Iraq has announced its national team for World Cup, in their first appearance at a World Cup in 40 years, since Mexico 1986 (back then, they lost all matches), and facing tough teams such as France, Norway and Africa's true champions Senegal, with a team that includes a few familiar faces from European football: Ali Al-Hamadi from Ipswich, Ali Jasmin from Como (on loan in Al-Najma), Aimar Sher from Norwegian Sarpsborg, and Manchester United youth product Zidane Iqbal.
Al-Hamadi scored in the 2-1 play-off match against Bolivia that allowed them to return to the competition, alongside veteran forward Aymen Hussein. The team is in charge of the Australian manager Graham Arnold, who was previously manager of Australia at World Cup 2022 in Qatar.
A good test to see how Iraq's level compares to the elite in World Cup will be a friendly match against favourites Spain, on Thursday, June 4 at 21:00 CEST, 20:00 BST in La Coruña.
Iraq national squad for World Cup 2026:
Goalkeepers:
Fahad Talib (Al Talaba)
Jalal Hassan (Al-Zawraa)
Ahmed Basil (Al-Shorta)
Defenders:
Hussein Ali (Pogoń Szczecin)
Manaf Younis (Al-Shorta)
Zaid Tahseen (Pakhtakor)
Rebin Sulaka (Port)
Akam Hashem (Al-Zawraa)
Merchas Doski (Viktoria Plzeň)
Ahmed Yahya (Al-Shorta)
Zaid Ismail (Al-Talaba)
Frans Putros (Persib Bandung)
Mustafa Saadoon (Al-Shorta)
Midfielders:
Amir Al-Ammari (Cracovia)
Kevin Yakob (AGF)
Zidane Iqbal (Utrecht)
Aimar Sher (Sarpsborg)
Ibrahim Bayesh (Al-Dhafra)
Ahmed Qasem (Nashville SC)
Youssef Amyn (AEK Larnaca)
Marko Farji (Venezia)
Forwards:
Ali Jassim (Como)
Ali Al-Hamadi (Ipswich Town)
Ali Youssef (Apollon Limassol)
Aymen Hussein (Al-Karma)
Mohanad Ali (Dibba)