The Iraq National Football team has faced extreme ups and downs in their history. From the early years of success to the middle years of fear and torture, the subsequent teams have come a long way to overcome the adversity they have faced over the years.
THE GOLDEN YEARS The Golden years for football in Iraq were during the 70s and 80s. During this time, the Iraq football team managed to reach the World Cup finals in 1986, as well as 3 Olympic Games UDAY HUSSEIN Saddam Hussein took power as President of Iraq in 1979. Shortly after 1988, he appointed his son, Uday, as head of the Iraqi Olympic Committee. Numerous reports claim gross mistreatment of Iraqi football players, especially during the time of his son's appointment, but also earlier. The earliest reports from defectors claim that after Iraq's elimination from the 1986 World Cup, players had their heads shaved as punishment. Other punishments for losses, missed training sessions and poor performances included imprisonment, beatings, floggings and other methods of torture. One report claimed that players were dragged through gravel and then immersed in sewage to induce infection. Another report claimed that the players, who failed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup, were imprisoned and forced to kick around a concrete ball. During this time the Iraq team consequently fell to their lowest-ever world ranking – 139th in 1996.
WAR IN IRAQ
Despite the war in Iraq, the team managed to perform well. In 2004 the reached their highest ever FIFA ranking of 39th and performed well in major tournaments including the Asian Cup in 2004 where they made the quarter-finals, they came 4th in the 2004 Olympics and they won the 2007 Asian Cup. As a result of the Asian Cup win they received a string of awards including World Soccer Magazine’s Team of the Year award and the AFC Team of the Year.
PICKING UP THE PIECES
Following a decision to disband national sports federations by the Iraqi government last May, FIFA suspended the national team from playing in any competitions for a year, a decision that was overturned 3 days later after the Iraqi government changed their minds and decided not to dissolve the Football Association.
They have overcome huge adversity to come this far.
Since the 80s most of their games have been played on neutral territory because of security threats as a result of the wars fought in Iraq, yet they have still managed to qualify and perform well in major tournaments. In fact, they only recently (10/7/09) played their first game on home soil since 2002, beating Pakistan 3-0 in front of 50,000 fans. Their supporters packed the stadium to capacity, some fans even lining the pitch because the stadium was that full.
In 2008 they also trained in Baghdad for the first time since the US-led invasion in 2003 under the watchful eye of newly appointed Brazilian coach, Jorvan Viera, who had led them to victory in the 2007 Asian Cup.