Iraq’s return to the World Cup for the first time since 1986 was greeted with excitement in Michigan. The state, after all, is the home to the largest Iraqi-American population in the United States, according to the latest U.S Census. The team begins its World Cup appearance in a match versus Norway on Tuesday evening.
Per the 2020 U.S. census, there were nearly 100,000 people with Iraqi descent living in Michigan in 2024, the largest number among the state’s Middle Eastern population. On March 31, many of them celebrated as The Lions of Mesopotamia – the nickname of Iraq’s men’s national team – clinched its berth to the World Cup this summer with a win against Bolivia.
“Before they even won, it was really a frenzy here in Sterling Heights,” Weam Namou, a reporter for the Chaldean News in Metro Detroit, said.
For Iraq, qualifying for the 2026 World Cup was anything but straightforward. The team played 20 qualifying matches, and its hopes of reaching the tournament nearly unraveled before the final playoff.
That decisive match came in March, just weeks after tensions in the Middle East escalated following U.S. strikes on Iran. Several players struggled to obtain visas for the final qualifying match against Bolivia in Mexico, while the closure of Iraqi airspace amid the regional conflict further complicated the team's preparations for one of the most important games in its history.
To get there, the Iraqi team was forced to make the 10-hour drive from the capital Baghdad to Amman, Jordan, before flying to Portugal and then Mexico after the visa issue was resolved – totaling 25 hours of traveling.
All that effort paid off when the Lions of Mesopotamia defeated Bolivia 2–1, ending a 40-year wait to return to the World Cup.
The victory sparked a two-day national holiday in Iraq, where people flooded the streets to celebrate. Free tea and food were handed out as communities marked the long-awaited achievement.
Namou remembers going with her son and her husband to Al Mushriq, a banquet club in Sterling Heights, to celebrate there.
“The thing that surprised me was all these boys that were born here (in the U.S.) that felt so connected to the game,” Namou recalled her husband telling her after the win. “You had these fathers that were born in Baghdad or other parts of Iraq, and then you had the younger generation experiencing something together, and that was very new for myself and my husband.”
When Iraq had booked its ticket to the World Cup hosted in the U.S. along with Canada and Mexico the celebrations spread from the restaurant into the streets, Namou recalled.
What Namou observed in Sterling Heights she said illustrated the power of the World Cup and what it means for nations participating in it, especially ones like Iraq who hadn’t reached the tournament in 40 years.
“Every country, of course, is proud of its team and what it represents and winning always gives you a sense of pride,” Namou said. “Regardless of the country, of course, the United States is our country. It's our home, it's our citizenship here, but a lot of us, including myself and my husband, were born in Iraq, and Iraq has suffered a lot over the years, over the centuries.”
Namou’s excited to have something the country and Iraqis inside its border and across the world can come together and celebrate, she added.
“Soccer for Iraqis is a powerful unifying factor,” Namou said. “It really unites us across generations, backgrounds, religions.”
Iraq qualified for the World Cup in part because FIFA's 2026 edition of the tournament expanded to allow 48 teams to qualify instead of 32. Asia now has nine teams at this summer’s tournament instead of the six it brought at the 2022 games.
For Namou, it was just those changes that steered the Iraq team to qualify, but also the team’s new head coach, Australian Graham Arnold. The veteran manager was the first appointed to work as a head coach of the Australian men’s national soccer team – leading them to the World Cup round of 16 back in 2022. It was the furthest the Australian team had made it in the World Cup since 2006.
Following a string of bad results for Australia in the qualifying matches for the 2026 World Cup, Arnold resigned in September 2024, and eight months later became Iraq’s coach.
“Just like the coach (Arnold) had that belief system in them (the Iraq team), and it somehow resonated,” Namou said. “He planted these seeds in their hearts to remind them of who they are. They are the Lions of Mesopotamia.”
Iraq begins its World Cup group play against Norway Tuesday in Boston before meeting powerhouses France on Monday and Senegal on June 26. No matter the results, one thing is clear: the Iraqi team reaching the global tournament has sparked strong support and pride in Michigan.
