Iraqi FA bans three football players over asylum bid

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Three football players who refused to return home after an Olympic qualifier in Australia last month have been banned from playing for Iraq's national team for life, the Iraqi Football Association said on Thursday.

Naji Humoud, vice-president of the Iraqi Football Association, told Reuters that the national football body would also seek to ban young players Ali Mansur and Ali Khadher and promising midfielder Ali Abbas from signing for foreign clubs.

"The Iraqi Football Association decided in a two-day meeting to permanently ban three players who claimed asylum in Australia because of their refusal to come back with the team and finish their duty by playing the final match with Lebanon," he said.

Humoud said that assistant coach Sadi Toma, who also disappeared from his hotel hours after the team's 2-0 loss to Australia, would face a lifetime ban from coaching the Iraqi national team and a two-year ban from running local clubs.

Failure to qualify for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing was a massive disappointment for the team nicknamed the Lions of Mesopotamia.

Iraq narrowly lost out on the bronze medal to Italy at the 2004 games in Athens and the national side triggered scenes of euphoria when they clinched the Asian Cup this summer in style.

(Reporting by Wisam Mohammed; writing by Mussab Al-Khairalla; editing by Sami Aboudi)