Unique chance for Iraqi women

BAGHDAD, Jan 24: Iraq's women footballers are gearing up for their first ever international matches when they take on seven other Arab teams in five-a-side matches at the end of this month, reports AFP.

Dressed in black trousers and wearing shirts emblazoned with the Iraqi flag, a total of eight women have been chosen to represent the sanctions-hit state in the Amman tournament which runs from January 29-February 4.

The tournament will be the team's first international matches since the Iraqi women's football federation was created in 1950. Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia and the Palestinians will also take part.

"The team has had no warm-up matches. It will pit itself against experienced teams. It will not be easy," coach Mohammed Abd es-Sahab said.

"As an Iraqi woman, I must tell the world that Iraqi women will not be prisoners of the embargo. The embargo has created a sort of defiance inside me," said team captain Khulud Abdel Karim, who is a student.

Iraq has been under UN sanctions since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

"Since the team was formed, women's football has begun to win support among the population," said Fatima al-Hashemi, head of the Iraqi women's union.

Most Iraqi provinces have women's football clubs, but there is as yet no national championship. Iraq also fields women's teams in disciplines such as volleyball, basketball, handball, athletics, fencing and some martial arts.

Women in the neighbouring conservative Gulf region have only recently begun to play football competitively, but tournaments are generally held behind closed doors and men are banned from the crowd.