Iraqi Soccer Team Plays First Home Game in Seven Years

After being forced to stay overseas for seven years because of the war in Iraq, the Iraqi soccer team has finally returned home to a cheering crowd.

In 2004, Iraq’s national soccer team finished fourth at the Athens Olympic games. In 2007, they beat the Saudi Arabian team in a surprise victory. But despite the team’s hard-won successes around the world, there’s one thing they’ve missed out on for the last seven years: the cheering of a home crowd.

Because of the war in Iraq, the soccer team hasn’t had the opportunity to return to their homeland since 2002, and had spent the years circling the globe, playing in whatever cities were safe enough to host them.

But on Monday night, the team finally made their way back to the old Shaab Stadium in Baghdad. Although the stadium wasn’t nearly as flashy as many of the ones they’d played in over the years, the team received a hero’s welcome. The seating area was completely packed, with more than 25,000 fans crowding all the way into the aisles. The noise of their cheers was deafening.

Things still aren’t perfect in Iraq—the players heard a car bomb explode nearby during their pre-game practice—but they finally feel safe enough to return to their homeland.

“We are like someone who’s been displaced from his house,” the team’s coach, Nadhim Shakir, told the New York Times. “Now, at last, he is going back.”

The team defeated its Palestinian opponents 3-0. But at this particular game, even a defeat would have been cause for celebration.

“We’re tired of traveling,” said goalkeeper Mohammed Gasad. “Now we have our own country.”