The Iraq national under-23 football team (also known as Iraq Olympic football team) represents Iraq in international under-23 football, Summer Olympics and at the Asian Games, The team is controlled by the governing body for football in Iraq, the Iraq Football Association (IFA).
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.[1] That was followed by a 2–0 win against Costa Rica and a 2–1 loss to Morocco.[2]
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.[3]
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.[4] 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.[5] In the third game, Iraq tied South Africa 1–1, despite having a huge 29 shots in the match.[6] 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.[7]Amjad Kalaf was named the most valuable player of the tournament.[8]
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.[9]
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.[10]
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.[11]
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 Rammdan 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.[12]
In the first match, Thailand emerged victorious with a stunning 2-0 win over Iraq. Iraq defeated Tajikistan and Saudi Arabia, securing their place as group winners. Iraq faced Vietnam in the quarterfinals, and in a fiercely contested match, booking their ticket to the semifinals. However, Iraq succumbed to a 2-0 defeat against Japan in the semifinals.
In the playoff for third place, Iraq faced Indonesia in a showdown for bronze. Iraq emerged victorious, securing a 2-1 win and clinched third place in the tournament. This also earned them a spot in the 2024 Olympics.[13] On the individual front, Ali Jasim finished as the top scorer of the tournament with four goals and two assists.[14]
The following 22 players were named in the final squad for the 2024 Olympics.
Caps and goals correct as of 30 July 2024 after game against Morocco Match details of the following matches are not known, thus excluded: Oman (2023), UAE, Japan, Egypt (2024).
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
