The hilarious way Iraq 'under-16' team was exposed as overage
Activists have unmasked overage players in a national under-16s football team in a hilarious way.
Despite shaving to look younger, members of the Iraq under-16 team were exposed on Twitter after they uploaded images of themselves voting in elections last May.
Something they could have only done if they were over 18.
Sports journalist Youssef Fael told AFP the issue was not “taken seriously” by the Iraq Football Association (IFA) until the players were outed at Baghdad international airport, heading for a tournament in Jordan on Monday.
Several members of the Iraq squad were proven to be overage, with the IFA immediately sacking officials in the squad as a response, according to AFP.
“The technical and administrative staff of the under-16s team have been dismissed and action will be taken against those players who falsified their age,” the IFA said.
🇮🇶: Security authorities at Baghdad International Airport have prevented 9 players from Iraq's junior football team to travel to Amman, for "suspicion of tampering with their age."
Long history of the Iraqi players doing so. FIFA is now involved.
— Shuaib Ahmed (@footynions) July 30, 2018
Nine passports were reportedly also seized.
The team has now pulled out of the Jordan tournament.
Iraq national team set to face Palestine
Iraq’s national football team is set to travel Thursday on its first-ever visit to the Israeli-occupied West Bank where it will face off against the Palestinian national squad, a team official said Monday.
Iraq fought in wars against Israel in 1948, 1967 and 1973 and has still technically yet to make peace with the Jewish state.
Most teams in Arab countries — many of which do not recognise Israel — refuse to visit the Palestinian territories because Israel control’s the West Bank’s borders and blockades the Gaza Strip.
But Palestinian leaders have for years called on Arab countries to send sporting and cultural delegations to help ease their isolation.
The friendly match with Iraq will be held Saturday in Ramallah, the West Bank’s administrative centre.
“A Palestinian delegation will wait for the Iraqi team in Amman and escort it to Ramallah,” Iraqi team official Basil Gorgis told AFP.
The Palestinian team, a FIFA member since 1998, in May squared off against the Iraqi squad in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.
Iraqi national football team players take part in a training session on February 27, 2018 in the city of Basra a day ahead of their friendly match against Saudi Arabia.
With AFP
