“I also know that representing my country for them is probably the biggest pride because it's a cool story, isn't it?” Ali Al-Hamadi said, pausing on the image his family has carried for two decades — a mother who left Iraq as a teenager while carrying him and a reunion that led to this World Cup moment.
Al-Hamadi, 24, spoke about that personal weight as Iraq prepare to kick off their Group I campaign against Norway in Boston, a match due to start at 23:00 BST. The forward’s words are framed by a single, obvious fact: for his parents, seeing their son pull on Iraq’s shirt at football’s biggest tournament is the culmination of a migration that began under Saddam Hussein’s regime.
The football evidence that Al-Hamadi has earned his place is concrete. He scored the opening goal in Iraq’s 2-1 qualifying playoff win over Bolivia in March — a strike that helped send Iraq to the finals for the first time since 1986 — and has been capped 17 times since his debut in 2021, finding the net five times for his country. “Forty-six million people [in Iraq], and every single one of them was watching that game,” he said of the playoff, adding: “It’s just mental - I can’t even put it into words.”
Those international moments trace back to a childhood that began in Maysan in southeastern Iraq and moved to Liverpool after his parents escaped in the early 2000s. Raised in Toxteth, he played for Liverpool schoolboys, joined Tranmere Rovers as a youth and worked his way through the English lower leagues before signing for Ipswich Town two years ago and becoming the first Iraqi to play in the English top flight for the club.
Even so, the picture on the club side is anything but uncomplicated. Al-Hamadi acknowledged the strain of his recent campaign: “It’s been a difficult season for me,” he said. Supplementary reports note an injury-hit spell with limited appearances on loan in the English leagues — a downturn that included a solitary league goal while on loan at Luton Town — a contrast to the central role he occupies for Iraq on the international stage.
That contrast is the story’s friction: a player whose defining international moment came in March now carries an uneven club record into the World Cup. Iraq’s manager must weigh a striker who has produced when the nation needed him most against a player who has spent parts of the domestic season sidelined or struggling for form. Al-Hamadi recognised the oddness of it himself, returning to family stakes when he said: “Like after everything they've been through and their story for their son to go back and pull that jersey on, it's probably an amazing feeling for them.”
The immediate test is clear and unavoidable. Iraq open against Norway in Boston at 23:00 BST — the starting XI and Al-Hamadi’s minutes there will tell whether his selection is primarily symbolic or tactical. If he starts and plays significant minutes, his playoff goal and 17 caps suggest Iraq intend to build an attacking plan around him; if he is used sparingly, the tournament may be more a personal high point than a turning point in a season that has otherwise gone sideways.
