NAJAF, Iraq (AFP) - Iraq hopes that hosting Persian Gulf football friendlies, renovating its stadiums and outlawing weapons at matches will have persuaded FIFA to lift a ban on home competitive internationals, its sports minister said.
The country has not played full internationals on home turf for almost three decades, ever since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait that sparked an international embargo.
FIFA's ban, covering all but local matches, stayed in place after the American-led invasion of 2003 that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.
The ban was briefly lifted in 2012, but a power outage during an Iraq-Jordan match in the Iraqi Kurdish capital Arbil led world's football's governing body promptly to reinstate it.
Iraq is now allowed to host international friendlies at stadiums in Arbil, the southern port city of Basra and the shrine city of Karbala.
On February 28, Basra will host a friendly between Iraq and Saudi Arabia -- the first Saudi national team to play on Iraqi soil in four decades.
Years of insecurity following the U.S.-led invasion and the Dash occupation of a swathes of northern and western Iraq turned hosting sports events into a major challenge.
But Iraq in December declared victory over the terrorists following a three-year battle, and FIFA finally relaxed the ban.
Now, Abttan wants the sport's governing body to lift it entirely.
Next week's friendly marks a warming of ties between Baghdad and Riyadh after decades of tension under Saddam as well as under Nuri al-Maliki, who was prime minister from 2006-2014.
*******A picture taken on February 8, 2018 shows a general view of Najaf International Stadium in the central Iraqi city.