[10][8] One of the members of Iraq's first national team was Youra Eshaya, who in 1954 became the first Iraqi footballer to play in England for Bristol Rovers Colts.

[citation needed] At their first game of the Group B at the 1986 FIFA World Cup, Iraq played well against Paraguay, losing narrowly 1–0 despite scoring a goal that was controversially disallowed by the referee.

Overall, Iraq won nine competitions in the 1980s and played in their only World Cup, leading many to believe that this was the golden era of Iraqi football.

[citation needed] Following the Gulf War in 1990, Iraq was banned from participating in the Asian Games and in most Arab competitions.

They reached the quarter-finals but lost to the United Arab Emirates due to a golden goal scored by Abdulrahman Ibrahim.

[citation needed] This period is known as 'The Dark Era' as Uday Hussein, the son of Saddam Hussein and then-president of IFA, abused his control of Iraqi football and tortured players who played poorly, punishing them by sending them to prison, making them bathe in raw sewage and kick concrete balls, and shaving their heads among many other punishments.

[citation needed] Iraq won their first ever WAFF Championship in 2002, beating Jordan 3–2 in the final after extra time.

[citation needed] In 2004, Iraq lost the opening match against Uzbekistan then they won against Turkmenistan and Saudi Arabia respectively, to reach the quarter-finals of the AFC Asian Cup before getting knocked out by China.

The following year, Iraq won the gold medal in the West Asian Games by beating Syria in the final via a penalty shootout.

They manages to knock out one of the best Asian teams, South Korea in the semis via a penalty shootout in which Noor Sabri made a crucial save.

[21] After the game, a suicide bomber killed 30 football fans who were celebrating the semi-final win over South Korea and this almost led to the Iraqi team withdrawing from the final,[22] but they decided to go on in honour of the dead and succeeded in doing that after defeating Saudi Arabia 1–0 in the final, a game that they dominated from start to finish and that was won by a Younis Mahmoud header.

They started the tournament with a 0–0 draw with hosts South Africa, before losing 1–0 to UEFA Euro 2008 winners Spain.

On 20 November 2009, the FIFA Emergency Committee suspended the Iraq FA due to government interference;[36] the suspension was lifted on 19 March 2010.

[39] Iraq topped Group A with 15 points, and in the final qualification stage was drawn with Jordan, Japan, Australia and Oman.

On 14 November 2012, Iraq won 1–0 against Jordan in Doha which elevated them to third in Group B, behind Australia on goal difference and ahead of Oman.

Due to bad results at the 22nd Arabian Gulf Cup, Hakeem Shaker was sacked and the FA appointed Radhi Shenaishil as caretaker coach.

[50] After initially starting well with a 5–1 win against Chinese Taipei, two consecutive draws against Thailand and Vietnam left Iraq in real danger of missing out on the final round.

[citation needed] On 15 April 2016, Radhi Shenaishil became the new coach of Iraq in order to lead the team in the final round.

[52] Basim Qasim was appointed for the remainder of the qualifiers and Iraq finished fifth in the final round of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification.

[55] Their second match against Yemen on January 12 ended in a 3–0 victory, with goals coming from Mohanad Ali, Bashar Resan, and Alaa Abbas.

Despite their efforts, Iraq suffered a 1–0 defeat, with Bassam Al-Rawi scoring the only goal, ending their journey in the tournament.

Petrović was sacked after two further winless qualifying games and Abdul-Ghani Shahad was appointed as an interim manager, but Iraq were eliminated after finishing fourth in the group.

[62] With the outcome confirmed, Iraq largely rotated their squad on the final match against Vietnam, and ended up triumphant 3–2 to make history by earning a perfect record of nine points.

The result was controversial due to a second yellow card shown to Aymen Hussein by the referee for his celebration after he had scored to take a 2–1 lead.

[64] On 7 November 2022, Jesús Casas was appointed head coach of Iraq to lead the national team until the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

[65] In the first tournament under Casas' leadership, Iraq hosted and won the 25th Arabian Gulf Cup, beating Oman 3–2 after extra time in the final.

Iraq's kits have previously been manufactured by brands such as Puma, Nike, Diadora, Jack & Jones, Lotto, Peak, Givova, Umbro and Adidas.

[77][78][79] The presence of lions in ancient Iraqi civilization was based on the belief, or desire, that the animals represented would bring with them the virtues they symbolized, so that they could be transmitted to the owners.

In the contemporary era, especially during the reign of Saddam Hussein, the two countries had bad relations and fought the Iran–Iraq War for eight years.

[94] However, the Iraqi protests in 2019 led to another ban,[95] forcing Iraq to play its home games at neutral venues during the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.