Iraq main football rivalries
Due to its geographic location, Iraq has some fierce rivalries with a number of its neighbors, for reasons that are as much to do with religious, political differences and historic grievances as they are based on sporting reasons.
Iran is regarded as the fiercest and bitterest of all rivals, and during the era of Saddam Hussein, the two countries were at war for eight years, which resulted in at least a million casualties in all. Although considered two of the strongest teams In the Middle East, Iraq does not have a good record against their old enemy, who they failed to beat at all between 1964 and 1993. Currently their head-to-head record is played 28, won 6, drawn 7, with the remaining 15 matches ending in defeat.
Another major sporting rival is Saudi Arabia, with matches between the two countries attracting a lot of interest from fans in both countries. The reason for the rivalry is not only because they are geographical neighbours, sharing a border together, but also because of long-standing political differences between the two countries.
That dates back to the 1970s when the Saudi government accused their Iraqi counterparts of supporting radical movements hostile to Saudi interests, not only across the Arabia peninsula, but throughout the Middle East as well. Things then began to thaw, but relations suffered a major setback with the invasion of Kuwait, a key ally of Saudi Arabia, by the regime of Saddam Hussein. The border between the two countries was closed, and it would be another 27 years before it opened again.
During the Gulf War Iraq was banned from hosting home games against Saudi Arabia.
These tensions inevitably spilled over into the football arena, most notably in 2011 in the 21st Arabian Gulf Cup scheduled for 2013, which was meant to be staged in the Iraqi city of Basra, was moved to Bahrain instead. Iraq suspected Saudi being the prime reason for the change as they did not want Iraq to have home advantage.
Iraq gained partial revenge by beating Saudi in the group stage 2 – 0 and topping the group, but they lost to the UAE in the final. 
Their record against Saudi Arabia is played 39, won 17, drawn 11, and lost 11.
Arguably the most important of all those victories came in the final of the 2007 Asian Cup. Iraq went into the tournaments ill-prepared, with the country in disarray after years of bitter civil conflict following the fall of Saddam Hussein and the subsequent invasion by a US-led coalition.
Against all the odds, they made it through to the final but Saudi began the match as the clear favorites. Despite that, Iraq were the better team for much of the match, and took the lead they deserved in the 72nd minute when Younis Mahmoud rose highest to direct a powerful header into the net.
The Saudis pressed for an equalizer and the Iraqi defense had to withstand almost constant pressure but they stood firm and Iraq had won the cup for the first and, to date, only time in their history.
The other major football rivalry is with Kuwait, dating back to the mid-1970s. Dubbed the Arabic El Clásico matches between the two countries were once bitterly contested, but the Gulf War put a temporary stop to that and the two teams did not play each other at all for the 16 years prior to 2005.
Their record against Kuwait is played 35, won 15, drawn 10, and lost 10.
