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 the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

have appeared once in the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

which was in 1986. They ended up last place in their group with zero points, scoring only one goal.

FIFA World Cup record

Iraq at Mexico 1986

Paraguay vs Iraq

This match caused controversy as the referee

Edwin Picon-Ackong Edwin Sydney Picon-Ackong (born November 4, 1940) is a retired Mauritian football referee. He is known for having refereed one match in the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico between Iraq and Paraguay. Some of the Iraqi team officials and players reac ...

blew the whistle for half time a few seconds before Iraq striker

Ahmed Radhi Ahmed Radhi Humaiesh Al-Salehi, ( ar, أحمد راضي هميش الصالحي, 21 April 1964 – 21 June 2020) was an Iraqi footballer who played as a forward. Regarded as one of Iraq and Asia's best players of all-time, Radhi scored the onl ...

headed the ball into the goal, meaning that it did not count.

Iraq vs Belgium

In the 16th minute of the match Belgium took the lead when

Enzo Scifo Vincenzo "Enzo" Daniele Scifo (; born 19 February 1966) is a retired Belgian football midfielder. He has also managed the Belgium national under-21 football team and several Belgian club sides. He played for clubs in Belgium, France and Italy, ...

scored with a low shot to the left corner of the net from the right from just inside the penalty area. It was 2-0 in the 21st minute when

Nico Claesen Nicolaas "Nico" Pieter Claesen (born 1 October 1962) is a former Belgian football player who works as head coach of RFC Liège. Career Claesen was signed by Tottenham Hotspur in October 1986 by David Pleat who bought him from Standard Liège f ...

scored a penalty low to the left corner of the net. Iraq pulled a goal back in the 59th minute when

scored a low shot to the left corner of the net from the right but Belgium went on to win 2-1.

Iraq vs Mexico

Fernando Quirarte Fernando Quirarte Gutiérrez (born 17 May 1956) is a Mexican former professional footballer and manager. He played as a centre-back for the club Guadalajara from 1973 to 1987 and the Mexico national team, earning 45 caps and scoring 5 goals, ...

scored the only goal of the game with a shot from a very tight angle on the right that beat the goalkeeper at his near post.

Record players

There are seven players who have been fielded on all three occasions. Five of them played every single minute, while

Rahim Hameed Abdul-Rahim Hameed Aufi (born 23 May 1963) is an Iraqi football forward who played for Iraq in the 1986 FIFA World Cup. He also played for Al-Jaish. Rahim Hamed was a prolific goalscorer who was leading goalscorer in the Iraqi league for thr ...

came on as a substitute every single time, replacing fellow record holder

Hashim Hashim ( ar, هاشم) is a common male Arabic given name. Hashim may also refer to: *Hashim Amir Ali * Hashim (poet) *Hashim Amla *Hashim Thaçi * Hashim Khan *Hashim Qureshi * Mir Hashim Ali Khan * Hashim al-Atassi *Hashim ibn Abd Manaf * Hashim ...

in the last match.

Top goalscorers

The only Iraqi goal at the FIFA World Cup was scored by

in their match against Belgium.

References

External links

Iraqi Football Website

Iraq at the 1986 World Cup

History of Iraq National Team
{{Countries at the FIFA World Cup Countries at the FIFA World Cup FIFA