Sport in Iraq Iraq Basketball Association, the country's professional organization, runs a number of adult and youth leagues, and the Iraqi Premier League, for elite players. Iraq has a world-champion kickboxer in Riyadh Al-Azzawi. Iraqi professional wrestler Adnan Al-Kaissie is known as General Adnan. Sport in Iraq Sports in Iraq There are a wide variety of sports played and followed in Iraq. Football is the most popular sport and hobbies in Iraq. Football is a considerable uniting factor, following years of war and unrest. Basketball, swimming, weightlifting, bodybuilding, taekwondo, boxing, kickboxing, and tennis are also popular sports and hobbies. Sport was only recently
Professional football (gridiron) USFL executive James F. "Jim" Foster began work on a brand new variant of football. Known as "arena football", the sport was played on a much shorter 50-yard field and was built heavily on a high-scoring offensive game. After two test games, he launched a professional league, the Arena Football League, in 1987. The AFL began its 24th season in 2011, and is currently the United States' second longest running professional football league ever, after the NFL. The AFL also had a minor league, AF2, which ran for 10 seasons, from 2000 to 2009. The Arena Football League season runs