The Iraqi national football team nicknamed the Lions of Mesopotamia is under the auspice of the Iraq Football Association. The team is headed by Zico, a famous Brazilian forward. Younis Mahmoud is the team’s captain and top scorer (63). Iraq is on the 81st position in the FIFA World Rankings. The Iraqi national team’s away kit is all green with white trim and their home kit is all white with green trim.
The team tied up their first game with Morocco in Lebanon back in 1957. Their biggest win was in 1966 in the game against Bahrain 10-1, and the biggest loss happened in 1970 against GDR 0-5.
The Iraqi national team qualified for the 1986 World Cup and was knocked out at the first round stage. It participated in the AFC Asian Cup for the first time in 1972 and 2007 the squad won the championship.
The period of 1970-1980s was its golden age. Iraq qualified 3 times for the Olympic Games in Seoul, Los Angeles and Moscow and in the 1985 Pan Arab Games Iraq finished fourth.
The Gulf War influenced sports greatly and Iraq was banned from participating in most Arab competitions and in the Asian Games. Despite the war Iraq participated in some international games where showed quite good results.
The team reached the play-off in the 2004 AFC Asian Cup and qualified for the Olympic Games in that year. In Athens the team made it possible to defeat Portugal, Costa Rica and Australia and finished third losing to Italy 0-1. Moreover the Iraqi team won the fair play award and by the end of the year it was given AFC team of the year award.
Iraq won the 2007 AFC Asian Cup that promoted the team to participate in the Confederations Cup in South Africa but the team failed to leave the group stage.
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