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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani on Saturday received the Under-23 Iraqi National team, days after being crowned as the champions of the West Asia football championship.
The cubs of Mesopotamia lifted the championship trophy in front of a sold-out stadium in the capital Baghdad, which hosted the fourth edition of the U-23 West Asian Cup, emerging victorious in the penalty shoot-outs.
“Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani receives a delegation of our Olympic team, which won the U-23 West Asia championship hosted by Iraq,” read a statement from the prime minister’s media office.
In the statement, Sudani said that honoring the national teams in different fields of sports sends an important message showcasing the government’s interest, and it also represents a governmental program and approach as they believe in the importance of sports. Sudani also directed the Minister of Youth and Sports, Ahmed al-Mubarqa, to support all sports and youth forums in all of the regions of Iraq.
“Prime Minister Sudani emphasizes that sports occupy a special place among Iraqis, which prompts the government to spend a lot for sports,” the statement added.
Following the Olympic team's win on Tuesday, Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid also sent a letter of congratulations to the team, saying that Iraq’s successful tournament management reflected positively on the direction that the country is headed towards.
The bout marked the third final for Iraq men’s football teams across different age groups in 2023, after the first team’s Gulf Cup victory and the U-20 team’s second-place finish in the Asian Cup.
The Iraqi Football Federation signed a contract with Spain’s top division football league, La Liga, earlier this month, aimed at helping Iraq to improve its organization and marketing of sports events, as well as training and enhancing young Iraqi football talents.
Despite the country’s constant state of political instability and disunity, the Iraqi population’s special connection to the sport of football has managed to unify the people at times of major regional and international tournaments, coming to the support of the national team regardless of their humble results.
In 2007 the Iraqi national team sensationally won the Asian Cup for the first and only time in the country’s history, they also qualified once for the FIFA World Cup in Mexico back in 1986. The Olympic team's historic achievements include coming fourth in the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.
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