The 2018 International Friendship Championship was a friendly

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

tournament for Iraq, Syria, and Qatar national teams. It took place during the March 2018

FIFA International Match Calendar The FIFA International Match Calendar (sometimes abbreviated as the FIFA Calendar) is an outline agreement between FIFA, the six continental football confederations, the European Club Association, and FIFPro, which sets out which dates can be us ...

window. It began less than a week after FIFA lifted the ban on competitive games inside Iraq. The tournament was initially scheduled to take place in

Karbala Karbala is a major city in central Iraq. It is the capital of Karbala Governorate. With an estimated population of 691,100 people in 2024, Karbala is the second largest city in central Iraq, after Baghdad. The city is located about southwest ...

but was later moved to

Basra Basra () is a port city in Iraq, southern Iraq. It is the capital of the eponymous Basra Governorate, as well as the List of largest cities of Iraq, third largest city in Iraq overall, behind Baghdad and Mosul. Located near the Iran–Iraq bor ...

. Qatar won the title by beating hosts Iraq and drawing with runners-up Syria. In the tournament's last game,

Noor Sabri Noor Sabri Abbas Hasan Al-Baidawi (), simply known as Noor Sabri (born 18 June 1984 in Baghdad, Iraq) is an Iraqi former professional goalkeeper. He played 16 years for the Iraqi national team and retired from international football in 2018. C ...

made his 100th and last appearance for Iraq.

Results

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References

{{Friendly tournaments 2018 International association football competitions hosted by Iraq International men's association football invitational tournaments 2017–18 in Iraqi football Sport in Basra 2018 in Asian football March 2018 sports events in Iraq