Iraq national football team

The Iraq national football team is the national team of Iraq and is controlled by the Iraqi Football Association . It made one World Cup, in 1986, but lost all three of its games.

During the reign of Saddam Hussein his son, Uday Hussein, was in charge of the Iraqi Olympic Committee and, by extension, its soccer team. Uday routinely tortured Iraqi soccer players for poor performances.

With the Hussains out of power, the Iraqi team had a re-surgrance in 2004. Its Under-23 team qualified for the 2004 Summer Olympics and then represented the country in the Asian Cup, where they surprisingly made the quarterfinals. But the surprises didn't end there. At the Olympics, Iraq upset Portugal, Costa Rica, and Australia on their way to fourth place in the tournament.

During the Olympics, US president George W. Bush used the Iraqi team in television ads supporting his re-election, to the disdain of most Iraqi players. [1] [2]

World Cup record

• 1930 to 1970 - Did not enter
• 1974 - Did not qualify
• 1978 - Withdrew
• 1982 - Did not qualify
• 1986 - Round 1
• 1990 to 2006 - Did not qualify

Asian Cup record

• 1956 to 1968 - Did not enter
• 1972 - Round 1
• 1976 - Fourth place
• 1980 to 1992 - Did not enter
• 1996 - Quarterfinals
• 2000 - Quarterfinals
• 2004 - Quarterfinals