The Turbulent Realm of Iraqi Football; Government Interference Might Lead to Suspension from FIFA
Iraq is a country facing many woes: going from being ruled by a dictator to a devastating war raging in the country to terrorist attacks to a general level of disheartenment among the people. Football is the one thing that brings the entire country together. The war ravaged country lived for football and the game brought the entire country’s people together to celebrate a common goal. The country’s greatest football triumph in recent years was when they were crowned the 2007 AFC Asian Cup champions. Recently, though, the Iraqi Football Association has been facing serious difficulties with FIFA because of problems with not selecting the leadership for the organisation. Hopefully, the country and the football association will both get back on track soon.
In 2007, the Iraqi football team managed to pull off a fairytale victory to claim the Asian Cup title. By winning the crown from the favourites and three time previous winners Saudi Arabia, the team was able to lift the spirits and hopes of an entire nation. During the entire tournament, the football team seemed to be lifted on the shoulders of their entire country and the spirit and zeal of the population of Iraq helped the young side to claim victory over a much more experienced and dominant Saudi team. This one football match was able to inspire the people of war torn Iraq, and the team pulled off an amazing victory by using their superior defensive capabilities. Saudi Arabia had the best attacking side going into the match, having scored twelve goals, while Iraq’s defence was so strong that they had only conceded two goals in their campaign to the final. This one victory had the power to revive the spirits of a completely disheartened people.
In recent years, however, the fortunes of the Iraqi team have started to wane. War seems to have ravaged not only the country but its most popular sport as well. The country became so dangerous that international matches could not take place in the country anymore. How the sport survived is a miracle in itself. Under the regime of Saddam, any loss by the team resulted in them getting brutally punished and after the dictator was overthrown, extremists started killing sports figures so a large number of the team went into exile. The only team willing to play any matches in Iraq was from another troubled part of the world, Palestine. Through all this, though, the team still managed to play matches internationally and tried to revive their spirits through the beautiful game. This just shows how great the love of football is in the country, that even though the team was pushed into exile and threatened by extremists, they continued to play the game whenever and wherever they could.
The recent trouble facing the country’s football team is a little bit different. They have gotten into trouble with FIFA over not selecting the top people for the country’s football association. It seems politics is interfering in the selection process for Iraq’s Football Association and that is one thing that FIFA cannot bear. FIFA takes a hard line approach to any sort of government meddling in football in its member countries. The situation arose when first an extension in holding elections to determine the top positions of the football association was granted by FIFA. When a date for the elections was finally set, the government started to interfere in the process. It seems the two big political parties, the Sunni party and the Shiite party, have both sent in nominations and this has led to serious problems because both parties want their man elected to the top post. FIFA is very close to suspending the country’s football association from international competition if the problem is not resolved very soon. If Iraq does not sort itself out, it will see its most popular sport getting sidelined for a few years.
It is a sad state of affairs that is taking place in Iraq at the moment. Besides being war ravaged and destroyed, the country’s favourite sport is now in jeopardy as well. The country’s people need football to lift their spirits, to give them hope and to inspire them to greatness; without it they are truly lost. The only thing left to do is to hope that the situation rights itself in the near future.
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