Jump to content

Iraq Football Association

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Iraq Football Association
AFC
Short nameIFA
Founded8 October 1948; 77 years ago (1948-10-08)
HeadquartersZayouna, Baghdad, Iraq[1]
FIFA affiliation1950
AFC affiliation1970[2]
WAFF affiliation2001 (founding member)
PresidentYounis Mahmoud
Vice-PresidentSarmad Abdelilah (1st)
Mohammed Nasser Shakroun (2nd)
Websiteifa.iq

The Iraq Football Association (IFA) (Arabic: الاتحاد العراقي لكرة القدم, romanized: Al-Ittiḥād al-ʻIrāqī li-Kurat al-Qadam; Kurdish: یەکێتیی تۆپی پێی عێراق) is the governing body of football in Iraq, controlling the Iraqi national team and the Iraqi football league system.[3][4][5][6][7] The Iraqi Football Association was founded in 1948 and has been a member of FIFA since 1950, the Asian Football Confederation since 1970, and the Sub-confederation regional body West Asian Football Federation since 2001. Iraq is also part of the Union of Arab Football Associations (founded in 1974) and the Gulf Football Federation (founded in 2016). The Iraqi team is commonly known as Usood Al-Rafidain (Arabic: أسود الرافدين), which literally means Lions of Mesopotamia.

History

[edit]

The Iraq Football Association (Ittihad Al-Iraqi Le-Korat Al-Kadem) was formed on October 8, 1948, and was the third sports union to be founded in Iraq after the Track and Field Athletics and the Basketball Federations. The two unions took part at the 1948 Olympic Games in London, held from July 29 to August 14, however the IFA had not been founded, so no football team took part in the Olympics. It was during the Olympics that the idea of a football association in Iraq was put forward. During the 1948 London Olympic Games, Iraq's basketball team lost every game by an average of 104 points per game. They scored an average of 23.5 points per game. The team included Iraq's first ever-national football captain Wadud Khalil and another member of Iraq's first ever-national squad in 1951, the outside right Salih Faraj.[8]

First administration

[edit]
The first logo of the Iraq Football Association in 1950.

The first Iraqi FA administration was headed by President Obaid Abdullah Al-Mudhayfi and Saadi Jassim as general secretary, with its headquarters in the Sheikh Omar district in Baghdad. The IFA was an association of 14 teams from all over Iraq, they included the Al-Nadi Al-Olympi Al-Malaki (‘Royal Olympic Club’), Al-Haras Al-Malaki (‘Royal Guards’), Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya Al-Malakiya (‘Royal Air Force’), Madaris Al-Shorta (‘Police Schools’), Al-Kuliya Al-Askariya (‘Military College’), Dar Al-Mualimeen Alaliya (‘Highest Teacher's House’), Casuals Club, Al-Maarouf Al-Tarbiya (‘Physical Education’), Kuliyat Al-Huqooq (‘College of Law’), Al-Quwa Al-Siyara (‘Armoured Cars’) from the capital Baghdad and four other teams Nadi Al-Minaa Al-Basri (Basra Port Club), Sharikat Naft Al-Basra (Basra Petroleum Company) from Basra and branches in the provinces of Mosul and Kirkuk.[8]

Controversies

[edit]

The Iraqi youth national teams have been ejected from tournaments for fielding over-age players.[9] In 1989, Iraq was banned for using over-age players in the U-20 World Championships in Saudi Arabia. That ban was extended when Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990.[10]

Competitions

[edit]

The IFA organises several national competitions, including:

Current title holders

[edit]
Competition Year Champions Runners-up Next edition
Senior football (men's)
Iraq Stars League 2025–26 Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya Al-Shorta 2026–27
Iraqi Premier Division League 2025–26 Al-Jolan Ghaz Al-Shamal 2026–27
Iraqi First Division League 2025–26 Masafi Al-Shamal Al-Shatra 2026–27
Iraqi Second Division League 2025–26 Al-Sinaat Al-Harbiya Akkad 2026–27
Iraqi Third Division League 2025–26 Akre Al-Hindiya 2026–27
Iraq FA Cup 2024–25 Duhok Zakho 2026–27
Iraqi Super Cup 2022 Al-Shorta Al-Karkh 2026
Senior football (women's)
Iraqi Women's Football League 2023–24 Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya Naft Al-Shamal TBD

Association information

[edit]

As of 23 May 2026, the members of the Iraq Football Association leadership team are:[11][12]

Position Incumbent
President Iraq Younis Mahmoud
First Vice President Iraq Sarmad Abdelilah
Second Vice President Iraq Mohammed Nasser Shakroun
General Secretary Iraq Govand Abdul-Khaliq
Technical Director Spain Carlos Rodríguez Díaz
Child Safeguarding Officer Iraq Ibrahim Maroof Ahmed

Other members:[12] Ahmed Al-Musawi, Ghalib Al-Zamili, Emad Yassin, Abdul-Razzaq Akram, Khalaf Jalal, Farqad Abdul-Karim, Kadhim Hamad, Mahmoud Ahmed, Sabah Qasim, Sabreen Hamed

List of presidents of IFA

[edit]

The following is a list of presidents of Iraq Football Association (IFA).

Presidency President Took office Left office
1 Abdullah Al-Muthaifi 1948 1952
2 Akram Fahmi 1953 1954
3 Saadi Hussein Al-Douri 1954 1955
4 Ismail Mohammed 1955 1956
5 Hadi Abbas 1956 1959
6 Adeeb Najeeb 1959 1961
7 Adil Basheer 1961 1964
8 Fahad Juwad Al-Meera 1964 1968
– 1968 1976
9 Moayad Al-Badri 1976 1977
10 Hisham Atta 1977 1980
11 Soryan Tawfeeq 1980 1984
12 Sabah Mirza Mahmoud 1984 1985
13 Uday Hussein 1985 1988
14 Kareem Mahmoud Mulla 1988 1990
15 Uday Hussein 1990 2003
16 Ahmed Radhi 2003 2004
17 Hussein Saeed 2004 2011
18 Najeh Humoud 2011 2014
19 Abdul Khaliq Masood 2014 2020
20 Eyad Al Nadawi 2020 2021
21 Adnan Dirjal 2021 2026
22 Younis Mahmoud 2026 present

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ "Member Association - Iraq". FIFA. Archived from the original on March 6, 2019. Retrieved 2020-10-31.
  2. ↑ "Tengku re-elected AFC president". The Straits Times. 19 December 1970."Seluroh Asia tetap sokong Sir Stanley". Berita Harian (Malay language). 1 January 1971.
  3. ↑ "Football mad Iraq's new field of dreams – Iraq". The New Zealand Herald. NZ Herald News. 2011-10-15. Retrieved 2014-02-18.
  4. ↑ "Iraq elect new football head - Football". Al Jazeera English. Retrieved 2014-02-18.
  5. ↑ "When Saturday Comes – War games". Wsc.co.uk. 2012-07-09. Retrieved 2014-02-18.
  6. ↑ Suzanne Goldenberg (23 July 2003). "Uday: career of rape, torture and murder | World news". The Guardian. Retrieved 2014-02-18.
  7. ↑ "SI.com – Sports Illustrated – The Magazine – From Sports Illustrated: Son of Saddam – Monday March 24, 2003 05:00 PM". Sportsillustrated.cnn.com. 2003-03-24. Archived from the original on June 2, 2003. Retrieved 2014-02-18.
  8. 1 2 Mubarak, Hassanin (21 March 2013). "Iraqi Football History". Archived from the original on 21 March 2023. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  9. ↑ "Massive age fraud in the Iraqi youth team". 17 June 2013. Archived from the original on 2016-06-29. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
  10. ↑ Clarey, Christopher (1993-10-16). "SOCCER; Iraqi Soccer Team Takes Its First Shot at a Big Target and Misses". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
  11. ↑ "Iraq: Association Information". FIFA. Archived from the original on March 6, 2019. Retrieved 2020-06-14.
  12. 1 2 "The AFC.com - The Asian Football Confederation". The AFC. Retrieved 2020-10-31.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Iraq_Football_Association&oldid=1367493155"