Goal of Iraqi-Saudi friendly game is to lift Fifa embargo

Iraq will host a friendly football game against Saudi Arabia tomorrow for the first time in almost four decades, as Baghdad tries to have a ban lifted on holding international matches.

The war-torn country has not hosted international competitions for almost all of the past 30 years, since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait triggered an embargo.

But with a friendly encounter between the Iraqi and Saudi national teams in the southern city of Basra, Baghdad hopes to strengthen its case for Fifa, football’s world governing body, to lift the ban.

“Iraq has undergone great changes and will continue this year due to achievements that the government has made,” said Abdul Hussein Abtan, the Iraqi Minister of Youth and Sport.

Mr Abtan said he believed the match “will pave the way to lifting Fifa’s embargo imposed on Iraqi stadiums”.

For Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, the match is part of increasing diplomatic and economic ties with post-Saddam Iraq, while also countering Iran’s influence in the country.

Locals in Basra have launched a Twitter campaign to welcome Saudi Arabia’s footballers to Iraq called “Greens, it’s your homeland”, referring to a nickname for the Saudi team, which plays in a green strip.

“The match has an international significance as Saudi Arabia is one of the most important football teams in the region,” football fan Sameer Ahmed, 24, said on Twitter. “Football matches have the ability to improve relations between our two countries.”

The ban stayed in place even after the US-led invasion of 2003 that toppled Saddam Hussein. It was briefly lifted in 2012, but a power cut during a match against Jordan in the Iraqi Kurdish capital of Erbil led Fifa to reinstate it.

But since Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi declared victory against ISIL in December, Fifa has allowed friendly international matches to take place in Basra and the Shiite holy city of Karbala.

Iraq was supposed to host a four-country friendly tournament in March in Karbala, but now only three teams will play after Kuwait pulled out.

Baghdad has implemented measures to improve security at football matches by banning weapons and renovating the country’s stadiums.

The government has also invited the president of Fifa, Gianni Infantino, to visit the country but no decision has yet been made.

Tomorrow’s match comes three years after Saudi Arabia reopened an embassy in Baghdad and consulates in the cities of Najaf and Basra.

It also follows a visit by Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir to Baghdad last February.