Shorta won the first ever edition in 1982 with Al-Rasheed winning that competition three times in a row (1985, 1986, 1987). Al-Talaba and Al-Zawraa both lost the final of the Asian Cup Winners' Cup in 1995 and 2000 respectively, before Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya won Asia's second-tier tournament, the AFC Cup, three consecutive times in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

Domestic league titles won by club
Main article: List of Iraqi football champions § Total titles won

See also

References
  1. "When Saturday Comes - War games". Wsc.co.uk. 2012-07-09. Retrieved 2012-09-19.
  2. "State Of Football In Iraq | Football & Sport". Sabotage Times. Retrieved 2012-09-19.
  3. "Nation & World | Soccer title brings rare gift: Iraq unity | Seattle Times Newspaper". Seattletimes.com. 2007-07-30. Retrieved 2012-09-19.
  4. BBC's Sally Nugent (2010-09-17). "BBC Sport - Football - Iraqi team helping people unite". BBC News. Retrieved 2012-09-19.
  5. Arun, Neil (2009-07-11). "Middle East | When football came home to Iraq". BBC News. Retrieved 2012-09-19.
  6. Nordland, Rod; Al-Izzi, Sa'ad (2009-11-24). "Soccer in Iraq: Another Field for Argument". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-09-19.
  7. Lucinda, Hannah. "Should Iraq's leaders be more like their football players? - BBC News". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-07-01.
  8. "Most popular sport in each country". Imgur. 26 April 2014.
  9. "FIFA rankings". fifa.com. 2020-06-11. Retrieved 2020-06-27.
  10. "FIFA rankings". fifa.com. 2020-06-11. Retrieved 2020-06-27.


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