Iraq and Saudi Arabia Come Together Just for Kicks
- 6 years ago
Iraq and Saudi Arabia Come Together Just for Kicks
On the field, we hope to crush them." The exhibition game in Basra last week between the Iraqi national soccer team
and Saudi Arabia was the first against a major regional rival on Iraqi soil since 1990, when the international soccer federation, known as FIFA, banned international matches in Iraq, primarily because of security concerns.
The match with the Mideast soccer heavyweight — the Saudi team qualified for the 2018 World Cup — had acquired heavy political dimensions
given the years of frosty ties between the two countries since the overthrow of the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003.
But when the Iraqi national soccer team played its first home game against Saudi Arabia in
almost 40 years, diplomatic niceties vanished as soon as the Iraqi team took the field.
Inside the packed stadium, there was a noticeable lack of Saudi fans — organizers said they had no requests for tickets from Saudi soccer authorities —
but there was a smattering of Saudi flags, which the Iraqi soccer association handed out as part of its hospitality campaign.
But the match was also a potent symbol of sports diplomacy, with the visitors from the region’s major Sunni
Muslim power, Saudi Arabia, coming to Basra, a historic port city in Iraq’s Shiite Muslim heartland.
Abdullah Jiboori said that It’s our honor on the line,
On the field, we hope to crush them." The exhibition game in Basra last week between the Iraqi national soccer team
and Saudi Arabia was the first against a major regional rival on Iraqi soil since 1990, when the international soccer federation, known as FIFA, banned international matches in Iraq, primarily because of security concerns.
The match with the Mideast soccer heavyweight — the Saudi team qualified for the 2018 World Cup — had acquired heavy political dimensions
given the years of frosty ties between the two countries since the overthrow of the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003.
But when the Iraqi national soccer team played its first home game against Saudi Arabia in
almost 40 years, diplomatic niceties vanished as soon as the Iraqi team took the field.
Inside the packed stadium, there was a noticeable lack of Saudi fans — organizers said they had no requests for tickets from Saudi soccer authorities —
but there was a smattering of Saudi flags, which the Iraqi soccer association handed out as part of its hospitality campaign.
But the match was also a potent symbol of sports diplomacy, with the visitors from the region’s major Sunni
Muslim power, Saudi Arabia, coming to Basra, a historic port city in Iraq’s Shiite Muslim heartland.
Abdullah Jiboori said that It’s our honor on the line,