Iraq national under-23 football team

After 16 years without participation, Iraq qualified for the 2004 Summer Olympics after winning the 2004 Olympic Asian Qualifiers under head coach Adnan Hamad and were scheduled to play against Costa Rica, Morocco and Portugal in the group stages. At the Olympics Iraq started with a shocking 4–2 win against Portugal. That was followed by a 2–0 win against Costa Rica and a 2–1 loss to Morocco. The quarter-finals saw them beat Australia 1–0, and in the semi-final against Paraguay, Iraq lost 3–1. In the bronze medal match, Iraq lost 1–0 to Italy and finished fourth.

Iraq line-up before a match with Brazil at the 2016 Rio Olympics

Iraq qualified for the 2016 Olympics by clinching third place at the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship. The first game saw Iraq play against Denmark, and the score turned out as a 0–0 draw, despite Iraq having 18 shots in the match. The second game was played against the hosts and pre-tournament favourites, Brazil, which also ended up as a 0–0 draw, which was hailed as a great result for Iraq. In the third game, Iraq tied South Africa 1–1, despite having a huge 29 shots in the match. This result, coupled with Denmark's defeat to Brazil, saw Iraq get eliminated at the group stage. Brazil eventually went on to win the tournament.

Iraq's first major honour on U-23 level was the 2013 AFC U-22 Championship. The tournament started with a 3–1 win against Saudi Arabia. That was followed by a 2–1 win against Uzbekistan and a 1–0 win against China. The quarter-finals saw them beat Japan 1–0, and the semi-final against favourites Korea Republic with another 1–0 win.

The final was against local rivals Saudi Arabia, and Mohannad Abdul-Raheem scored the only goal to win the tournament for Iraq. This victory secured Iraq's first Asian Cup U-23 title.

The 2016 AFC U-23 Championship final tournament is to be held in Qatar from 12–30 January 2016. Iraq qualified for the tournament by topping the group in the qualification stage in Oman in March 2015.

Iraq advanced from the group stage, beating Yemen 2–0, Uzbekistan 3–2, and a 1–1 tie with South Korea. In the quarterfinals, Iraq beat UAE 3–1 in extra time to progress to the semifinals. Iraq lost 2–1 to Japan.

In the third place match, Iraq came back from behind to beat Qatar 2–1 to qualify for 2016 Olympics.

Iraq qualified for the 3rd tournament by topping the group in the qualification stage in Saudi Arabia in July 2017.

In the final tournament, with the defending champion Japan not bringing their strongest squad and South Korea fielded a relatively inexperienced squad, Iraq had many chances to repeat 2013 success. In the group stage, they finished at the top of the group after beating Malaysia 4–1 and Jordan 1–0, with a 0–0 draw against Saudi Arabia. Iraq advanced into the quarter-final as the first seed of group C and was scheduled to face off against Vietnam, which was widely regarded to be Iraq's easiest ever opponent in this stage, boosting the enthusiasm among Iraqis. However, thing didn't go as planned, which an unexpected 3–3 draw after extra time meant that the result would be settled via a penalty shoot-out, in which Vietnam emerged victorious with the score of 5–3, thus eliminating Iraq from the tournament in the shock of its supporters.

Iraq qualified for the tournament by topping the group in the qualification stage in Iran in March 2019.

In the final tournament held in Thailand, Iraq was grouped in group A together with host Thailand, a resurgence Australia and the unknown Bahrain. For the first time, Iraq did not make it out of the group stage, drawing all three games.

Iraq were drawn with Jordan, Australia and Kuwait.

Iraq pulled back the equaliser through Wakaa Ramadan to draw with Jordan 1-1 in the opening matchday, before drawing again to a 10-man Australia side through a Hasan Abdulkareem volley cancelling out a scorpion kick goal scored by Alou Kuol. Needing a win to qualify for the quarter-finals, Iraq came back from a goal down to beat Kuwait 3-1 thanks to goals scored by Muntadher Mohammed, Moammel Abdulridha and Mohammed Al-Baqer.

Iraq qualified out of Group B as runner-up, only behind Australia, so they were drawn against the winner of Group A, hosts Uzbekistan. The game went to extra time and later, penalties. Merchas Doski and Ahmed Naeem converted their penalties while Uzbekistan's second penalty was saved by Hassan Ahmed. However, Wakaa Ramadan hit the post, Moammel Abdulridha had his tame penalty saved and Hasan Abdulkareem blazed his penalty over the bar, while Uzbekistan converted their last three penalties to win 3-2 on penalties and advance to the semi-finals.

The following 50 players were named in the preliminary squad for the 2023 WAFF U-23 Championship.
Caps and goals correct as of 28 March 2023 after game against Oman.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	1GK	Ahmed Shaker	(1998-09-19) 19 September 1998	0	0	Al-Karkh
	1GK	Mohammed Hasan	(2002-07-30) 30 July 2002	2	0	Al-Talaba
	1GK	Kumel Al Rekabe	(2004-08-19) 19 August 2004	0	0	FC Red Star Zürich
	1GK	Ridha Abdulaziz		1	0	Al-Diwaniya
	1GK	Hassan Abbas		0	0	Al-Qasim
	2DF	Mustafa Saadoun	(1999-09-04) 4 September 1999	3	0	Al-Kahrabaa
	2DF	Karrar Al-Amir Ali	(1999-12-14) 14 December 1999	1	0	Al-Minaa
	2DF	Zaid Tahseen	(2001-01-29) 29 January 2001	5	0	Al-Talaba
	2DF	Karrar Saad	(2001-03-07) 7 March 2001	1	0	Al-Karkh
	2DF	Halo Fayaq	(2001-05-23) 23 May 2001	0	0	Erbil
	2DF	Ahmed Maknzi	(2001-09-24) 24 September 2001	6	1	Erbil
	2DF	Mustafa Walid	(2002-04-28) 28 April 2002	1	0	Al-Karkh
	2DF	Mustafa Saleh	(2004-04-27) 27 April 2004	2	0	Atalanta U-21
	2DF	Josef Al-Imam	(2004-07-27) 27 July 2004	3	0	BK Olympic
	2DF	Taha Alaa		0	0	Al-Sinaat Al-Kahrabaiya
	2DF	Hussein Amer		1	0	Al-Sinaat Al-Kahrabaiya
	2DF	Mujtaba Saleh		0	0	Al-Qasim
	3MF	Abdullah Wasfi	(1998-03-25) 25 March 1998	0	0	Newroz
	3MF	Ammar Ghalib	(2001-03-13) 13 March 2001	5	1	Al-Shorta
	3MF	Muntadher Mohammed	(2001-06-05) 5 June 2001	9	1	Al-Naft
	3MF	Sajid Abbas	(2001-06-13) 13 June 2001	0	0	Naft Al-Basra
	3MF	Muntadher Abdulameer	(2001-10-06) 6 October 2001	8	0	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
	3MF	Baqer Attwan	(2002-01-20) 20 January 2002	1	0	Karbala
	3MF	Karrar Mohammed	(2002-05-28) 28 May 2002	3	0	Al-Naft
	3MF	Ali Shakhwan	(2002-09-30) 30 September 2002	0	0	Erbil
	3MF	Amir Faisal	(2005-05-01) 1 May 2005	0	0	Al-Kahrabaa
	3MF	Amir Ahmed		1	0	Al-Hudood
	3MF	Abdullah Hassoon		0	0	Al-Najaf
	3MF	Zaid Ismael		1	0	Newroz
	3MF	Mohammed Khudhair		0	0	Al-Minaa
		Hayder Adel		0	0	Al-Shorta reserves
		Nour Al-Mustafa Ghalib		0	0	Karbala
		Ali Al-Sajjad		0	0	Al-Kahrabaa
		Allawi Kadhim		0	0	Naft Al-Wasat
		Mohammed Mahmoud		0	0	Ghaz Al-Shamal
		Amir Nadeem		0	0	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya reserves
	4FW	Ridha Fadhil	(1998-11-23) 23 November 1998	2	0	Karbalaa
	4FW	Zidane Abduljabbar	(2000-06-03) 3 June 2000	3	0	Karbala
	4FW	Salem Ahmad	(2000-12-28) 28 December 2000	0	0	Al-Minaa
	4FW	Nihad Mohammed	(2001-01-01) 1 January 2001	3	0	Al-Karkh
	4FW	Dhulfiqar Younis	(2001-05-27) 27 May 2001	1	1	Al-Karkh
	4FW	Siamand Ageed	(2001-06-03) 3 June 2001	0	0	Duhok
	4FW	Ali Almosawe	(2002-01-28) 28 January 2002	2	1	B.93
	4FW	Blnd Hassan	(2003-08-12) 12 August 2003	0	0	De Graafschap
	4FW	Ali Mohammed Hatem	(2002-11-08) 8 November 2002	0	0	Las Rozas
	4FW	Jafar Naser	(2003-11-03) 3 November 2003	0	0	Naft Maysan
	4FW	Amin Al-Hamawi	(2003-12-17) 17 December 2003	0	0	Helsingborgs
	4FW	Hussein Abdullah		3	1	Al-Talaba
	4FW	Karrar Alaa		0	0	Al-Qasim
	4FW	Sajjad Alaa		0	0	Al-Minaa

The following players have been called up since January 2021

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Hani Haidar	(2005-01-10) 10 January 2005	0	0	Trelleborgs FF U-19	U-23 Doha Friendly Tournament
GK	Mustafa Adhab	(1999-03-02) 2 March 1999	0	0	Al-Najaf	2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup
GK	Hussein Ali Joli	(2002-09-18) 18 September 2002	0	0	Erbil	2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup
GK	Hassan Ahmed	(1999-10-04) 4 October 1999	5	0	Al-Talaba	2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup
DF	Abbas Badeea	(2000-01-09) 9 January 2000	0	0	Al-Naft	2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup
DF	Hussein Ammar	(2001-06-16) 16 June 2001	6	0	Naft Al-Basra	2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup
DF	Cardo Siddik	(2002-09-21) 21 September 2002	0	0	Crystal Palace U23	2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup
DF	Merchas Doski	(1999-12-07) 7 December 1999	4	0	Slovácko	2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup
DF	Mohammed Al-Baqer	(2000-05-14)14 May 2000 (aged 22)	6	1	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup
DF	Hassan Raed	(2000-09-23) 23 September 2000	6	0	Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya	2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup
DF	Ahmed Naeem	(1999-01-29) 29 January 1999	4	0	Al-Najaf	2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup
MF	Manuel Iylia	(2004-05-18) 18 May 2004	2	0	FC Twente Youth	U-23 Doha Friendly TournamentWD
MF	Ewert Baram	(2003-12-17) 17 December 2003	0	0	Nürnberg Youth	U-23 Doha Friendly TournamentPRE WD
MF	Moamel Abdulridha	(2000-03-28) 28 March 2000	6	2	Al-Talaba	2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup
MF	Hasan Abdulkareem	(1999-01-01) 1 January 1999	6	1	Al-Zawraa	2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup
MF	Ali Majid	(2000-10-22) 22 October 2000	2	0	Naft Al-Wasat	2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup
MF	Maytham Waad	(2002-04-28) 28 April 2002	1	0	Al-Sinaa	2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup
MF	Hiran Ahmed	(2000-04-06)6 April 2000 (aged 22)	3	0	FC Thun	2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup
MF	Alexander Aoraha	(2003-01-17) 17 January 2003	2	0	Queens Park Rangers	2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup
MF	Zidane Iqbal	(2003-04-27) 27 April 2003	3	1	Manchester United F.C.	2022 AFC U-23 Asian CupINJ
MF	Sadeq Zamel	(1999-07-15) 15 July 1999	2	0	Naft Al-Basra	2022 AFC U-23 Asian CupPRE
MF	Kevin Yakob	(2000-10-10) 10 October 2000	0	0	AGF	2022 AFC U-23 Asian CupPRE
FW	Marko Farji	(2004-03-16) 16 March 2004	3	0	Strømsgodset	U-23 Doha Friendly TournamentWD
FW	Ali Hayder	(2005-10-01) 1 October 2005	3	0	Stoke City U-18	U-23 Doha Friendly Tournament
FW	Wakaa Ramadan	(1999-04-17) 17 April 1999	5	4	Al-Talaba	2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup
FW	Ali Al-Hamadi	(2002-03-01) 1 March 2002	0	0	Wycombe Wanderers F.C.	2022 AFC U-23 Asian CupINJ
PRE Part of the preliminary squad INJ Player injured IRQ Player moved up to the first team OVR Player overaged and ineligible to represent this age group WD Player withdrew for non-injury related reasons

Football at the Summer Olympics, the Asian Games and the Islamic Solidarity Games have required that under-23 players enter the competitions, but they have allowed three overage players to be included in one squad. These three players are called the "wild cards".