Iraq coach Graham Arnold vows fighting spirit for World Cup return

Graham Arnold is asking Iraq to turn a long-awaited World Cup return into something harder than a celebration. In Baghdad, the coach said his side must bring a trademark fighting mentality to next month’s tournament, a message that speaks directly to what Iraqi fans have waited nearly four decades to see: a team that competes with purpose, not just presence.

For Iraq, the stakes are larger than a group stage draw. The national team clinched the final berth in the expanded 48-team field by beating Bolivia 2-1 in Mexico on March 31, completing a comeback to football’s biggest stage after a 40-year absence. FIFA lists Iraq’s only previous men’s World Cup appearance as 1986, when the team lost 2-1 to Belgium in Toluca and Ahmed Radhi scored Iraq’s goal. That memory still gives the return its weight: this is not a routine qualification, but the reopening of a chapter that has been closed since the mid-1980s.

Arnold’s challenge is immediate and severe. Iraq has been drawn against Norway, France and Senegal in Group I, a lineup that places the 57th-ranked side opposite three established national teams in a 10-day stretch. Iraq opens against Norway on June 16 in Boston, faces France on June 22 in Philadelphia, and plays Senegal on June 26 in Toronto. The scale of the task explains why Arnold has put mentality at the center of his message. Against Norway, France and Senegal, fighting spirit means staying compact, contesting every ball, and refusing to drift when the game turns against Iraq.

That message carries added force because Arnold is not new to pressure. FIFA says he was appointed Iraq coach in 2025 and previously led Australia to the round of 16 at the 2022 World Cup. In Baghdad, he told reporters that Iraq will approach the competition as a family and that the team believes it can make the country proud. He also called the group the toughest in the tournament, a realistic appraisal for a side that must navigate Didier Deschamps’s France, Erling Haaland’s Norway and Sadio Mane’s Senegal.

Iraq’s preparations continue with friendlies against Andorra in Girona on May 29 and Spain on June 4. The team enters those matches as 2007 Asian champions and as a side carrying more than sporting ambition. After years shaped by instability, Arnold’s demand for a fighting mentality has become part of a broader national test: whether Iraq can convert qualification into credibility, and credibility into pride.