Iraq welcomes neigbors back as years of football wilderness come to an end

BASRA: There is an air of excitement around Basra. The streets of the southern Iraqi city are full. The markets, propped up along the famed Shatt Al-Arab river delta, are sprawling as music blasts from speakers in celebration.

Basra is making a statement on behalf of the country: 20 years on from the Iraq war, Iraq is back. The nation is making its mark on the global stage and is beginning with Basra hosting the 25th Arab Gulf Cup.

If anything, this feels more like a welcome-back ceremony. It is the first time Iraq has hosted the tournament since 1979. Thanks to years of war, sanctions and political corruption and dictatorship, FIFA has not permitted Iraq to host international football matches on its home turf for three decades. That ban was lifted in late 2021 and paved the way for Iraq to host the prestigious tournament, having previously won the trophy three times.

This long period of absence from the international scene has left Iraq an increasingly isolated country. With a passport consistently ranked one of the lowest in the world, few Iraqis have the privilege to travel and even fewer from the international community have ventured into the war-torn nation for tourism. The tide has been turning in recent years, however, with Iraq now ranked the sixth-fastest growing economy in the world, and the Arabian Gulf Cup is the ideal place to advertise to its neighbors that Iraq is open again for tourism and trade.

Basra is Iraq’s economic powerhouse and football is not the first association people make with the city. Responsible for 70 percent of Iraq’s crude oil production — the nation’s main source of income — and famed for its dates whose syrup can even be found on the shelves of Walmart’s across the US, the Middle