Abdul Ghani Shahd appointed as coach of the Iraqi national team

The Iraqi Football Association announced the assignment of national coach Abdul Ghani Shahd to lead the national team in the UAE and Syria matches in the Asian qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, to succeed the dismissed Montenegrin Jeliko Petrovic.

And the media coordinator of the Iraqi team, Muhammad Imad, stated: Abdul Ghani Shahd was named by Al-Ittihad, as the team’s coach, and he will lead the team in the UAE and Syria matches within the 2022 World Cup qualifiers in Qatar.

And the Iraqi Federation decided last week to dismiss the coach of the national team, Jeliko Petrovic, from his position due to the poor results in the third round of World Cup qualifiers, the latest of which was a 1-1 draw against Lebanon.

Shahd, 53 years, supervises the training of the third-ranked Naft Al-Wasat team in the local competition (38 points), and one of his most prominent training stations was leading the Iraqi Olympic team in the 2016 Rio Olympics in Brazil.

The Iraqi team will meet its UAE counterpart on the twenty-fourth of March, five days before the confrontation with Syria.

The Iraqi team occupies fifth place before last with five points on the list of the first group rankings, in which Iran and South Korea booked the qualifications for the World Cup finals in Qatar.

The struggle for third place intensifies in the next two final rounds of decisive qualifiers to secure the supplement card between the Emirates (9 points), Lebanon (6) and Iraq (5).

Source: AFC website