Culture of Iraq - Sport

Sport

Football is the most popular sport in Iraq. Football is a considerable uniting factor in Iraq, following years of war and unrest. Basketball, swimming, weightlifting, bodybuilding, boxing, kickboxing, and tennis are also popular sports.

The Iraqi Football Association (Arabic: الاتحاد العراقي لكرة القدم‎) is the governing body of football in Iraq, controlling the Iraq national football team and the Iraq Super League (also known as Dawri Al-Nokba). It was founded in 1948, and has been a member of FIFA since 1950, and the Asian Football Confederation since 1971. The Iraqi national football team were the 2007 AFC Asian Cup Champions after defeating Saudi Arabia in the final.

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Famous quotes containing the word sport:

    Americans living in Latin American countries are often more snobbish than the Latins themselves. The typical American has quite a bit of money by Latin American standards, and he rarely sees a countryman who doesn’t. An American businessman who would think nothing of being seen in a sport shirt on the streets of his home town will be shocked and offended at a suggestion that he appear in Rio de Janeiro, for instance, in anything but a coat and tie.
    Hunter S. Thompson (b. 1939)

    “Justice” was done, and the President of the Immortals, in Æschylean phrase, had ended his sport with Tess. And the d’Urberville knights and dames slept on in their tombs unknowing. The two speechless gazers bent themselves down to the earth, as if in prayer, and remained thus a long time, absolutely motionless: the flag continued to wave silently. As soon as they had strength they arose, joined hands again, and went on.
    The End
    Thomas Hardy (1840–1928)

    The sport of digging the bait is nearly equal to that of catching the fish, when one’s appetite is not too keen.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)