Ali Al Hamadi on Iraq's World Cup dream – and his love of Steven Gerrard

It has been a week to remember for Ali Al Hamadi after the Iraqi forward scored a goal that helped move his country a step closer to next summer's World Cup finals.

Al Hamadi was perfectly placed to put his team in front after 11 minutes against the UAE in Abu Dhabi, and while the match finished 1-1, Iraq will feel confident going into Tuesday's second leg on home turf.

Al Hamadi could not be more emphatic when asked whether Iraq will win the game that will be played in front of 65,000 fans at Basra International Stadium.

“If I believed anything else, I might as well not play football,” he told The National. “Of course I believe we're going to get there.”

While the 23-year-old was made in Iraq, he was shaped in England after being raised in Toxteth, Liverpool, growing up a passionate supporter of the Anfield club.

“Steven Gerrard was my idol growing up … as people of Liverpool he just embodies everything that the city is about,” explained Al Hamadi. “My dad used to joke with me. I said, ‘Dad, I wish Steven Gerrard was my dad'. That’s how much I loved him when I was young.”

When he became the first Iraqi to play in the English Premier League in August 2024, for Ipswich Town at Anfield against the club he had worshipped since childhood, it felt like fate had intervened as he took to the field in what was Arne Slot's first competitive game as Liverpool manager.

“I worked tirelessly all summer to just make that happen. For me, it would've been a dream to come on that pitch. And I did,” he said.

“If I could ever reach a level of euphoria of getting promoted from the Championship to the Premier League, like that feeling, I wish I could bottle it up and give it to people because it's such an amazing feeling, but it fades just as quick as it comes.”

Watch the full interview on YouTube

Al Hamadi's success is built on a determination he inherited from a father who once risked everything for the idea of a better Iraq.

Imprisoned for taking part in a peaceful protest against Saddam Hussein, his father fled his homeland and rebuilt his family’s life in England, driven by the hope of offering his son the opportunities he had been denied.

“Growing up in not amazing circumstances, football was my escape,” said Al Hamadi, who is now on loan at English third-tier side Luton Town. “Football was always the thing that I just loved doing. You felt like you just forgot about everything.”

Becoming a footballer meant persuading Arab parents who typically always prioritise security, having experienced too many trials and tribulations of their own.

“[They] took a lot of convincing, obviously, because I was quite academic as well in school, and that's why people come over here, especially Iraqi, Middle Eastern parents,” Al Hamadi said.

“They want their kid