Iraq is returning to the World Cup stage after a 40-year absence. Australian manager Graham Arnold, who previously managed the Australian national team, is now in charge. Qualifying for the World Cup is already a historic moment for Iraqi football.

Manager Graham Arnold has named three goalkeepers for the Lions of Mesopotamia: Jalal Hassan, Fahad Talib and Ahmed Basil. Iraq are returning to the World Cup after a 40-year absence. Their last appearance was in Mexico in 1986, when Ahmed Radhi scored the country’s only World Cup goal and all three group matches were lost. France, Senegal and Norway await in Group I. The goalkeeping duo of Hassan and Basil brings a special element of excitement to the tournament: both have a claim to the starting spot.

Hassan is 35 years old, was born in Al-Diwaniyah and has been the first-choice goalkeeper for Al-Zawraa in the Iraqi Stars League since 2017; the club is one of the country’s most historic. His career has taken him to Karbala, Erbil, Amanat Baghdad, Al-Shorta and Naft Al-Wasat, before he settled in Baghdad. At international level, he is the undisputed figurehead: he made his debut for the senior team in 2011, is the only Iraqi goalkeeper to have stood between the posts in three consecutive AFC Asian Cup tournaments (2015, 2019, 2023), and helped his country win the 2023 Gulf Cup on home soil, their first title in 35 years. With 100 international caps, he became the 15th player in the history of Iraqi football to reach this milestone.

What has complicated World Cup preparations is that Hassan missed the decisive intercontinental play-off against Bolivia due to injury; Iraq won that match 2-1 to secure the final World Cup spot. Ahmed Basil stepped in and impressed. Manager Arnold is sticking with Hassan as captain, but the question of who is number one is no longer as clear-cut as it was at the start of the qualifiers.

Basil plays for Al-Shorta in the Iraqi Stars League and has spent his entire career in Iraqi club football. His big moment came on 31 March 2026 in the intercontinental play-off final against Bolivia at the BBVA Stadium in Monterrey: With Hassan injured, Basil stood in goal as Iraq’s qualification for its first World Cup in 40 years hung in the balance. He made a confident, composed impression; Iraq won 2–1 and qualified as the last of all 48 teams. Photos of his celebrations after the final whistle, hugging his teammates, went viral in the Iraqi media. With just four senior international caps to his name before the play-off, he has little international experience, but he proved himself at the most crucial moment.

Talib is 31 years old, stands 193 cm tall and comes from a family of goalkeepers: his father, Talib Rahim, was a professional goalkeeper, as was his older brother Ali. He literally grew up with football in the goal. He spent almost his entire club career at Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya, the Iraqi Armed Forces’ air force club, where he was given the nickname “Al-Tayara” – meaning “the aeroplane” – in reference to his goalkeeping coach, Hashim Khamis. Following a brief spell at Al-Zawraa, a season in Iran with Sanat Naft Abadan and a move to Al-Talaba in August 2024, he has established himself as the first-choice keeper there, keeping ten clean sheets in 26 league matches this season. With around 20 international caps since 2017, he is Arnold’s third-choice goalkeeper, but as the most physically imposing keeper in the trio, he brings a strong presence to training.