The Kurdistan Region national football team ( ar, منتخب كردستان العراق الوطني لكرة القدم, ku, Helbijardey Topî pêy Kurdistan ;ھەڵبژاردەی تۆپی پێی كوردستان), is the national team of

Kurdistan Region Kurdistan Region ( ku, هەرێمی کوردستان, translit=Herêmî Kurdistan; ar, إقليم كردستان), abbr. KRI, is an autonomous region in Iraq comprising the four Kurdish-majority governorates of Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Duhok ...

. They are not affiliated with

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in some countries/territories in Asia and Oceania. It has 47 member countries most of which are located in Asia. Australia, formerly ...

(AFC). The Iraqi Football Association (FA) attended a meeting held by the

NF-Board The N.F.-Board (french: Nouvelle Fédération-Board) was a federation of football associations established on 12 December 2003. It was made up of teams that represent nations, dependencies, unrecognized states, minorities, stateless peoples, r ...

in June 2006.

History

The team played in the 2008 VIVA World Cup for the first time, finishing in the 4th place after a 3–1 loss to

Sápmi (, smj, Sábme / Sámeednam, sma, Saepmie, sju, Sábmie, , , sjd, Са̄мь е̄ммьне, Saam' jiemm'n'e) is the cultural region traditionally inhabited by the Sámi people. Sápmi is in Northern and Eastern Europe and includes the ...

. Their first and only win in the 2008 tournament came against

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bo ...

. In December 2008, during the 5th General Meeting, Kurdistan was granted full membership to the NF Board and was a failed candidate to host the

2010 VIVA World Cup The 2010 VIVA World Cup was the fourth VIVA World Cup, an international tournament for Association football, football open to non-FIFA-affiliated teams, played in Gozo. A record six men's teams competed in the tournament, including the two-time d ...

. After losing in the final in both the

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

and 2010 tournaments

Kurdistan Kurdistan ( ku, کوردستان ,Kurdistan ; lit. "land of the Kurds") or Greater Kurdistan is a roughly defined geo-cultural territory in Western Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, languag ...

eventually became champions on home turf in 2012, defeating

Northern Cyprus Northern Cyprus ( tr, Kuzey Kıbrıs), officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC; tr, Kuzey Kıbrıs Türk Cumhuriyeti, ''KKTC''), is a '' de facto'' state that comprises the northeastern portion of the island of Cyprus. Rec ...

2–1 in front of 22,000 fans.

Official Kurdistan FA Emblem

The Kurdistan Region FA emblem was designed by Kurdish artist Rawand Sirwan Nawroly ( ku, ره‌وه‌ند سیروان نه‌ورڕۆڵی). The emblem represents the

Kurdish flag The flag of Kurdistan ( ku, ئاڵای کوردستان ,Alaya Kurdistanê) is the flag of Kurds, Kurdish Institute of Paris. and created by the Society for the Rise of Kurdistan in 1920. It would later, in different variants, be adopted as th ...

colours, where the red represents the Kurdish

Newroz Newroz or Nawroz ( ku, نەورۆز, Newroz) is the Kurdish celebration of Nowruz; the arrival of spring and new year in Kurdish culture. The lighting of the fires at the beginning of the evening of March 21 is the main symbol of Newroz among t ...

fire. The yellow ball represents the Kurdish Sun and the green banner represents the green Kurdistan scenery.

Competitive record

Current squad

Managers

References

{{Confederation of Independent Football Associations members CONIFA member associations Asian national and official selection-teams not affiliated to FIFA Football in Kurdistan