Video Of The Week: Frontline Football – Palestine vs Iraq

This week’s Video Of The Week is another episode of the “Frontline Football” series from 2006, featuring a World Cup qualifying match between Palestine and Iraq. The Palestinian national team was not officially recognised by FIFA until 1998, but their qualifying group for the 2006 World Cup saw them briefly head their AFC qualifying group after an 8-0 win against Taiwan. The Iraq team was also starting to find its feet after years in the international wilderness and went on to win the 2007 AFC Asian Cup, and were only edged out of qualification for the 2010 World Cup in their final match by New Zealand. This film, however, focusses on the day to day struggle of two football teams playing in one of the most dangerous parts of the world and the difficulties that the two sides face just raise teams to train and play matches.