Iraq Football Association

Governing body of football in Iraq

The Iraq Football Association (IFA) (الاتحاد العراقي لكرة القدم) is the governing body of football in Iraq, controlling the Iraqi national team and the Iraqi football league system. 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 Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation (founded in 2016). The Iraqi team is commonly known as Usood Al Rafidain (أسود الرافدين), which literally means Lions of Mesopotamia.

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.

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 (‘Nadi Al Malikiya Al Olympiya’), Royal Guards (‘Haris Al Maliki’), Royal Air Force (‘Al Quwa Al Jawiya Al Malikiya’), Police Schools (‘Madaris Al Shurta’), Kuliya Al Askariya (‘Military College’), Dar Al Mualameen Alaliya (‘Highest Teacher's House’), Casual's Club, Al Marouf Al Tarbiya (‘Physical Education’), Kuliya Al Hakok (‘College of Law’), Quwa Al Siyara (‘Armoured Cars’) from the capital Baghdad and four other teams Nadi Al Minaa Al Basri (Basra Port Club), Sharakat Al Naft Al Basra (Basra Petroleum Company) from Basra and branches in the provinces of Mosul and Kirkuk. 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.