Iraq has announced its full 26-player squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. It’s the second time the country has qualified for the FIFA World Cup. Their only time they qualified before was in Mexico in 1986. The Lions of Mesopotamia lost all three of their games. Ahmed Radhi scored Iraq’s only World Cup goal in their match against Belgium.
Head coach Graham Arnold announced the full squad earlier today. The captain and leader of the team is goalkeeper Jalal Hassan. He is also the most experienced player in the squad with 100 caps for the country. Another key player is star striker Aymen Hussein. The Al-Karma forward played a crucial role in qualification, netting nine goals across all matches. Other young players to keep an eye on are Marko Farji (Venezia FC), Zidane Iqbal (FC Utrecht), Akam Hashim (Al-Zawraa), and Ali Al-Hamadi (Ipswich Town).
📋| نُقدّم لكم القائمة النهائية لمنتخبنا الوطني للمشاركة في كأس العالم.
26 لاعباً… يحملون اسم العراق وآمال جماهيره، ويستعدون لتمثيل الوطن في أكبر محفلٍ كروي على مستوى العالم.
🦁 كل التوفيق لأسود الرافدين.
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Introducing Iraq’s Final Squad for the FIFA World Cup.
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Goalkeepers: Jalal Hassan (Al-Zawraa), Fahad Talib (Al-Talaba), Ahmed Basil (Al-Shorta)
Defenders: Rebin Sulaka (Port FC), Merchas Doski (Viktoria Plzeň), Hussein Ali (Pogoń Szczecin), Frans Putros (Persib), Manaf Younis (Al-Shorta), Mustafa Sadoon (Al-Shorta), Zaid Tahseen (Pakhtakor), Ahmed Yahya (Al-Shorta), Akam Hashim (Al-Zawraa)
Midfielders: Amir Al-Ammari (Cracovia), Zidane Iqbal (FC Utrecht), Ibrahim Bayesh (Al-Dhafra), Youssef Amyn (AEK Larnaca), Ali Jasim (Al-Najma), Zaid Ismail (Al-Talaba), Aimar Sher (Sarpsborg), Kevin Yakob (AGF), Marko Farji (Venezia FC), Ahmed Qasem (Nashville SC)
Forwards: Aymen Hussein (Al-Karma), Ali Al-Hamadi (Ipswich Town), Mohanad Ali (Dibba), Ali Yousif (Al-Talaba)
Iraq’s road to the 2026 FIFA World Cup was one of the longest qualifying campaigns in football history. Iraq started its qualifying campaign on November 16, 2023, in a group with Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Iraq took the maximum 18 points out of six matches and qualified for the third round of the Asian qualifiers. The Lions of Mesopotamia got put in a group with South Korea, Jordan, Oman, Palestine, and Kuwait. Despite winning the final match in Jordan, they came up one point short of directly qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. South Korea and Jordan qualified, while Iraq got a ticket to the fourth qualifying round. Iraq had to play a mini-tournament against Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. The tournament was held in Saudi Arabia, and the winner qualified for the World Cup.
Victories over Indonesia for both Iraq and Saudi Arabia set up a winner-takes-all clash between the two countries for automatic qualification. Since Saudi Arabia held the tiebreaker on goals scored, Iraq needed a victory to qualify. The match ended 0-0, sending Saudi Arabia through and sending Iraq to the fifth round of the Asian qualifiers. The opponent was the United Arab Emirates. After a draw in Abu Dhabi, the Iraqis beat the Emiratis in injury time with a late penalty kick scored by Amir Al-Ammari. With the win, Iraq still didn’t qualify yet for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, but had to play inter-confederation play-offs in Mexico in March this year. As one of the two highest-ranked teams in the FIFA Men’s World Ranking, the Asian side received a bye straight to the final. On March 31, 2026, Iraq became the 48th and final country to clinch its spot in the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Iraq beat Bolivia 2-1 with goals from top scorer Aymen Hussein and Ali Al-Hamadi. They return for the first time in 40 years to the FIFA World Cup.
Iraq will play its matches in Group I. The Iraqis open their World Cup on June 16 in Foxborough, Massachusetts, against Norway. Six days later, they take on two-time champions France in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For their final group stage match, they travel to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to take on Senegal on June 26. The two group winners and the eight best third-placed teams from each group will advance to the next stage.
Iraq Schedule
Marcel Dorff Marcel Dorff covers Mixed Martial Arts & Soccer for Heavy.com. He has covered MMA on a professional level since 2022. More about Marcel Dorff
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