Iraq U20

Five AFC titles came inside twenty-five years, from 1975 to 2000, and the first was won in the tournament's own debut year — the side that would carry the senior team's nickname, Lions of Mesopotamia, arrived at the top of Asian youth football. The run started at Ahwaz on 24 February 1974, a 3-1 win over Saudi Arabia in qualifying, a result that set up the title the following year.

The best modern run came in 2013, when Hakeem Shaker's side reached the final of the Asian Cup and then finished fourth at the FIFA U-20 World Cup. Ali Adnan Kadhim, who anchored that campaign, was named the continent's Youth Player of the Year for it.

Iraq have twice gone on to lose a final rather than win it, in 2012 and again in 2023, when Ali Jasim's goals carried the team to that final and on to the World Cup. There have also been two WAFF U-18 titles, in 2019 and 2021, and a third-place Asian Cup finish in 1982.

The team trains and prepares largely around Baghdad, drawing on the Al-Shaab International Stadium and the grounds of Al-Zawraa and Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya rather than settling on one fixed home. What the record still lacks is a World Cup final; fourth place, from 2013, remains as close as the side has come.