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Iraqi Soccer Fans Worry Over Team’s Fate

By Gina Chon

Over the last few days, many Iraqis fretted over, complained about and questioned whether they would lose one of the few things that has brought them happiness in the last five years: their soccer team.

The Iraqi government last week dissolved the country’s national olympic committee because it hadn’t had a quorum for several years since several members of the group were kidnapped and some others resigned. The government alleged that the committee was mired in corruption.

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Iraqi soccer fans took to the streets of the Shiite enclave of Sadr City last July during celebrations after the Iraqi national soccer team won the Asian Cup trophy. (Photo: Associated Press)

Since then, there has been confusion over whether the dissolution applied to other athletic organizations, including the Iraq Football Association. The world’s soccer governing body, FIFA, said Iraq’s team would be barred from international competitions for one year because of the government’s action.

Today, the Iraqi government said the decision to get rid of the olympic committee did not apply to the football association, and it has sent a letter to FIFA explaining the situation. FIFA set a Thursday deadline for the Iraqi government to resurrect the football association. The Iraqi team is scheduled to play this Sunday in a World Cup qualifying match in Australia.

Since the olympic committee’s dissolution, Iraqi media have been focusing daily on the fate of the Iraqi team. Although many Iraqis have been relatively happy with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s performance lately, amid the recent drop in violence, the top Iraqi leader’s standing could take another hit if he doesn’t solve the soccer issue.

While Iraq has often been divided along sectarian and ethnic lines over the last several years, one thing that has united most citizens was their love of the soccer team. Kurds, Shiites, Sunnis, Muslims and Christians danced in the streets when the Iraqi team won the 2007 AFC Asian Cup last summer.

“Rooting for our soccer team in the upcoming games is the only thing I’ve been looking forward to in a long time,” said Mohammed, a waiter at the Rasheed Hotel in Baghdad. “The team makes us forget our troubles. If the government takes that away, then we have nothing once again.”

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