AFC Asian Cup 2019: Iraq football federation launches investigations into players' clandestine excursion to nightclub

Baghdad: Iraq’s football federation said on Monday it was investigating whether national team players in Abu Dhabi for the Asian Cup this month snuck out of their hotel to party at a nightclub. [caption id=“attachment_5977291” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Iraq football team at their AFC Asian Cup fixture against Qatar. Reuters[/caption] Media reports have alleged that after their draw last week against Iran in the final group-stage match, some Iraqi players travelled to nearby Dubai for a night out. “We have decided to form a fact-finding committee over what was reported by different media and have invited all relevant parties to take part,” the federation said in a statement. If the allegations prove to be correct, the federation would consider legal action for “defamation” and harming Iraq’s reputation, its media head Mohammad Khalaf told AFP. Iraq were knocked out of the tournament with a 1-0 defeat to Qatar in the last 16. Last year, Iraqi national teams were embroiled in a string of age-fraud scandals. Adult players were found to have falsified ages on their passports to play on the under-16 squad, and the under-23 team also dropped out of the Asian Games tournament amid similar allegations of lying. It came as FIFA allowed Iraq to host international matches for the first time in three decades.