 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(August 2011) |
There are a wide variety of sports played and followed in Iraq. Football is the most popular sport and hobby in Iraq. Football is a considerable uniting factor, following years of war and unrest. Basketball, swimming, weightlifting, bodybuilding, taekwondo, boxing, kickboxing, and tennis are also popular sports and hobbies.
Sport was only recently popular in Iraq and this was the case due to the Baath regime, which assumed power in 1968. It was primarily focused on establishing its authority by forcing society to adopt its ideology and sports did not reflect this radical orientation. [1] In the latter part of the 1970s, however, sports began to attract attention. Due to an increasing wealth brought in by the uptick in oil prices, sports facilities have been built in different parts of the country. Particularly, football flourished after domestic football was launched and the country also hosted international competitions, drawing the participation of international football clubs. The popularity of the sport did not dampen the Iraqi enthusiasm even during the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s when young Iraqis had to serve the armed forces. [1] The field of sports did suffer during Saddam Hussein's regime, when many athletes fled the country due to reports of abuse and torture, particularly by his son, Uday Hussein.
Recent developments in the sports field have been positive for Iraq especially football and basketball. These attract strong following, with fans crowding stadiums in cities like Baghdad. [1]
Football is the most popular sport in Iraq. Today, it is not uncommon to find many Iraqi villages having their own football teams. [2] The Iraq national football team were the 2007 AFC Asian Cup champions after defeating Saudi Arabia in the final, held in Jakarta, Indonesia. In 2006, Iraq reached the football final of the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, after defeating South Korea and eventually finished as runners-up, winning silver. The football tournament at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, saw Iraq finish in fourth place, with Italy claiming bronze from a single goal.
The Iraq Football Association is the governing body of football in Iraq, controlling the Iraq national football team and the Iraq Stars League. It was founded in 1948, and has been a member of FIFA since 1950, and the Asian Football Confederation since 1971. [3]
Some of Iraq's top clubs include Al-Shorta, Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya, Al-Zawraa, Erbil SC, Duhok SC, Al Talaba and Najaf FC. While most athletes in Iraq are men, the country has already opened to female playing soccer, basketball, and volleyball. Recently, for instance, Iraq fielded its first national women's soccer team. [4]
Basketball is a popular sport in Iraq. There are at least two leagues, the Iraq Basketball Association, the country's professional organization, runs a number of adult and youth leagues, and the Iraqi Premier League, for elite players. [5]
Riyadh Al-Azzawi is an Iraqi undefeated professional kickboxer who became the 2008 World Kickboxing Network (WKN) World Champion.
Iraqi professional wrestler Adnan Al-Kaissie is known as General Adnan.
On 7 September 2024, Najlah Imad, an Iraqi Paralympic won gold in Table Tennis at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, becoming Iraq’s first female Paralympic gold medalist. [6] She was listed in the 2024 edition of Forbes Middle East 30 under 30 list of Sports and Entertainment personalities. [7]
Approximately 5 million of the 17 million people in the Netherlands are registered to one of the 35,000 sports clubs in the country. About two thirds of the population older than 15 years participates in sports weekly.
The 1992 Summer Paralympics were the ninth Paralympic Games to be held. They were held in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. In addition, the 1992 Paralympic Games for Persons with mental handicap were held immediately after the regular Paralympics in the Spanish capital, Madrid.
Sports in the United States are an important part of the nation's culture. Historically, the most popular sport has been baseball. However, in more recent decades, American football has been the most popular spectator sport based on broadcast viewership audience. Basketball has grown into the mainstream American sports scene since the 1980s, with ice hockey and soccer doing the same around the turn of the 21st century. These sports comprise the "Big Five".
Sports in the Philippines is an important part of the country's culture. There are six major sports in the Philippines: basketball, boxing, tennis, football, billiards, and volleyball.
Sports in China consists of a variety of competitive sports. Traditional Chinese culture regards physical fitness as an important characteristic. China has its own national quadrennial multi-sport event similar to the Olympic Games called the National Games.
The 1999 Arab Games were the ninth edition of the multi-sport event for Arab countries and were held from August 15 to 31. Around 4600 athletes from 21 countries participated in the 29 sports on offer. The opening ceremony that took place in Al Hussein Youth City Stadium was officially opened by King Abdullah II.
Sports in Jordan are important to the country's culture.
Macau residents participate in a wide variety of sports for recreation and competition. Football, basketball, volleyball, Dragon Boat, jogging, swimming, table tennis, and badminton are among the most popular in the community. Local leagues and competitions are organized regularly every year, but owing to Macau's small population professional leagues are financially unfeasible and so most participants are merely local sport enthusiasts.
A wide array of sports are played in Armenia. Popular sports in Armenia include football, basketball, volleyball, and ice hockey. Further, the country sends athletes to the Olympics in boxing, wrestling, weightlifting, judo, gymnastics, track and field, diving, swimming, and shooting. Armenia's mountainous terrain provides great opportunities for the practice of sports like skiing and rock climbing. Being a landlocked country, water sports can only be practiced on lakes, notably Lake Sevan. Competitively, Armenia has been very successful at chess, weightlifting, and wrestling at the international level. Armenia is also an active member of the international sports community, with full membership in the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), Federation of International Bandy (FIB), International School Sport Federation, International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), among others. It also hosts the Pan-Armenian Games.
Cambodia has increasingly become involved in sports over the last 30 years.
Association football and basketball are the most popular sports in Asia. Cricket is the third most popular sport in Asia, and is most popular in South Asia. Other popular sports in Asia include baseball, badminton and table tennis among others. There are also some traditional sports that are popular in certain regions of Asia, such as the South Asian sports kabaddi and kho-kho, and sepak takraw in Southeast Asia. Top sporting nations/regions in Asia include China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, India, Iran, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Greece has risen to prominence in a number of sporting areas in recent decades. Football in particular has seen a rapid transformation, with the Greece national football team winning the UEFA Euro 2004. Many Greek athletes have also achieved significant success and have won world and olympic titles in numerous sports during the years, such as basketball, wrestling, water polo, athletics, weightlifting, with many of them becoming international stars inside their sports. The successful organisation of the Athens 2004 Olympic and Paralympic Games led also to the further development of many sports and has led to the creation of many world class sport venues all over Greece and especially in Athens. Greek athletes have won a total 169 medals for Greece in 17 different Olympic sports at the Summer Olympic Games, including the Intercalated Games, an achievement which makes Greece one of the top nations globally, in the world's rankings of medals per capital
Al-Hudood Sports Club is an Iraqi professional sports club based in Falastin Street, East Districts of the Tigris River, Baghdad. It has teams in various sports including football, basketball, Jujutsu, Kickboxing, and Wrestling. The best known section of the club are the Jujutsu, Kickboxing, and Wrestling teams who play in the Arab and Asian tournaments as representatives of Iraq.
Adnan Dirjal is an Iraqi former professional footballer, as well as a former national team coach, and former Minister of Youth and Sports. He was one of Iraq's most prominent national team captains, who played as a defender. On 14 September 2021, he became the president of Iraq Football Association.
Ali Adnan Kadhim Al-Tameemi is an Iraqi professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Saudi First Division League club Al-Najma and the Iraq national team.
Sport in Bangladesh is a popular form of entertainment as well as an essential part of Bangladeshi culture. Cricket is the most popular sport in Bangladesh followed by football. Kabaddi is the national sport of Bangladesh.
Al-Rasheed Sports Club was an Iraqi sports club based in Karkh, Baghdad. Its professional football team played in what is now known as the Iraq Stars League, the top tier of the Iraqi football, from 1984 until 1990. The club's home stadium was Al-Rasheed Stadium.
The GCC Games is a regional multi-sport event which involves participants from the Gulf Cooperation Council region. The GCC Games, a quadrennial multi-sport event, was established by the union and first held in 2011. There are numerous long-running GCC Championships for individual sports, including: the Gulf Cooperation Council Athletics Championships football, Archery, athletics, Badminton, sailing, basketball, Swimming, Marathon Swimming, Diving, Water Polo, Artistic Swimming, tennis, gymnastics, weightlifting, futsal, snooker, Cycling, Chess and table tennis. The 3rd edition of the game had to be organized in June 2019, but held in 2022 due to the internal issues between the GCC state countries. The 4th edition has been announced and will happen as per the announced dates. For the first time the games will be organized by the new, young and talented faces of GCC team.
Al-Jolan Sport Club, is an Iraqi football team based in Fallujah, Al-Anbar, that plays in Iraqi Premier Division League.
Women's sport in Iraq has a long history, with many sports being played. Football (soccer) is among the most popular sport and hobby in Iraq. Many also participate in, but are not limited to, basketball, volleyball, tennis, taekwondo, and weightlifting. It is often seen as taboo when women involve in sports and other recreations as it is seen as inappropriate by the large conservative culture, yet in the Kurdistan region as well as the more urban cities of Iraq, such as Baghdad or Basra, society has become more accepting and supportive over time. Women are encouraged to dress and behave modestly, so the involvement of women in sports and the wearing of sports uniforms have been widely seen as taboo. Even with the growing support of women in sports, societal expectations still lead many women to play in secret or avoid sports altogether, which makes it harder for women to get involved in professional sports. Iraq was, at one point, a hub for athletics in the Middle East, but during Saddam Hussein's reign, involvement in sports declined. Sports in Iraq have faced many challenges over the past years, and only recently have sports committees and athletes, both men and women alike, begun to rebuild teams and strengthen involvement. Even then, the Ministry of Youth and Sports are often responsible for sponsoring sports teams and athletes, but they often lack the financial means to fully support them. The country's unstable history of dictatorship and war, as well as the growing trend of conservatism, have been recognized as reasons for weak, lacking, and in some cases nonactive and even nonexistent women's sports teams.
| Sovereign states |
|
|---|---|
| States with limited recognition | |
| Dependencies and other territories | |
