Iraq national under-23 football team

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 U-23
Nickname(s)Asiad Asia
AssociationIFA
ConfederationAFC (Asia)
Head coachVacant
CaptainAli Kadhim
FIFA codeIRQ
First colours
Second colours
Olympic Games (Since 1992)
Appearances2 (first in 2004)
Best resultFourth place (2004)
Asian Games (Since 2002)
Appearances2 (first in 2006)
Best result Silver Medal (2006)
AFC U-23 Championship
Appearances3 (first in 2013)
Best resultChampions (2013)
Iraq Youth Teams' System
Olympic (Under-23, Under-22, and Under-21)
Leyouth (Under-20, Under-19, and Under-18)
Ashbal (Under-17, Under-16, and Under-15)
Bara'em (Under-14, Under-13, and Below)

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. Brazil eventually went on to win the tournament.

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 and South Korea fielded a relatively inexperienced 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, which was widely regarded to be Iraq's easiest ever opponent in this stage, boosting the enthusiasm among Iraqis. However, thing didn't go as planned, which an unexpected 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 in the shock of its supporters.

2020 AFC U-23 Championship

Iraq qualified for the tournament by topping the group in the qualification stage in Iran in March 2019.

In the final tournament held in Thailand, Iraq was grouped in group A together with host Thailand, a resurgence Australia and the unknown Bahrain.

Competitions Record

Olympic Games

Recent results and fixtures
Main article: Iraq national under-23 football team results

  Win   Draw   Lose

8 January 2020 2020 AFC U-23 Championship Iraq  1–1  Australia Thammasat Stadium, Rangsit
  • Nassif  77'
Referee: Fu Ming (China)
11 January 2020 2020 AFC U-23 Championship Bahrain  2–2  Iraq Thammasat Stadium, Rangsit
  • Al-Ammari  65'
  • Nassif  90+2'
 Referee: Ko Hyung-jin (South Korea)
14 January 2020 2020 AFC U-23 Championship Thailand  1–1  Iraq Rajamangala Stadium, Bangkok

Coaching staff
Position Name
Head coach Vacant
Assistant coaches Vacant
Goalkeeping coach Abdulkareem Naeem
Team manager Abdul-Karim Farhan
Fitness coach Vacant
Team doctor Ghalib Abbas
Team Analyst Ali Alniaimy

Team

Current squad
No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1 1GK Arian Ibrahim (1998-03-25) 25 March 1998 0 0 Zakho
12 1GK Ali Kadhim (1997-10-24) 24 October 1997 6 0 Naft Al-Wasat
22 1GK Hussam Mahdi (1997-01-06) 6 January 1997 0 0 Al-Minaa
2 2DF Mustafa Mohammed (1998-01-14) 14 January 1998 6 0 Al-Zawraa
3 2DF Mustafa Maan (1997-01-15) 15 January 1997 1 0 Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
4 2DF Najm Shwan (1997-07-09) 9 July 1997 6 0 Al-Zawraa
5 2DF Abdulabbas Ayad (2000-03-18) 18 March 2000 6 0 Al-Minaa
15 2DF Alaa Raad (1998-02-20) 20 February 1998 5 0 Al-Zawraa
17 2DF Hassan Raad (2000-09-23) 23 September 2000 4 0 Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
19 2DF Muntadher Abdulsada (2000-12-03) 3 December 2000 0 0 Al-Sinaat Al-Kahrabaiya
21 2DF Muntadher Sattar (1997-01-04) 4 January 1997 6 0 Al-Sinaat Al-Kahrabaiya
6 3MF Amir Al-Ammari (1997-07-27) 27 July 1997 4 3 Jönköpings Södra IF
8 3MF Ali Qasim (1997-02-17) 17 February 1997 4 0 Al-Najaf
10 3MF Mohammed Ridha (2000-02-17) 17 February 2000 7 0 Al-Zawraa
13 3MF Ihab Nasser (1997-01-11) 11 January 1997 3 0 Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
16 3MF Ahmed Sartip (2000-02-20) 20 February 2000 0 0 Al-Naft
18 3MF Moeen Ahmad (1997-01-01) 1 January 1997 0 0 Al-Najaf
20 3MF Sadeq Zamil (1999-07-15) 15 July 1999 3 0 Naft Al-Wasat
23 3MF Mohammed Mezher (1998-03-24) 24 March 1998 5 0 Al-Shorta
7 4FW Murad Mohammed (1997-04-01) 1 April 1997 6 3 Al-Kahraba
9 4FW Mohammed Qasim Nsayef (1997-08-25) 25 August 1997 3 3 Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
11 4FW Omer Assi (1998-01-03) 3 January 1998 3 0 Al-Karkh
14 4FW Hussein Jabbar (1998-03-09) 9 March 1998 4 1 Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya

Recent callups
  • The following players have also been called up to Iraqi squad for the last 24 months.
Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club Latest call-up
DF Reyad Poles (2000-04-28) 28 April 2000 0 0 Syrianska FC 2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification, January 2020
MF Sajjad Jasim (1997-03-08) 8 March 1997 0 0 Al-Karkh 2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification, January 2020
MF Hasan Abdulkareem (1999-01-01) 1 January 1999 0 0 Al-Shorta 2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification, January 2020
MF Sajjad Jabbar (1998-06-25) 25 June 1998 3 1 Naft Maysan 2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification, January 2020
MF Mahdi Hameed (2000-10-29) 29 October 2000 1 0 2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification, January 2020
FW Wakaa Ramadan (1999-04-17) 17 April 1999 1 0 Al-Naft 2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification, January 2020
FW Ahmed Abdulrazzaq (1998-03-12) 12 March 1998 1 0 Al-Diwaniya 2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification, January 2020
FW Ali Al-Hamadi (2002-03-01) 1 March 2002 2 1 Swansea City 2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification, October 2019

Previous squads
Olympic Games
AFC U-23 Championship
Asian Games
West Asian Championship

Wild card players

Honours

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

Minor tournaments
  • Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Friendship Cup
Winners: 2003
  • Rajiv Gandhi Gold Cup
Winners: 1998
  • Stafford Cup
Winners: 1990

See also

References
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