Pitch politics: Iraq-Kuwait match tests post-Saddam ties


Iraqi fans gather in a bus before it heads to Kuwait, in Basra, Iraq September 9, 2024. REUTERS/Essam al-Sudani

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Thousands of Iraqi football fans were expected in Kuwait on Tuesday for a World Cup qualifier, the first time they have been allowed to attend since former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein invaded the emirate 34 years ago.

The busloads of Iraqis rolling over the border for the 7 p.m. (1600 GMT) game illustrated slowly-warming ties two decades after Saddam's fall in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, though sensitivities remain and match arrangements have sparked some controversy.

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