Iraq Football Association


The Iraq Football Association is the governing body of football in Iraq, controlling the Iraqi national team and the Iraqi Premier League. 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 2000. Iraq also is part of the Union of Arab Football Associations and has been a member since 1974. The Iraqi team is commonly known as Usood Al-Rafidain, which literally meaning Lions of Mesopotamia.

History

The Iraqi Football Association 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 Iraqi FA had not been founded, so no football team took part in the Olympics. It was during the Olympics that the idea of an Iraq Football Association 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.

First Administration

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 Royal Olympic Club, Royal Guards, Royal Air Force, Police School, Kuliya Al-Askariya, Dar Al-Mualameen Alaliya, Casual’s Club, Al-Marouf Al-Tarbiya, Kuliya Al-Hakok, Quwa Al-Siyara from the capital Baghdad and four other teams Nadi Al-Minaa Al-Basri, Sharakat Al-Naft Al-Basra from Basra and branches in the provinces of Mosul and Kirkuk.

Controversies

The Iraqi youth national teams have been ejected from tournaments for fielding over-age players. 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.

Association information

As of June 2020, the members of the Iraq Football Association leadership team are:
PositionIncumbent
President Eyad Al Nadawi
Vice President Shamil Al Jajanee
General Secretary Mohammed Farhan Obaid
Acting General Secretary Tareq Ali
Treasurer Masoud Abed-Alkhaliq
Technical Director Qasim Lazam Sabr
Team Coach Srečko Katanec
Team Coach Adil Qader
Media/Communications Manager Zeyad Hamid
Futsal Coordinator Najih Humoud
Referee Coordinator Tariq Ahmed Ali

List of Presidents of IFA

The following is a list of presidents of Iraq Football Association .
PresidencyPresidentTook officeLeft office
1Abdullah Al-Muthaifi19481952
2Akram Fahmi19531954
3Saadi Hussein Al-Douri19541955
4Ismail Mohammed19551956
5Hadi Abbas19561959
6Adeeb Najeeb19591961
7Adil Basheer19611964
8Fahad Juwad Al-Meera19641968
19681976
9Moayad Al-Badri19761977
10Hisham Atta19771980
11Soryan Tawfeeq19801984
12Sabah Mirza Mahmoud19841985
13Uday Hussein19851988
14Kareem Mahmoud Mulla19881990
15Uday Hussein19902003
17Ahmed Radhi20032004
18Hussein Saeed20042011
19Najeh Humoud20112014
20Abdul Khaliq Masood20142020
21Eyad Al Nadawi2020present