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Iraq national under-23 football team facts for kids

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Iraq Iraq U-23
Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s) Asiad Asia
Lions of Babylon
Association IFA
Confederation AFC (Asia)
Sub-confederation WAFF (West Asia)
Head coach Radhi Shenaishil
Captain Muntadher Mohammed
FIFA code IRQ
First colours
Second colours
First international
Qatar  0–0  Iraq
(Doha, Qatar; 22 September 1995)
Biggest win
Iraq  13–0  Macau
(Kuwait City, Kuwait; 6 September 2023)
Biggest defeat
Jordan  5–0  Iraq
(Amman, Jordan; 10 July 1999)
Summer Olympics
Appearances 5 (first in 1980)
Best result Fourth place (2004)
Asian Games
Appearances 2 (first in 2006)
Best result Silver medal asia.svg Silver medalist (2006)
AFC U-23 Asian Cup
Appearances 5 (first in 2013)
Best result Gold medal asia.svg Champions (2013)
Website Website

The Iraq national under-23 football team (also known as Iraq Olympic football team) represents Iraq in international under-23 football, Olympic Games and at the Asian Games, The team is controlled by the governing body for football in Iraq, Iraq Football Association (IFA).

Iraq reached fourth place in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens and were champions in the 2013 AFC U-22 Championship and 2023 WAFF U-23 Championship. Other achievements include silver medal in the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, and the bronze medal in the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon.

History

Summer Olympics

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 to Italy and finished fourth.

2016 Rio Olympics

Iraq men's football team 2016 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.

AFC U-23 Asian Cup

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.

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. For the first time, Iraq did not make it out of the group stage, drawing all three games.

2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup

Iraq were drawn with Jordan, Australia and Kuwait.

Iraq pulled back the equaliser through Wakaa Ramadan to draw with Jordan 1-1 in the opening matchday, before drawing again to a 10-man Australia side through a Hasan Abdulkareem volley cancelling out a scorpion kick goal scored by Alou Kuol. Needing a win to qualify for the quarter-finals, Iraq came back from a goal down to beat Kuwait 3-1 thanks to goals scored by Muntadher Mohammed, Moammel Abdulridha and Mohammed Al-Baqer.

Iraq qualified out of Group B as runner-up, only behind Australia, so they were drawn against the winner of Group A, hosts Uzbekistan. The game went to extra time and later, penalties. Merchas Doski and Ahmed Naeem converted their penalties while Uzbekistan's second penalty was saved by Hassan Ahmed. However, Wakaa Ramadan hit the post, Moammel Abdulridha had his tame penalty saved and Hasan Abdulkareem blazed his penalty over the bar, while Uzbekistan converted their last three penalties to win 3-2 on penalties and advance to the semi-finals.

Recent results and fixtures

Main article: Iraq national under-23 football team results
  • The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.
Legend

      Win       Draw       Lose

2023

2024

Coaching staff

Position Name
Head coach Iraq Radhi Shenaishil
Assistant coach Iraq Nazar Ashraf
Goalkeeping coach Iraq Saleh Hameed
Fitness coach Iraq Ismail Salim
Team analyst Iraq Abdul-Amir Naji
Team manager Iraq Abdul-Jabbar Hashim
Media coordinator Iraq Maher Hassan

Players

Current squad

The following 25 players were named in the final squad for the 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup.
Caps and goals correct as of 27 January 2024 after game against Togo
Match details of the following matches are not known, thus excluded: Oman (2023), UAE (2024).

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1 1GK Kumel Al-Rekabe (2004-08-19) 19 August 2004 (age 20) 10 0 Iraq Naft Al-Basra
12 1GK Hassan Abbas (2001-01-01) 1 January 2001 (age 23) 3 0 Iraq Amanat Baghdad
22 1GK Hussein Hassan (2002-11-15) 15 November 2002 (age 21) 1 0 Iraq Al-Karkh
2 2DF Josef Al-Imam (2004-07-27) 27 July 2004 (age 20) 12 0 Sweden Malmö
3 2DF Ahmed Maknzi (2001-09-24) 24 September 2001 (age 23) 11 1 Iraq Erbil
4 2DF Zaid Tahseen (2001-01-29) 29 January 2001 (age 23) 17 1 Iraq Al-Talaba
5 2DF Hussein Amer 8 0 Iraq Naft Maysan
6 2DF Roman Doulashi (2005-08-07) 7 August 2005 (age 19) 0 0 Germany Schalke 04
17 2DF Mustafa Saadoun (2001-05-25) 25 May 2001 (age 23) 11 1 Iraq Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
20 2DF Halo Fayaq (2001-05-23) 23 May 2001 (age 23) 2 1 Iraq Erbil
23 2DF Karrar Saad (2001-03-07) 7 March 2001 (age 23) 14 0 Iraq Al-Talaba
25 2DF Hassan Khalid 1 0 Iraq Al-Karkh
7 3MF Ali Jassim (2004-01-20) 20 January 2004 (age 20) 7 5 Iraq Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
8 3MF Ali Almosawe (2002-01-28) 28 January 2002 (age 22) 8 2 Portugal Estrela Amadora
9 3MF Blnd Hassan (2003-08-12) 12 August 2003 (age 21) 10 4 Netherlands De Graafschap
10 3MF Nihad Mohammed (2001-01-01) 1 January 2001 (age 23) 12 0 Iraq Al-Talaba
11 3MF Muntadher Mohammed (2001-06-05) 5 June 2001 (age 23) 20 2 Iran Mes Rafsanjan
13 3MF Mohammed Haitham 0 0 Iraq Al-Jolan
14 3MF Karrar Mohammed Al-Mukhtar (2002-05-28) 28 May 2002 (age 22) 16 0 Iraq Al-Talaba
16 3MF Muntadher Abdul-Amir (2001-10-06) 6 October 2001 (age 23) 20 1 Iraq Al-Zawraa
21 3MF Zaid Ismael 9 0 Iraq Al-Talaba
15 4FW Amin Al-Hamawi (2003-12-17) 17 December 2003 (age 20) 4 1 Sweden Helsingborgs
18 4FW Ridha Fadhil (2001-04-01) 1 April 2001 (age 23) 12 6 Iraq Amanat Baghdad
19 4FW Salem Ahmad (2002-03-24) 24 March 2002 (age 22) 0 0 Iraq Al-Minaa
24 4FW Omar Abdul-Mujbas 0 0 Iraq Al-Jolan

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up within 12 months


Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club Latest call-up
GK Mohammed Hasan (2002-07-30) 30 July 2002 (age 22) 2 0 Iraq Al-Talaba Training camp, January 2024
GK Jaafar Shnaishel 0 0 Iraq Al-Minaa Training camp, January 2024
GK Ahmed Shaker (1998-09-19) 19 September 1998 (age 26) 0 0 Iraq Al-Karkh Training camp, November 2023
GK Ridha Abdulaziz 2 0 Iraq Al-Najaf Training camp, October 2023
DF Adam Rasheed (2006-07-10) 10 July 2006 (age 18) 1 0 Italy Torino Primavera Training camp, January 2024
DF Mujtaba Saleh 2 0 Iraq Al-Karkh Training camp, January 2024
DF Abdulrahman Zaid 0 0 Iraq Duhok Training camp, January 2024
DF Mustafa Walid (2002-04-28) 28 April 2002 (age 22) 8 1 Iraq Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya Training camp, November 2023
DF Kadhim Raad Hatem (2003-03-05) 5 March 2003 (age 21) 8 0 Iraq Al-Zawraa Training camp, November 2023
DF Alai Ghasem (2003-02-16) 16 February 2003 (age 21) 0 0 Sweden AFC Eskilstuna 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualificationPRE INJ
DF Mustafa Saleh (2004-04-27) 27 April 2004 (age 20) 2 0 Unattached
DF Amir Nadeem 3 0 Iraq Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualificationPRE
DF Hussein Ali (2002-03-01) 1 March 2002 (age 22) 0 0 Netherlands Heerenveen 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualificationIRQ
MF Ako Hzair (2002-01-01) 1 January 2002 (age 22) 1 0 Iraq Duhok Training camp, January 2024
MF Baqer Attwan (2002-01-20) 20 January 2002 (age 22) 2 0 Iraq Al-Hudood Training camp, January 2024
MF Amir Hassan 0 0 Iraq Al-Najaf Training camp, January 2024
MF Nour Al-Mustafa Ghanim 0 0 Iraq Karbala Training camp, January 2024
MF Alexander Aoraha (2003-01-17) 17 January 2003 (age 21) 12 5 England Queens Park Rangers U21 Training camp, November 2023
MF Marko Farji (2004-03-16) 16 March 2004 (age 20) 7 0 Norway Strømsgodset Training camp, November 2023
MF Amir Faisal (2005-05-01) 1 May 2005 (age 19) 5 1 Iraq Al-Kahrabaa Training camp, October 2023
MF Ali Sadiq (2003-02-13) 13 February 2003 (age 21) 0 0 Iraq Al-Zawraa 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualificationPRE
MF Hayder Abdulkareem (2004-08-07) 7 August 2004 (age 20) 0 0 Iraq Al-Zawraa 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualificationPRE
MF Ameer Ahmed 6 0 Iraq Al-Naft 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualificationPRE
Hayder Adel 2 0 Iraq Al-Shorta 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualificationPRE
MF Mohammed Khudhair 0 0 Iraq Al-Minaa 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualificationPRE
MF Ali Shakhwan (2002-09-30) 30 September 2002 (age 22) 0 0 Iraq Erbil 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualificationWD
MF Zidane Iqbal (2003-04-27) 27 April 2003 (age 21) 3 1 Netherlands Utrecht 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualificationIRQ
FW Hussein Abdullah (2001-01-01) 1 January 2001 (age 23) 16 12 Iraq Al-Talaba Training camp, January 2024
FW Zidane Abduljabbar (2000-06-03) 3 June 2000 (age 24) 11 0 Iraq Erbil Training camp, January 2024
FW Siyaband Ageed (2001-06-03) 3 June 2001 (age 23) 3 1 Iraq Duhok Training camp, January 2024
FW Sajjad Alaa 0 0 Iraq Al-Minaa Training camp, January 2024
FW Karrar Alaa (2001-01-27) 27 January 2001 (age 23) 1 1 Iraq Al-Qasim Training camp, January 2024
FW Dhulfiqar Younis (2001-05-27) 27 May 2001 (age 23) 8 3 Iraq Duhok Training camp, November 2023
FW Ammar Ghalib (2001-03-14) 14 March 2001 (age 23) 3 0 Iraq Al-Naft 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualificationIRQ
FW Jafar Naser (2003-11-03) 3 November 2003 (age 21) 0 0 Iraq Naft Maysan 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualificationPRE
FW Youssef Amyn (2003-08-21) 21 August 2003 (age 21) 0 0 Germany Eintracht Braunschweig 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualificationPRE CLB
FW Ali Al-Hamadi (2002-03-01) 1 March 2002 (age 22) 0 0 England Ipswich Town 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualificationIRQ
FW Ali Mohammad Hatem (2002-11-08) 8 November 2002 (age 21) 0 0 Spain Las Rozas B 2023 WAFF U-23 Championship

PRE Part of the preliminary squad
INJ Player injured
CLB Player refused by club or unable to attend due to club commitments
IRQ Player moved up to the first team
OVR Player overaged and ineligible to represent this age group
WD Player withdrew for non-injury related reasons

Overage players

Football at the Summer Olympics, the Asian Games and the Islamic Solidarity Games have required that under-23 players enter the competitions, but they have allowed three overage players to be included in one squad. These three players are called the "wild cards".

Summer Olympics

Tournament Player 1 Player 2 Player 3
2004
 Haidar Abdul-Jabar (DF) Abdul-Wahab Abu Al-Hail (MF) Razzaq Farhan (FW)
2016
 Ahmed Ibrahim (DF) Saad Abdul-Amir (MF) Hammadi Ahmed (FW)

Asian Games

Tournament Player 1 Player 2 Player 3
2014
 Salam Shaker (DF) Mahdi Karim (MF) Younis Mahmoud (FW)

Islamic Solidarity Games

Tournament Player 1 Player 2 Player 3
2013
 Hussein Abdul-Wahid (MF) Luay Salah (FW) Marwan Abbas Fadhel (FW)

Competitive record

Overview
Event 1st place 2nd place 3rd place 4th place
Summer Olympics 0 0 0 1
AFC U-23 Asian Cup 1 0 1 0
Total 1 0 1 1

Summer Olympics

Main article: Iraq at the Olympics
Summer Olympics record Qualification record
Year Result Position GP W D L GF GA Squad GP W D L GF GA
1900–1988 See Iraq national football team
Spain 1992 did not enter did not enter
United States 1996 did not qualify 9 4 3 2 14 8
Australia 2000 4 1 2 1 7 10
Greece 2004 Fourth place 4th 6 3 0 3 9 8 Squad 10 5 1 4 17 12
China 2008 did not qualify 12 6 5 1 21 8
United Kingdom 2012 8 3 2 3 7 7
Brazil 2016 Group stage 12th 3 0 3 0 1 1 Squad 10 7 2 1 27 11
Japan 2020 did not qualify 6 2 4 0 11 4
France 2024 to be determined 3 2 1 0 21 2
Total Fourth place 2/8 9 3 3 3 10 9 — 62 30 20 12 125 62

AFC U-23 Asian Cup

AFC U-23 Asian Cup record Qualification record
Year Result Position GP W D* L GF GA Squad GP W D L GF GA
Oman 2013 Champions 1st 6 6 0 0 9 2 Squad 5 3 2 0 12 3
Qatar 2016 Third place 3rd 6 4 1 1 12 7 Squad 4 3 1 0 15 4
China 2018 Quarter-finals 6th 4 2 2 0 8 4 Squad 3 3 0 0 12 1
Thailand 2020 Group stage 10th 3 0 3 0 4 4 Squad 3 2 1 0 7 0
Uzbekistan 2022 Quarter-finals 6th 4 1 3 0 7 5 Squad 2 2 0 0 7 0
Qatar 2024 Qualified 3 3 0 0 21 2
Total Champions 5/5 23 13 9 1 40 22 — 20 16 4 0 74 10
*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

Asian Games

Main article: Football at the Asian Games
Asian Games record
Year Result Position GP W D* L GF GA Squad
1951–1998 See Iraq national football team
South Korea 2002 Banned due to Gulf War
Qatar 2006 Runners-up 2nd 9 6 1 2 17 3 Squad
China 2010 Did not enter
South Korea 2014 Third place 3rd 7 6 0 1 18 4 Squad
Indonesia 2018 Withdrew
China 2022 Did not enter
Total Runners-up 2/5 16 12 1 3 35 7 —
*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

WAFF U-23 Championship

WAFF U-23 Championship record
Year Result Position GP W D L GF GA Squad
Qatar 2015 did not enter
Saudi Arabia 2021 Semifinals 3rd 4 2 1 1 5 3 Squad
Saudi Arabia 2022 did not enter
Iraq 2023 Champions 1st 4 2 2 0 7 3 Squad
Saudi Arabia 2024 Sixth place 6th 3 0 1 2 3 6 Squad
Total Best: Champions 3/5 11 4 4 3 15 12 —

Islamic Solidarity Games

Islamic Solidarity Games record
Year Result Position GP W D L GF GA Squad
Saudi Arabia 2005 did not enter
Iran 2010 cancelled
Indonesia 2013 Group stage 7th 3 0 2 1 4 5 Squad
Azerbaijan 2017 to Turkey 2021 did not enter
Total Group stage 1/4 3 0 1 2 4 5 —

Other tournaments

Other tournaments
Tournament Round GP W D* L GS GA
India 1990 Stafford Cup Champions 5 4 1 0 18 1
Saudi Arabia 2003 Abha Championship Champions 6 4 2 0 14 7
United Arab Emirates 2022 Dubai Cup 3 1 1 1 3 3
Qatar 2023 Doha Cup 1 1 0 0 3 0

Honours

Fourth place: 2004
Winners: 2013
Third place: 2016
Runners-up: 2006
Third place: 2014
  • WAFF U-23 Championship
Winners: 2023

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Selección de fútbol sub-23 de Irak para niños

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