ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia pledged to construct a football stadium for Iraq and strengthen Baghdad-Riyadh ties in a phone call with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
King Salman urged enhanced cooperation with Iraq and congratulated the “success of the friendly match between the two countries teams,” according to a statement from Abadi office.
The Lions of Mesopotamia prevailed in a 4-1 friendly — if not also a diplomatic — match over the Green Falcons at Basra International Stadium on February 28 before.
The match was attended by an estimated 73,000 fans (59,694 officially) waving Iraqi and Saudi flags.
In this light, King Salman pledged to construct a stadium to Iraq as gift to “renew cooperation and work between the two countries.”
“King Salman stressed the importance of strengthening relations and brotherhood between the two countries and supporting the Kingdom's efforts to rebuild Iraq and its unity,” the statement read.
Saudi state news confirmed the phone call, but did not mention the stadium.
For his part, Abadi thanked “the generous initiative” stressing the need to enhance cooperation between the neighboring countries.
He also stressed the significance of the work of Iraqi-Saudi Coordination Council for its encouragement to the private sector and investment.
The Iraqi government called on FIFA to lift its ban on competitive internationals.
Iraq has been banned from hosting international tournaments and matches for almost three decades. The ban followed Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Due to security concerns and economic instability, the ban remained in place even after the 2003 US-led invasion.
Hopes were raised when the ban was temporarily lifted in 2012, paving the way for Erbil to host an Iraq-Jordan match. However, the game was interrupted by a power outage, leading FIFA to re-impose the ban.
Although it is now allowed to host Persian Gulf friendlies at its stadiums in Erbil, Basra and Karbala, Iraq is now pushing for the ban to be fully lifted.
Iraq beat Jordan 1-0 in Basra in friendly in May 2017.
Since the defeat of ISIS in December 2017, FIFA is showing signs of relaxing the ban.
Baghdad has implemented measures to improve security by banning weapons at matches and renovating the country’s stadiums.
