After failing to reach the 1994 FIFA World Cup Finals, the Iraqi national football team were summoned to a meeting with the football-mad Uday Saddam Hussein, the son of the former Iraqi dictator and self-appointed head of the Iraqi Olympic Committee. Eyewitness accounts provided by Iraqi defectors describe the horrid conditions and treatment experienced by the Iraqi footballing community under the former regime of Saddam Hussein. Uday was notorious for his fits of uncontrollable rage and mercurial temper. It is said that on one occasion, when the Iraqi national team failed to qualify for the Asian Cup, players were forced to kick a concrete ball.
Fast forward more than two decades and it becomes evidently clear that Iraqi football has undergone radical transformations. Today, Iraqi football stands tall and proud as one of the most successful sporting stories in the Middle East. One person, in particular, behind Iraq’s recent sporting success is Abdul Hussain Abtan, the current Iraqi Minister of Youth and Sport.
The Ministry’s achievements are more impressive when considered in the context of Iraq’s recent history, battling against terrorism and sectarian strife that have attempted to tear Iraqi society apart. Across Iraq, sports – football in particular – have transcended local identities and overshadowed political allegiances. Football has come to signify togetherness, unifying Iraqis of all stripes while revitalising Iraqi nationalism which could bring about the healing process the country desperately needs.
This transformation reached its pinnacle in March 2018 after the world football’s governing body, FIFA, lifted the ban on Iraqi stadiums holding competitive games and competitions. After unrelenting efforts that involved close collaboration between FIFA, Iraqi security services, and local sporting bodies, the ban was finally overturned, which had been in place since 1990. This major milestone achieved under Abtan’s leadership has resulted in Iraq now being able to host international games in stadiums in Erbil, Karbala, and Basra.
Determined to move beyond revival but to also bring innovation and development to the sporting community, Iraq’s Ministry of Youth and Sports has spearheaded efforts to develop Olympic facilities and sport cities in Iraq. In May 2016, the Ministry opened the Basra Sports City in southern Iraq, a 60,000 spectators sporting complex with Olympic facilities, an international stadium, and track and field spaces, the first of its kind in Iraq.
In the rest of the country, particularly in the North, development has not been quite so straight forward. In Mosul, which fell under ISIS rule for three years, sporting life came close to a complete halt. When Mosul was eventually liberated in July 2017, the Ministry, in conjunction with the local population emerging out of conflict, set about restoring the city’s sporting spirit. In September 2017, a friendly football match in the University of Mosul’s stadium took place between Mosul FC and a team made up of the Nineveh Police. The match, which was the first since the city’s liberation, was seen as a symbol of unity after ISIS and a show of defiance against the group’s threats to target the event.
Furthermore, in an attempt to build cross-border relations, Iraq hosted the Saudi national football team in Basra. The game was part of growing diplomatic and economic relations between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, a perceived opportunity to cement these warming relations off the field with a match between the two nations on the field. In doing so, this sent a message to Saudi officials and prospective business partners: Iraq welcomes you on its soil.
At the head of these recent efforts to revitalise sports in Iraq has been the Minister for Youth and Sports, Abdul Hussein Abtan. A former governor of Najaf and deputy in the Iraqi Government, Abtan has worked through immense social strife, years of conflict, and daily terrorist attacks that have threatened to paralyse the country. A relatively young man in his late forties, Abtan has defied the odds and expectations to lead Iraq out of the ashes and into the world stage of politics and sporting achievements. But as he pushes on after the defeat of ISIS, Iraq’s sporting story is only at the beginning – we are still awaiting the completion of sporting complexes in Kut, Hilla, Kifil, and Baghdad, signalling that sports will continue to play a prominent role in Iraq for years to come.