Falah Hassan.. The march of the Iraqi soccer fox
One of the legends of the Iraqi National Team, the audience called him the fox of Iraqi the football, distinguished by his skills, intelligence and quick wit. He is the star Falah Hassan, who was born in Maysan Governorate in 1951 to a farming family. He immigrated to Baghdad in the early sixties and lived in Sadr City, where he played football in its alleys. He would kick a ball or something in the shape of a ball on which he could test his foot skills.
During his high school studies, Falah Hassan joined one of the popular clubs (Ittihad Habib), before coach Abd al-Rahman al-Qaisi discovered him and joined him in 1968 to the Barid Club, which was playing at the time in the second division, and despite his young age, as he was only 17, he had a strong imprin in the rise of Al-Barid Club to the Premier League and won the title of top scorer in the second division, but Al-Barid did not maintain its place among the adults for long and was relegated to the second division, so Falah moved to Al-Shabab Club in 1969, before Al-Barid returned to the Premier League again in 1970.
In 1971, Al Barid and Al Muwasalat Clubs were merged to form Al-Zawraa Club, which became one of the most popular clubs while Falah left the sports because he was busy with military service.
After completing his military service, Falah returned to Al-Zawraa for one season before joining Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya club through coach Abd al-Ilah Muhammad Hassan. He played his first match against Al-Shorta and despite losing the first match 5/3, Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya won the league title and the Army League title for two consecutive seasons, to return to Al-Zawraa again in the 1976 season.
In 1970, Falah joined the national team and played his first international match against Poland, which ended in a draw. He played 110 matches with the national team, during which he scored 30 goals. He participated in the qualifiers for the Olympic Games in Munich 1972, and the 1982 World Cup qualifiers, and he starred greatly in the fourth Gulf tournament 1976 in Qatar, which is the first participation of the Iraqi National team (Iraq achieved the runner-up position), and the fifth in 1979 in Iraq (Iraq achieved the title). He played a big role in scoring and making goals. He also participated in the Military World Championships in Damascus 1977 and Kuwait 1979 (the Iraqi team won two titles), the Moscow Olympic Games 1980, and the Merdeka International Championship 1981, which Iraq won its title.
He worked as a coach for Al-Zawraa Club from 1987 to 1991, after which he moved to coach the Emirati Al-Nasr team in the 17-18 years category, then coached the first team for one season, then left for the United States of America for 21 years, and worked as a coach for the Michigan Star Club in Michigan, He proved his competence as a coach, winning the state championship twice, and achieving many league and cup championships.
After his return to Iraq, he was elected president of the administrative board of Al-Zawraa Club in 2012, and maintained his position in the 2014 elections, and in 2018 confidence was renewed for him as well.
Club titles:
Iraqi League 4 (1975-1976-1978-1979)
Iraq Cup 4 (1976-1979-1981-1982)
The Iraqi League in its old version 2 (1973-1974)
Iraq Cup in its old version 2 (1973-1974).