Soccer Iraq is an English-language Iraqi website and social media agency providing a variety of news, statistics and services for Iraqi football, ranging from coverage on the

Iraq national football team The Iraq national football team () represents Iraq in men's international football and is controlled by the Iraq Football Association (IFA), the governing body for football in Iraq. Iraq's usual home venue is the Basra International Stadium. I ...

and its players to news on the

Iraq Stars League The Iraq Stars League (), is the highest level of the Iraqi football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Iraqi Premier Division League. It is governed by the Iraqi Pro League Associa ...

. On 17 May 2021, Soccer Iraq partnered with Al-Shorta Sports Club to manage the club's official English-language social media profiles. On 17 May 2023, Soccer Iraq reached an agreement with the

Iraq Football Association The Iraq Football Association (IFA) () is the governing body of football in Iraq, controlling the Iraq national football team, Iraqi national team and the Iraqi football league system. The Iraqi Football Association was founded in 1948 and has be ...

(IFA) to launch and administer new social media channels for the

in English.

History

Soccer Iraq launched on 11 March 2015 with the aim of creating an English-based website covering Iraq's national football team, the ''Lions of Mesopotamia'', as well as the domestic club competitions and the nation's foreign-based players. In 2017, Soccer Iraq assisted the

(IFA) in the process of verifying the IFA's official social media profiles. In 2020, Soccer Iraq helped facilitate

Safaa Hadi Safaa Hadi Abdullah Al-Furaiji (, born 14 October 1998) is an Iraqi footballer who plays as a midfielder for Iraq Stars League club Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya. Club career Youth career Safaa Hadi started in the youth system of the prestigious Ammo Baba ...

's move to the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

by streamlining the communication of the

Russian Football Union The Russian Football Union (, ''Rossiyskiy Futbolnyy Soyuz'' or RFS) is the official governing body of association football in the Russian Federation. With headquarters in Moscow, it organizes Russian amateur and professional football, includi ...

and PFC Krylia Sovetov with

Al-Shorta SC Al-Shorta Sports Club () is an Iraqi sports club based in Al-Rusafa, Iraq, Al-Rusafa, Baghdad. It has teams in 19 different sports, and the best known section of the club is the football team, whose origins date back to 1932. Al-Shorta was for ...

regarding the completion of administrative procedures. Soccer Iraq has also been involved in research into the earliest league and cup tournaments played in Iraq. Several current and former international players are in regular interaction with the website's posts on social media. The website has published several interviews since its launch – most recently with Gonzalo Rodríguez García, Osama Rashid,

Mohannad Abdul-Raheem Mohannad Abdul-Raheem Karrar (; born 22 September 1993), is an Iraqi Association football, footballer who plays as a striker for Iraq Stars League club Al-Minaa SC, Al-Minaa and the Iraq national football team, Iraq national team. An Olympian, M ...

, Rebin Sulaka,

Lorival Santos Lorival Alves dos Santos (born 7 October 1959) is a Brazilian professional Association football, football coach and former player who most recently managed Brazilian club UNIRB Futebol Clube, UNIRB FC. Club career Santos began his playing care ...

Marin Ion Marin Ion (born 25 March 1955) is a Romanian professional football coach and a former player, currently the head coach of the Romania national under-19 team. Playing career Marin started his football career as a defender with the youth team ...

, Justin Meram and Ali Adnan.

Providing Information

Throughout the years, Soccer Iraq has provided information regarding the

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

i game to many major

news network News broadcasting is the medium of broadcasting various news events and other information via television, radio, or the internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or tele ...

s and has been relied on by

news organisation News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different media: word of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting, electronic communication, or through the testimony of observers and witnesses to events. Ne ...

s around the world, such as

International Business Times The ''International Business Times'' is an American online newspaper that publishes five national editions in four languages. The publication, sometimes called ''IBTimes'' or ''IBT'', offers news, opinion and editorial commentary on business and ...

La Gazzetta dello Sport (; English: "The Sports Gazette") is an Italian Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper dedicated to coverage of various sports. Founded in 1896, it is the most widely read daily newspaper of any type in Italy (in 2018). History and profile was fou ...

, Marca, L'Equipe,

Goal A goal or objective is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan, and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. A goal is roughly similar to ...

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN; , ) is a private-media conglomerate headquartered in Wadi Al Sail, Doha, funded in part by the government of Qatar. The network's flagship channels include Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera English, which pro ...

ESPN FC ESPN FC (formerly ESPN SoccerNet) is a website and a U.S. television studio program covering soccer that is broadcast daily over the streaming service ESPN+. ESPN FC's origin was a website owned by ESPN Inc. Originally established in 1995 as Soc ...

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in most countries and territories in Asia. The AFC was formed in 1954. It has 47 members. The Asian Ladies Football Confederation ( ...

Diario AS ''Diario AS'' () (sometime stylized as ''AS'' or ''As''; ) is a Spanish daily sports newspaper that concentrates particularly on association football. Profile ''Diario AS'' is part of PRISA which also owns ''El País'' and ''Cinco Días''. The ...

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, The National,

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...

, Transfermarkt, RT, Emarat Al Youm, 90min.com,

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, Le Matin,

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, Bola,

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, L'essentiel, Vanity Fair, NOS,

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, Al Akhbar,

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, El Comercio,

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, DV,

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and

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Partnerships

On 17 May 2021, Iraqi club

announced on its official website that it had partnered with Soccer Iraq to manage its English-language social media profiles and streamline its digital content across all accounts. The move came after Al-Shorta's participation in Asia's top club competition, the

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club association football, football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's List of top-division football clubs i ...

, with the club appointing Soccer Iraq due to its "six years of experience in social media and digital marketing". On 29 June 2021, Al-Shorta became the first Iraqi club to receive

Twitter verification Verification on X, formerly known as Twitter, is a system intended to communicate the authenticity of an X account. Since November 2022, Twitter users whose accounts are at least 90 days old and have a verified phone number receive verification ...

, through its English-language account. On 17 May 2023, Soccer Iraq reached an agreement with the

(IFA) to launch and manage official English-language social media channels for the

, with the IFA commending the distinctive style of Soccer Iraq's body of work in digital media and its pioneering of English-language coverage of football in the country.

Player of the Year

Soccer Iraq launched an Iraq Player of the Year award for the first time in 2021. Mohammed Qasim Majid won the inaugural award and was congratulated by his club.

Goal of the Season

Soccer Iraq launched the first ever Goal of the Season competition for the

Iraqi Premier League The Iraq Stars League (), is the highest level of the Iraqi football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Iraqi Premier Division League. It is governed by the Iraqi Pro League Asso ...

starting from the 2016–17 season.

Al-Zawraa Al-Zawra'a Sports Club () is an Iraqi professional sports club based in Utayfia, Karkh District (near Tigris River), Baghdad. Their football team competes in the Iraq Stars League, the top-flight of Iraqi football. Al-Zawra'a have won the most ...

midfielder Ali Raheem won the award in both of its first two seasons. The award was succeeded by the "Iraq Stars League Goal of the Season" award from the 2023–24 season.

Team of the Decade

In late 2019, Soccer Iraq commemorated the end of the 2010s with the Soccer Iraq Team of the Decade which was voted for by fans over a two-month period via a series of

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

polls. After several thousands of votes, 28 players were narrowed down to the final eleven and the team was revealed on 31 December 2019. The selection of Mohanad Ali in the Team of the Decade was discussed by the official

broadcast during Iraq's match with

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

in 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. ;2010–2019

References

{{reflist 2015 establishments in Iraq Association football websites Internet properties established in 2015 Iraqi sport websites