Shafaq News..Former Iraq football coach faults youth development system

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Former Iraq youth national team coach Muwafaq Hussein
criticized the country’s youth football system on Saturday, blaming the team’s
poor performance in the Asian qualifiers in Thailand on “flawed development and
systematic neglect.”

Hussein, who currently coaches Qatar’s Al-Khor SC, told
Shafaq News that selecting ready-made players from clubs and local amateur
teams was a “serious mistake.” He questioned the squad’s physical preparation,
citing slow movement and excess weight among some players as signs of
shortcomings in fitness and conditioning.

Training should begin at football academies and continue
through successive age groups before players reach national teams, according to
Hussein. “Iraqi players lack a structured pathway for learning the fundamentals
of football,” he added, calling on Iraq to adopt approaches used in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Europe.

He recalled the generation he coached from junior levels
through to the youth national team, which finished fourth at the FIFA U-20
World Cup in Turkiye. “That achievement was not a coincidence, but the result
of planning, gradual development and genuine investment in talent.”

Iraq began its Asian youth championship qualifying campaign
in Thailand with a 2-1 loss to Turkmenistan on August 31 before defeating the
United Arab Emirates by the same score on September 3.