FIFA settled the long dispute between Iraq’s officials and European football clubs, obliging the latter to allow their Iraqi players to join the national team at the Rio 2016 Olympics. The clubs should release the players 72 hours before the debut of the Olympic football tournament.
According to Reyada, the team’s spokesperson Bilal Zaki confirmed that Iraqi football stars Yaser Kasim, Ali Adnan and Ali Husni, who play for British Swindon Town, Italian Udinese Club and Turkish Rizespor Club, respectively, will be on the Olympic squad heading to Rio in August. The trio will train with the national team in the camps held in Germany and Sweden this month.
Zaki added that Dhurgham Ismail, whose team Rizepor firmly prohibited him from competing in Rio, can play for Iraq in the 2016 Olympics if the coach chose him among the team members.
The ruling was based on a previous decision released by FIFA in 2012, forcing clubs to release their Under-23 players summoned by their national team for the Men’s Olympic Football Tournaments in London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro 2016.
Now, Iraq's football team is all set for Rio 2016. It has trained in Spain and Germany, and will shortly head for another camp in Sweden. The team played friendly games versus Austria and will face Sweden and Algeria next month.
The team's assistant coach Haidar Jabbar told Kooora he believes Iraq will not be an easy contender to face in Rio, despite falling in a challenging group with Brazil, Denmark and South Africa. Iraqi players are highly qualified and their coach Abdulghani Shahad can lead them to victory, he said.