India’s last meeting with Iraq was a 0-2 defeat in a friendly in Baghdad in 2010.
In the 49th King's Cup 2023 semifinal, the senior men's football team from India will play Iraq, it was confirmed following the draw ceremony in Thailand on Wednesday.
On September 7, the game will be held at the 700th Anniversary Stadium in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Later on the same day, Thailand and Lebanon will square off in the second semifinal.
The championship game will be held on September 10. In the third-place playoff, the losers will face off.
Iraq, the team with the highest FIFA ranking (70th), and Thailand, the tournament hosts and rated 113th, were paired up against the remaining two teams, India (ranked 99th) and Lebanon (ranked 100th).
India's most recent encounter with Iraq ended in a friendly loss for them in Baghdad in 2010.
It will be India’s fourth appearance in the King’s Cup in Thailand, with the most recent one coming in 2019, where the Blue Tigers went down to Curaçao in the semifinal before beating host Thailand 1-0 for the bronze medal. India also won bronze in its first appearance in the tournament in 1977, defeating the likes of South Korea, Singapore, and Indonesia. In 1981, India was eliminated in the group stage.