Football fans celebrate after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the World Cup, in the Karrada district of Baghdad on April 1, 2026. The team's coach challenged his players to "shock the world" after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico on March 31. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP)
Music, fireworks and the occasional round of gunfire erupted across Iraq’s capital, Baghdad, early Wednesday after the national team qualified for the World Cup for the first time in decades.
The “Lions of Mesopotamia” secured the country’s first World Cup appearance since the 1986 competition in Mexico with a 2-1 win over Bolivia on Tuesday night.
The build-up to the match had been overshadowed by the outbreak of the Middle East war in late February, when the US and Israel attacked Iran, subsequently dragging Iraq into the conflict.
More than 100 people have been killed in Iraq since the fighting began.
The war was not far from people’s minds on Wednesday, but supporters still thronged one of Baghdad’s main shopping streets to cheer on their team as the sun rose.
“This victory is incredibly precious to us, despite the war raging,” Ahmed, 22, told AFP outside a cafe in the central Karrada district.
“The Iraqi people are united across all sects,” he said, adding that the win reminded Iraqis of their victory in the 2007 Asian Cup when sectarian violence was at its peak.
