Soccer Iraq is an English-based

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

i website and social media agency providing a variety of news, statistics and services for Iraqi football, ranging from coverage on the

Iraq national football team The Iraq national football team ( ar, منتخب العراق لكرة القدم) represents Iraq in international Association football, football and is controlled by the Iraq Football Association (IFA), the governing body for football in Ira ...

and its players to news on the

Iraqi Premier League The Iraqi Premier League ( ar, الدوري العراقي الممتاز) is the top level of the Iraqi football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it is operated by the Iraq Football Association (IFA) and operates on a system of promotion ...

History

Soccer Iraq launched on 11 March 2015 with the aim of creating an English-based website covering Iraq's national football team, the ''Lions of Mesopotamia'', as well as the domestic club competitions and the nation's foreign-based players. In 2017, Soccer Iraq assisted the

Iraq Football Association The Iraq Football Association (IFA) ( ar, الاتحاد العراقي لكرة القدم) is the governing body of football in Iraq, controlling the Iraqi national team and the Iraqi Premier League. The Iraqi Football Association was founded ...

(IFA) in the process of verifying the IFA's official social media profiles. In 2020, Soccer Iraq helped facilitate

Safaa Hadi Safaa Hadi ( ar, صفاء هادي, born 14 October 1998. Club career Youth career Safaa Hadi started in the youth system of the prestigious Ammo Baba School in Baghdad which has seen many of its graduates represent the Iraqi national team. L ...

's move to the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

by streamlining the communication of the

Russian Football Union The Russian Football Union (russian: Российский Футбольный Союз, ''Rossiyskiy Futbolnyy Soyuz'' or RFS) is the official governing body of association football in the Russian Federation. With headquarters in Moscow, it org ...

and PFC Krylia Sovetov with

Al-Shorta SC Al-Shorta Sports Club ( ar, نادي الشرطة الرياضي, lit=''Police Sports Club'') is an Iraqi sports club based in Al-Rusafa, Baghdad. It has teams in 17 different sports, more than any other Iraqi club, and the best known sectio ...

regarding the completion of administrative procedures. Soccer Iraq has also been involved in research into the earliest league and cup tournaments played in Iraq. Several current and former international players are in regular interaction with the website's posts on social media.

Providing Information

Throughout the years, Soccer Iraq has provided information regarding the

i game to many major

news network News broadcasting is the medium of broadcasting various news events and other information via television, radio, or the internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or televi ...

s and has been relied on by

news organisation The news media or news industry are forms of mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public. These include news agencies, print media (newspapers, news magazines), broadcast news (radio and television), and th ...

s around the world, such as

International Business Times The ''International Business Times'' is an American online news publication that publishes five national editions in four languages. The publication, sometimes called ''IBTimes'' or ''IBT'', offers news, opinion and editorial commentary on busi ...

La Gazzetta dello Sport ''La Gazzetta dello Sport'' (; "The Sports Gazette") is an Italian daily newspaper dedicated to coverage of various sports. Founded in 1896, it is the most widely read daily newspaper of any kind in Italy (in 2018). History and profile ''La ...

Marca Marca may refer to: Places * Marca, Sălaj, a commune in Sălaj County, Romania * Marca, a tributary of the Barcău in Sălaj County, Romania * an alternative name for Merca, Somalia * Marca District, in the province Recuay, Peru * Marçà, a vil ...

, L'Equipe,

Goal A goal is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. A goal is roughly similar to a purpose or ai ...

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...

ESPN FC ESPN FC (formerly ESPN SoccerNet) is a website and a U.S. television studio program covering soccer that is broadcast daily over the streaming service ESPN+. ESPN FC's origin was a website owned by ESPN Inc. Originally established in 1995 as Soc ...

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in some countries/territories in Asia and Oceania. It has 47 member countries most of which are located in Asia. Australia, formerly in ...

Diario AS ''Diario AS'' () is a Spanish daily sports newspaper that concentrates particularly on football. Profile ''Diario AS'' is part of PRISA which also owns '' El País'' and ''Cinco Días''. The paper particularly covers news of the Community of M ...

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...

, Sport.ro,

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

Panorama A panorama (formed from Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film, seismic images, or 3D modeling. The word was originally coined in ...

Mundo Deportivo ''Mundo Deportivo'' (; meaning ''Sports World'' in English) is a Spanish nationwide daily sports newspaper published in Barcelona. History and profile ''Mundo Deportivo'' was first published on 1 February 1906, as a weekly newspaper, and since 1 ...

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

, The National,

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the Fo ...

Transfermarkt Transfermarkt is a German-based website owned by Axel Springer SE that has footballing information, such as scores, results, statistics, transfer news, and fixtures. According to the IVW, it is in the top 25 most visited German websites, and o ...

, RT,

Emarat Al Youm ''Emarat Al Youm'' (Arabic: الإمارات اليوم, ''al-Imārāt al-yawm'' - meaning ''The Emirates Today'') is an Arabic newspaper published by Dubai Media Incorporated. The paper is published in Dubai. The newspaper content focuses on d ...

, 90min.com,

SPORTbible SPORTbible is a sports focused social media publisher with headquarters on Dale Street in Manchester's Northern Quarter, United Kingdom. SPORTbible is part of LADbible group and describes itself as "one of the largest communities for sports fans ...

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on Marc ...

Tuttosport ''Tuttosport'' is an Italian sport newspaper published in Turin, Italy. History and profile ''Tuttosport'' was first published on 30 July 1945. Renato Casalbore (who later died in the 1949 Superga air disaster alongside the Il Grande Torino foo ...

Sportskeeda Sportskeeda is an Indian sports and esports news website, founded in 2009. It is operated by Absolute Sports Private Limited and owned by Indian video game company Nazara Technologies. The website has news, features, commentary and videos on spo ...

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Corriere dello Sport ''Corriere dello Sport'' is an Italian national sports newspaper based in Rome, Italy. It is one of three major Italian sports daily newspapers and has the largest readership in central and southern Italy, the fourth most read throughout the co ...

, Le Matin,

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Bola Bola may refer to: People * Bola (name), a surname and given name * Darrell Fitton, electronic musician from Manchester, England, AKA "Bola" and "Jello" Geography * Bola (volcano), a volcano on the island of New Britain in Papua New Guinea * Bo ...

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, L'essentiel, Vanity Fair, NOS,

Algemeen Dagblad The ''Algemeen Dagblad'' () or ''AD'' () (English: "General Daily Paper") is a Dutch daily newspaper based in Rotterdam, Netherlands. History and profile ''Algemeen Dagblad'' was founded in 1946. The paper is published in tabloid format and is ...

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La Nación ''La Nación'' () is an Argentine daily newspaper. As the country's leading conservative newspaper, ''La Nación''s main competitor is the more liberal '' Clarín''. It is regarded as a newspaper of record for Argentina. Its motto is: "''La Nac ...

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, Al Akhbar,

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, El Comercio,

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Koran Sindo ''Koran Sindo'' (lit. ''Sindo Paper'') is an Indonesian newspaper published by Media Nusantara Citra (MNC Media) under PT Media Nusantara Informasi. The term "Sindo" is taken from the abbreviation of ''Seputar Indonesia'', the former flagship news ...

Žurnal24 ''Žurnal24'' in a Slovenian online newspaper. Until 2014, it was a free-press widely circulated daily newspaper published in Ljubljana, Slovenia. It was the youngest daily newspaper in Slovenia, being launched by Styria Medien AG, an Austria ...

, DV,

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and

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Notable Interviewees

The website has published several interviews since its launch – most recently with Gonzalo Rodríguez García,

Osama Rashid Osama Jabbar Shafeeq Rashid ( ar, أسامة رشيد; born 17 January 1992) is an Iraqi professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Primeira Liga club Vizela and the Iraq national team. Club career Youth career Born in Kirkuk, Iraq, ...

Mohannad Abdul-Raheem Mohannad Abdul-Raheem Karrar ( ar, مهند عبد الرحيم كرار; born 22 September 1993), is an Iraqi footballer who plays for Naft Al-Wasat and the Iraq national team. An Olympian, Mohannad is the 2012 Asian Young Footballer of the Ye ...

Rebin Sulaka Rebin Gharib Sulaka Adhamat (; born 12 April 1992) is an Iraqi professional footballer who plays as a centre back for Buriram United and the Iraq national team. Club career Sulaka started playing football in Eskilstuna City FK, where he as a 15- ...

Lorival Santos Lorival Alves dos Santos (born 7 October 1959) is a Brazilian professional Association football, football coach and former player who most recently managed Brazilian club Agremiação Sportiva Arapiraquense, ASA de Arapiraca in the Campeonato Al ...

Marin Ion Marin Ion (also known as Ion Marin; born 25 March 1955) is a Romanian football manager and former defender who currently manages Romania women's national under-19 football team. Playing career Marin started his football career as a defender ...

Justin Meram Justin Meram ( ar, جستن حكمت عزيز ميرام; born December 4, 1988) is a professional association football, footballer who plays as a Midfielder#Winger, winger for Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer. Born in the United States, he ...

and Ali Adnan.

Player of the Year

Soccer Iraq launched an Iraqi Player of the Year award for the first time in 2021.

Mohammed Qasim Majid Mohammed Qasim Majid ( ar, محمد قاسم ماجد; born 6 December 1996) is an Iraqi footballer who plays as a midfielder for Al-Najaf in the Iraqi Premier League. International career On 7 June 2019, Qasim made his first international ca ...

won the inaugural award and was congratulated by his club

Goal of the Season

Soccer Iraq launched the first ever Goal of the Season competition for the

starting from the 2016–17 season. The winner is chosen by a

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

poll between the four best goals.

Al-Zawraa Al-Zawraa Sports Club ( ar, نادي الزوراء الرياضي) is an Iraqi sports club based in Utayfia, Karkh District (near Tigris River), Baghdad. Their football team compete in the Iraqi Premier League, the top-flight of Iraqi footbal ...

midfielder Ali Raheem won the award in both of its first two seasons. Source

Team of the Decade

In late 2019, Soccer Iraq commemorated the end of the 2010s with the Soccer Iraq Team of the Decade which was voted for by fans over a two-month period via a series of

polls. After several thousands of votes, 28 players were narrowed down to the final eleven and the team was revealed on 31 December 2019. The selection of Mohanad Ali in the Team of the Decade was discussed by the official

broadcast during Iraq's match with

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

in 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. ;2010–2019

References

{{reflist Association football websites Iraqi sport websites