Iraq national under-23 football team

Iraq U-23

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 medalist (2006)
AFC U-23 Asian Cup
Appearances	5 (first in 2013)
Best result	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 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

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

Players

Current squad

The following 26 players were named in the squad for the friendlies against United States and Ivory Coast.
Caps and goals correct as of 18 November 2023 after game against United States, excluding friendlies against Oman, Dominican Republic and Ivory Coast (2023).

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	GK	Kumel Al-Rekabe	19 August 2004	10	0	Unattached
	GK	Ahmed Shaker	19 September 1998	0	0	Al-Karkh
	GK	Hassan Abbas	1 January 2001	2	0	Amanat Baghdad
	GK	Mohammad Hassan	1 April 2002	4	0	Næstved
	DF	Zaid Tahseen	29 January 2001	16	1	Al-Talaba
	DF	Josef Al-Imam	27 July 2004	11	0	Malmö U-19
	DF	Ahmed Maknzi	24 September 2001	9	1	Erbil
	DF	Karrar Saad	7 March 2001	12	0	Al-Talaba
	DF	Mustafa Walid	28 April 2002	6	1	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
	DF	Hussein Amer		6	0	Naft Maysan
	DF	Kadhim Raad Hatem	5 March 2003	6	0	Al-Zawraa
	DF	Mujtaba Saleh		0	0	Al-Karkh
	MF	Muntadher Mohammed	5 June 2001	18	2	Mes Rafsanjan
	MF	Karrar Mohammed	28 May 2002	15	0	Al-Talaba
	MF	Alexander Aoraha	17 January 2003	10	4	Queens Park Rangers
	MF	Zaid Ismael		8	0	Newroz
	MF	Muntadher Abdul-Amir	6 October 2001	18	1	Zakho
	MF	Marko Farji	16 March 2004	5	0	Strømsgodset
	FW	Hussein Abdullah	1 January 2001	13	10	Al-Talaba
	FW	Nihad Mohammed	1 January 2001	10	0	Al-Talaba
	FW	Blnd Hassan	12 August 2003	9	4	De Graafschap
	FW	Siamand Ageed	3 June 2001	1	0	Duhok
	FW	Ali Almosawe	28 January 2002	7	2	Gouveia
	FW	Dhulfiqar Younis	27 May 2001	7	3	Duhok
	FW	Ridha Fadhil	23 November 1998	10	6	Karbala
	FW	Amin Al-Hamawi	17 December 2003	4	1	Helsingborgs

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	30 July 2002	2	0	Al-Talaba	Training camp, October 2023
GK	Ridha Abdulaziz		2	0	Al-Najaf	Training camp, October 2023
GK	Hussein Hassan	15 November 2002	0	0	Al-Karkh	2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualificationWD
GK	Hani Haidar	10 January 2005	0	0	Trelleborgs U-19	U-23 Doha Friendly Tournament
DF	Adam Rasheed	10 July 2006	1	0	Torino U-19	Training camp, October 2023
DF	Mustafa Saadoun	25 May 2001	11	1	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualificationIRQ
DF	Alai Ghasem	16 February 2003	0	0	Göteborg	2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualificationPRE INJ
DF	Mustafa Saleh	27 April 2004	2	0	Unattached
DF	Amir Nadeem		3	0	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualificationPRE
DF	Halo Fayaq	23 May 2001	1	0	Erbil	2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualificationWD
DF	Hussein Ali	1 March 2002	0	0	SC Heerenveen	2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualificationIRQ
DF	Karrar Al-Amir Ali	14 December 1999	1	0	Al-Qasim	2023 WAFF U-23 ChampionshipPRE
DF	Taha Alaa		0	0	Al-Sinaat Al-Kahrabaiya	2023 WAFF U-23 ChampionshipPRE
MF	Amir Faisal	1 May 2005	4	1	Al-Kahrabaa	Training camp, October 2023
MF	Ali Sadiq	13 February 2003	0	0	Al-Zawraa	2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualificationPRE
MF	Hayder Abdulkareem	7 August 2004	0	0	Al-Zawraa	2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualificationPRE
MF	Ameer Ahmed		6	0	Al-Naft	2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualificationPRE
	Hayder Adel		2	0	Al-Shorta	2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualificationPRE
MF	Nour Al-Mustafa Ghanim		0	0	Karbala	2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualificationPRE
MF	Mohammed Khudhair		0	0	Al-Minaa	2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualificationPRE
MF	Ali Shakhwan	30 September 2002	0	0	Erbil	2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualificationWD
MF	Zidane Iqbal	27 April 2003	3	1	FC Utrecht	2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualificationIRQ
MF	Abdullah Wasfi	25 March 1998	0	0	Newroz	2023 WAFF U-23 ChampionshipPRE
MF	Sajid Abbas	13 June 2001	0	0	Naft Al-Basra	2023 WAFF U-23 ChampionshipPRE
MF	Baqer Attwan	20 January 2002	1	0	Al-Hudood	2023 WAFF U-23 ChampionshipPRE
MF	Abdullah Hassoon		0	0	Al-Najaf	2023 WAFF U-23 ChampionshipPRE
	Ali Al-Sajjad		0	0	Al-Kahrabaa	2023 WAFF U-23 ChampionshipPRE
	Allawi Kadhim		0	0	Naft Al-Wasat	2023 WAFF U-23 ChampionshipPRE
	Mohammed Mahmoud		0	0	Ghaz Al-Shamal	2023 WAFF U-23 ChampionshipPRE
MF	Manuel Iylia	18 May 2004	2	0	Twente U-21	U-23 Doha Friendly TournamentWD
MF	Ewert Baram	17 December 2003	0	0	Unattached
FW	Ali Jassim	20 January 2004	7	5	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualificationIRQ
FW	Ammar Ghalib	14 March 2001	3	0	Al-Naft	2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualificationIRQ
FW	Zidane Abduljabbar	3 June 2000	10	0	Erbil	2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualificationPRE
FW	Karrar Alaa	27 January 2001	0	0	Al-Qasim	2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualificationPRE
FW	Jafar Naser	3 November 2003	0	0	Naft Maysan	2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualificationPRE
FW	Youssef Amyn	21 August 2003	0	0	Braunschweig	2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualificationPRE CLB
FW	Ali Al-Hamadi	1 March 2002	0	0	A.F.C. Wimbledon	2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualificationIRQ
FW	Salem Ahmad	28 December 2000	0	0	Al-Minaa	2023 WAFF U-23 Championship
FW	Ali Mohammad Hatem	8 November 2002	0	0	Las Rozas B	2023 WAFF U-23 Championship
FW	Sajjad Alaa		0	0	Al-Minaa	2023 WAFF U-23 ChampionshipPRE
FW	Ali Hayder	1 October 2005	3	0	Stoke U-18	U-23 Doha Friendly Tournament
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)	—

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

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
1992	did not enter										did not enter
1996	did not qualify										9	4	3	2	14	8
2000											4	1	2	1	7	10
2004	Fourth place	4th	6	3	0	3	9	8	Squad		10	5	1	4	17	12
2008	did not qualify										12	6	5	1	21	8
2012											8	3	2	3	7	7
2016	Group stage	12th	3	0	3	0	1	1	Squad		10	7	2	1	27	11
2020	did not qualify										6	2	4	0	11	4
2024	to be determined										to be determined
Total	Fourth place	2/8	9	3	3	3	10	9	—		59	28	19	12	104	60

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
2013	Champions	1st	6	6	0	0	9	2	Squad		5	3	2	0	12	3
2016	Third place	3rd	6	4	1	1	12	7	Squad		4	3	1	0	15	4
2018	Quarter-finals	6th	4	2	2	0	8	4	Squad		3	3	0	0	12	1
2020	Group stage	10th	3	0	3	0	4	4	Squad		3	2	1	0	7	0
2022	Quarter-finals	6th	4	1	3	0	7	5	Squad		2	2	0	0	7	0
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

Asian Games record
Year	Result	Position	GP	W	D*	L	GF	GA	Squad
1951–1998	See Iraq national football team
2002	Banned due to Gulf War
2006	Runners-up	2nd	9	6	1	2	17	3	Squad
2010	Did not enter
2014	Third place	3rd	7	6	0	1	18	4	Squad
2018	Withdrew
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
2015	did not enter
2021	Semifinals	3rd	4	2	1	2	5	3	Squad
2022	did not enter
2023	Champions	1st	4	2	2	0	7	3	Squad
Total	Best: Semifinals	2/4	8	4	3	2	12	6	—

Islamic Solidarity Games

Islamic Solidarity Games record
Year	Result	Position	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	Squad
2005	did not enter
2013	Group stage	7th	3	0	2	1	4	5	Squad
2017 to 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
1990 Stafford Cup	Champions	5	4	1	0	18	1
2003 Abha Championship	Champions	6	4	2	0	14	7
2022 Dubai Cup		3	1	1	1	3	3
2023 Doha Cup		1	1	0	0	3	0

Honours

• Summer Olympics

Fourth place: 2004

• AFC U-23 Asian Cup

Winners: 2013

Third place: 2016

• Asian Games

Runners-up: 2006

Third place: 2014

• WAFF U-23 Championship

Winners: 2023

See also

• Iraq national football team
• Iraq national under-20 football team
• Iraq national under-17 football team