Khaberni - The roster of the Iraqi national team participating in the qualifying playoff for the 2026 World Cup includes 9 players born and raised in Sweden, Denmark, Britain, Norway, and Germany, who today carry the aspirations of 46 million Iraqis to reach the World Cup for the first time in four decades.
Iraq prepares to face Indonesia on Saturday in the Asian playoff qualifying for the 2026 World Cup to be held in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, before the decisive meeting with Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, October 14th.
Australian Graham Arnold bolstered his roster with names born on the European continent who had not previously played in Iraqi clubs, notably Zidane Iqbal, a player for Utrecht of the Netherlands and formerly Manchester United, born in Manchester, England to a Pakistani father and an Iraqi mother, but he decided to represent his mother's country after gaining an Iraqi passport in 2021.
Four Iraqi players were born in Sweden, including Hussein Ali, who was born in the border city of Malmö and who represented Sweden's youth teams before wearing the jersey of the Lions of Mesopotamia in the 2023 Asian Cup, while Amir Al-Amari, born in Jönköping in southern Sweden, decided to play for the Iraq national team in 2019 after 4 years from his last participation with the Swedish under-19 team.
Two Iraqis were born in Gothenburg, the second-largest city in Sweden, including Kevin Jacob, a player of the Swedish under-19 team, who chose to represent Iraq in 2023 after obtaining an Iraqi passport, and his teammate Ammar Mohsen, born to a father from Kirkuk and a Bosnian mother. After the Bosnians noticed his brilliance, there was talk of naturalizing him, but he obtained an Iraqi passport in October 2022 and became a player in the Lions of Mesopotamia.
