• Amir Al-Ammari is a key cog in an ascending Iraq side

• Part of a diverse squad, communicating in numerous languages

• Iraq are comfortably through to the third round of FIFA World Cup qualification

Operating in the shadows as a silent string-puller, Amir Al-Ammari is the understated heartbeat of one of Asia’s rising powers.

Clinically efficient in and out of possession, a gap-filling artisan and metronomic passer, the 26-year-old has gone from giving up the game half-a-decade ago to becoming a vital cog in an Iraq side that are on course to return to the sport’s top table.

As with many things in the land that birthed the wheel, the written word and the division of time, football in Iraq has been both euphoric and chaotic. The nation’s sole FIFA World Cup™ outing came way back in 1986, in an era that was defined by continental greats Ahmed Radhi and Hussein Saeed. Since then, there's been far more heartbreak than rapture.

The fairy-tale 2007 AFC Asian Cup triumph and a fourth-place finish in the Men's Olympic Football Tournament at Athens 2004 gave hope to an often-fractured nation. But an elusive World Cup return is the wound that won’t heal.

What started though as seeds of hope that the supremely talented current generation may be the group to end that heartbreak has grown into real belief. The team has made light work of qualification so far, breezing into the third round with two matches to spare.

As Al-Ammari told FIFA, the time is now to end 40 years of torment, return Iraq to the global showpiece and send a broader message that the nation is more than the headlines might lead some to believe.

“It will mean the world and could solve so many problems for people to witness that moment when Iraq are back on the biggest stage. It would mean so much for the country, bring so much joy to the people. To be back at the World Cup will show people outside just what kind of a country that Iraq is. It’s time for people to respect Iraq as a country, time to play another World Cup, to leave our mark and show just who we are.”

Al-Ammari, the polyglot midfield tempo-setter, is a fine illustration of the texture of the current crop of Lions of Mesopotamia; a group that carries Babylonian traditions of cross-cultural integration at its very heart. Of the most recent Iraq squad, which demolished the Philippines 5-0 in Manila in March, there were players born or raised in Denmark, England, Germany, Morocco, the Netherlands and Sweden.

The son of an Iraqi father and a Palestinian mother who met in Kuwait before fleeing conflict to settle in Sweden, Al-Ammari has both tactical and linguistic tussles to contend with in the national team, as he explained to FIFA.

“Everybody comes from different countries; some speak Arabic and not English, or English and not Arabic, or Swedish or other languages. It’s my role in the team to be a leader, that’s something I’ve always done since a young age. I need to understand what the coach wants not just from me but from the whole team.

“That reading of the game is something I take pride in; seeing what is about to happen and help my team-mates to clean things up while still focusing on my own assignments. It also means though that I need to constantly switch between languages; if Aymen [Hussein] is in front of me I’ll use Arabic, if it’s Youssef [Amyn] out wide I’ll use English or if it’s Rebin [Sulaka] in behind then it’ll be Swedish, each just comes automatically.”

Things haven’t always come as easy though for the midfielder who was raised in the southern Swedish city of Jonkoping, the same region that produced several Olympic kayakers, ice-hockey stars and a member of ABBA.

Starting out as a goalkeeper before making Swedish youth national teams as a central defender and then having a spell at the famed academy of Danish club Brondby, Al-Ammari told FIFA that he fell out of love with the game after returning from Denmark.

“I stopped playing for a whole year when I was maybe 19 or 20, I just lost the motivation. I started working at a school and as a personal assistant for a disabled man before eventually the drive returned.”

With the love of the game returning and having ascended to being a key part of Allsvenskan mainstays Halmstad, when Iraq came calling, in 2021, it was an easy decision for Al-Ammari to make.

“I didn’t hesitate, I had a gut feeling that it would be the right move and standing here now it definitely was. My father, my whole family, is so proud to be able to say that their son is playing for Iraq. It’s my chance to make them proud, to make the people of Iraq proud given what they’ve gone through.

“You can’t imagine the happiness it brings people when we win and no matter where we go we always find Iraq fans. Even here in the league in Sweden I’ll see people come to matches with Iraq flags and it gives us such joy to be able to make a mark for Iraqi people.

“Those outside of the country have no idea of the passion and the love the Iraqi people have for the game. I get goosebumps just talking about it. Two hours before the match, every match, the stadium is full and you can feel the energy. Singing the anthem and seeing the crowd is the best feeling I can imagine. Recently, my friend from Sweden went to watch us play in Basra and he said it was the best atmosphere he’s ever witnessed at a football match.”

With an average attendance of more than 60,000 for their home matches in the southern port city, Iraq have one of the largest and most vocal backings anywhere on the planet. Now, with a playing group that Al-Ammari describes as a family, the desire to fulfil the wishes of the nation of almost 50 million people is what’s driving the squad to reach the global finals in North America.

“With this group, we’re all brothers, all family, both on and off the pitch. Outside the matches we go out together as a group and on it we fight for each other but it wasn’t always like that.

“When I first joined the national team we used like 60 different players, never the same XI in consecutive matches and it felt like players were playing for themselves. Now, it’s a mix of young players with their whole future in front of them, others in the middle like me, and more experienced players who have been through some stuff and learned from it.

“Reaching the World Cup is absolutely a realistic goal now; we have a great flow and a feeling that we’re building something special. The whole team, all the staff and the whole country is pushing together to make it come true and we know, we feel and we believe that it’s possible.

“After we were eliminated from the recent Asian Cup, there was something burning inside of me and I made it my goal to see myself standing singing the Iraq anthem in a World Cup stadium. That’s the goal I’ve set in front of me and I’m pursuing it with all the energy I have.”

Images courtesy of the AFC