The Iraq national football team (), nicknamed the Lions of Mesopotamia (), represents Iraq in men's international football and is controlled by the Iraq Football Association (IFA), the governing body for football in Iraq. Iraq's usual home venue is the Basra International Stadium.
Iraq has qualified for the FIFA World Cup on two occasions, in 1986 and 2026, exiting at the group stage both times. Iraq scored its first World Cup goal against Belgium in 1986 and added a second against Norway in 2026. Iraq is one of eight AFC nations to have won the AFC Asian Cup, claiming the title in 2007 in spite of difficult conditions and limited preparation. Iraq defeated some of the favourites in the competition including Australia, South Korea and Saudi Arabia. Iraq went on to earn two points at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup and finish fourth at the 2015 AFC Asian Cup.
At the regional level, Iraq is the Arab Cup's most successful nation with four titles and has also won the Arabian Gulf Cup four times and the WAFF Championship once. Iraq is known for its passionate football fans and the national team is seen as a symbol of hope and unity for Iraqi people. The team reached its highest FIFA World Ranking of 39th in October 2004.
History
Early years and regional success (1948–1979)
On 8 October 1948, the Iraq Football Association was founded. The Iraq FA joined FIFA in 1950 and in April 1951, Iraq played their first match: a 5–0 win over the Civil Cantonment (C.C.) team of Habbaniyah. Iraq's first ever official international game came in the opening game of the 1957 Arab Games in Beirut where Iraq drew 3–3 to Morocco with goals from Ammo Baba, Youra Eshaya (both from Iraq's Assyrian minority) and Fakhri Mohammed Salman. One of the members of Iraq's first national team was Youra Eshaya, who in 1954 became the first Iraqi footballer to play in England for Bristol Rovers Colts.
In 1962, Iraq appointed their first foreign manager, Romanian coach Cornel Drăgușin. Iraq won their first trophy in 1964 when they won the Arab Cup, winning three and drawing one of their four games. In the following edition, they retained their Arab Cup title, beating Syria 2–1 in the final in Baghdad.
In 1972, Iraq played at their first ever AFC Asian Cup but failed to win a game in the tournament. In March 1973, Iraq played their first ever FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign. They finished second in their group, a point behind Australia, therefore failing to qualify for the next round. In the remaining years of the 1970s, Iraq reached the second round of the Asian Games (1974), lost the Arabian Gulf Cup final (1976), finished fourth at the AFC Asian Cup (1976), finished fourth in the Asian Games (1978) and finally hosted and won the Arabian Gulf Cup (1979). The 1976 Asian Cup would be the last Asian Cup that Iraq appeared in for the next 20 years, as they withdrew from the next three editions.
1980s – First Golden Generation The 1980s was arguably Iraq's most successful period in their history. They started the decade off disappointingly, being knocked out in the first round of qualifiers for the 1982 FIFA World Cup. In 1982, they won the gold medal at the 1982 Asian Games. In 1984, Iraq won the Arabian Gulf Cup. The following year, they won the 1985 Arab Cup and also won the gold medal at the 1985 Arab Games.
1986 FIFA World Cup: Iraq’s historic first qualification Iraq were seeded into the first round of qualifiers where they faced Qatar and Jordan. Iraq topped Group 1B with 6 points, and advanced to the second round. Iraq faced United Arab Emirates in two legs. Iraq defeated UAE 3–2 in Dubai. Iraq lost 2–1 to UAE in the second leg. Iraq progressed on away goals after a 4–4 aggregate scoreline and advanced to the final round. In the final round, Iraq drew 0–0 against Syria in Damascus. Iraq defeated Syria 3–1 in the second leg in Taif. Iraq won 3–1 on aggregate and qualified for the 1986 FIFA World Cup.
At their first game of the Group B at the 1986 FIFA World Cup, Iraq played well against Paraguay, losing narrowly 1–0 despite scoring a goal that was controversially disallowed by the referee. Iraq recorded their first World Cup goal in the second game, scoring against Belgium in a 1–2 defeat despite having ten men, with Ahmed Radhi scoring a goal for Iraq. Iraq played against hosts Mexico in the third game, losing 1–0 and being eliminated from the World Cup.
In the following years, Iraq won the 1988 Arabian Gulf Cup and won the 1988 Arab Cup. Overall, Iraq won nine competitions in the 1980s and played in their first World Cup, leading many to believe that this was the golden era of Iraqi football. In 1989, Iraq competed in qualifying for a berth in the 1990 World Cup finals, but they lost a crucial game against Qatar.
1990s – The Dark Era Following the Gulf War in 1990, Iraq was banned from participating in the Asian Games and in most Arab competitions. The ban wasn't extended to the World Cup.
1994 FIFA World Cup qualification: The Agony of Doha In 1993, Iraq participated in qualifiers for the 1994 FIFA World Cup. Grouped with China, Yemen, Jordan and Pakistan in the first stage, Iraq proved to be too strong for the rest, with the team only failing to win twice, a draw to Jordan and loss to China.
In the final round, Iraq was grouped with Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Japan, Iran and North Korea. On the first matchday, Iraq lost 3–2 to North Korea in a dramatic way, being 2–0 ahead in the second half. After an Iraqi player was sent off, North Korea pulled back in the 67th minute, equalized in the 77th minute and scored the winner in the 82nd minute. Iraq then tied 2–2 with South Korea. and then defeated Iran 2–1 by goals of Ahmed Radhi and Alaa Kadhim.
Iraq missed out on a World Cup spot by two points. By drawing their last game with Japan 2–2, they denied the Japanese a place in the finals in a match referred to by the Japanese media as the Agony of Doha. The loss against North Korea proved to be the difference with the other teams, as North Korea lost their other 4 matches and finished bottom of the group.
1996 AFC Asian Cup: Return after two decades Iraq participated in the 1996 AFC Asian Cup, their first Asian Cup campaign for 20 years after being banned in 1992 and withdrawing from the three tournaments before that. They reached the quarter-finals but lost to the United Arab Emirates due to a golden goal scored by Abdulrahman Ibrahim. In 1996, Iraq was ranked 139th in the world, which is their worst FIFA ranking in their history due to inactivity after withdrawing from several tournaments.
In 1997, Iraq participated in qualifiers for the 1998 FIFA World Cup but were knocked out at the first round following two defeats by Kazakhstan.
This period is known as 'The Dark Era' as Uday Hussein, the son of Saddam Hussein and then-president of IFA, abused his control of Iraqi football and tortured players who played poorly, punishing them by sending them to prison, making them bathe in raw sewage and kick concrete balls, and shaving their heads among many other punishments.
2000s – Second Golden Generation The 2000s was considered to be the rebirth of a new Iraqi football golden generation. However, Iraq had a rocky beginning. Iraq played in the 2000 AFC Asian Cup but were knocked out at the quarter-final stage again, this time by Japan in a 4–1 loss. Iraq reached the final round of 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification for the first time since 1994 but lost five of their eight second-round games and therefore failed to make the finals. Iraq won their first ever WAFF Championship in 2002, beating Jordan 3–2 in the final after extra time.
In the 2004 AFC Asian Cup, Iraq lost the opening match against Uzbekistan, then they won against Turkmenistan and Saudi Arabia respectively, to reach the quarter-finals before getting knocked out by China. In the same year they were knocked out at the second round of 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifiers by Uzbekistan.
Iraq were ranked as high as 39th in the World Rankings in October 2004 which is their highest ranking position in their history. The following year, Iraq won the gold medal in the West Asian Games by beating Syria in the final via a penalty shootout. In 2007, Iraq were knocked out at the group stage of the Arabian Gulf Cup after a controversial defeat to Saudi Arabia. Akram Salman was sacked and Jorvan Vieira appointed as head coach. Under him, Iraq reached the final of the WAFF Championship but lost 2–1 to Iran.
2007 AFC Asian Cup: Iraq's famous first continental title
In July 2007, Iraq kicked off their 2007 AFC Asian Cup campaign. The squad was made mainly of players that won the 2000 AFC Youth Championship, finished fourth at the 2004 Olympic Games and second at the 2006 Asian Games. Vieira only had two months to prepare his team for the tournament, and the team suffered from very poor facilities. The Iraq FA struggled to provide the team with enough kits for the tournament and Iraq had not been able to play any previous games in their own country for security reasons and most of the players had had family members killed in the war.
The team started the tournament with a 1–1 draw against joint-hosts Thailand before producing a 3–1 win over favourites Australia. A draw with Oman followed to put Iraq into the quarter-finals where two goals from Younis Mahmoud against Vietnam put Iraq into the semi-finals for the second time in their history. They managed to knock out one of the best Asian teams, South Korea in the semis via a penalty shootout in which Noor Sabri made a crucial save. After the game, a suicide bomber killed 30 football fans who were celebrating the semi-final win over South Korea and this almost led to the Iraqi team withdrawing from the final, but they decided to go on in honour of the dead and succeeded in doing that after defeating Saudi Arabia 1–0 in the final, a game that they dominated from start to finish and that was won by a Younis Mahmoud header. This tournament win is seen as one of the greatest upsets in international history as a war-torn country became international champions in what is described as one of sport's greatest 'fairytales'.
Vieira stated during the final that he would resign after the Asian Cup. He was replaced by Egil Olsen in September 2007.
2010 FIFA World Cup qualification: Controversial early exit Under Egil Olsen, Iraq advanced from the first round by beating Pakistan 7–0 on aggregate. Then they were drawn with Australia, China, and Qatar for the second round. On the first matchday, Iraq tied China. As a consequence, Olsen was sacked and replaced by Adnan Hamad. The next two matches saw Iraq lose twice to Qatar and Australia. However, Iraq bounced back with a 1–0 win over Australia and 2–1 win against China.
On 26 May 2008, FIFA decided to suspend Iraq from all international competitions after the Iraq Football Association was disbanded by the government on 20 May 2008. The suspension was provisionally and conditionally lifted on 29 May 2008. Iraq needed 1 point to advance to the final stage on the last matchday, but failed to advance to the final round of 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers as a 1–0 defeat to Qatar saw them finish in third in the group. Following this, the Iraq FA decided to disband the team and sacked Hamad.
Qatar fielded ineligible player Emerson in the 2–0 defeat to Iraq on 26 March 2008, prompting FIFA to controversially suspend him but clear Qatar of any wrongdoing, in direct contradiction to its decisions against Singapore. Iraq appealed the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport but it was rejected by the CAS, saying that Iraq submitted documents and appeal fees too late.
Jorvan Vieira was reappointed in September 2008. After a disappointing 2009 Arabian Gulf Cup, Vieira was sacked and replaced by Bora Milutinovic.
2009 FIFA Confederations Cup: Iraq on the global stage