The Iraqi Soccer League has three divisions: north, central and south. Most of the teams are named after government ministries that support the individual clubs.

The 24-member soccer squad will join at least six other Iraqi athletes -- five male and one female -- in track, boxing, swimming, taekwondo and weightlifting who qualified or were invited by the ...

Iraq has been leveraging soccer diplomacy to mend ties with Arab Gulf states, after decades of conflict. The country ended its most recent war, against Islamic State, at the end of 2017.

Iraq, whose 43 million population is 10 times that of Kuwait, has a history of on-off rivalry with the tiny oil-rich emirate. The two states are building rival port projects though they are also ...

NPR's Leila Fadel talks to Lucian Read, director of Lions of Mesopotamia, about the Iraqi national soccer team's unlikely Asian Cup victory in 2007. The win came at the height of Iraq's civil war.

Several hundred fans waved Iraqi flags and scuffled with police as they pushed through airport security to greet the country's soccer heroes as they stepped off a charter plane about 7 p.m.

Iraq's soccer team beat Saudi Arabia in Sunday's Asian Cup final. The upset victory gave Iraqis a rare chance to celebrate. Hassan Al-Khalidy, a 24-year-old Iraqi medical student and soccer fan ...

The Iraqi soccer team plays in the Olympic quarterfinals this weekend. Players who were tortured by Saddam Hussein's son have become symbols of their country's hopes and pride, winning two out of ...

HADITHA, Iraq (AP) - The bodies of 19 Iraqis were left Wednesday in a soccer stadium in this town 140 miles northwest of Baghdad, an Iraqi reporter and residents said.

BAGHDAD, July 28 -- Security forces will conduct an emergency operation during Sunday's soccer game between Iraq and Saudi Arabia to prevent a repeat of the deadly violence that has accompanied ...

Iraq’s triumph in the Asia Cup signals a soccer program rising from the ashes, even as the country descends deeper into civil conflict. The resurgence of Iraqi soccer is one of the few untainted ...

NPR's Leila Fadel talks to Lucian Read, director of Lions of Mesopotamia, about the Iraqi national soccer team's unlikely Asian Cup victory in 2007. The win came at the height of Iraq's civil war.