The General Assembly of the Iraqi Olympic Committee voted today, Tuesday, to dismiss the former international goalkeeper Raad Hammoudi from his position during an extraordinary meeting. Twenty-five members voted for Hammoudi's dismissal, while two members voted in his favor, with one blank vote recorded. The Olympic Committee president, who is facing allegations of financial violations that he defended during the extraordinary meeting, left the hall in protest against the no-confidence proposal, and four members withdrew from the assembly before the voting process began.
One member of the General Assembly stated, "Twenty-five members voted to dismiss Hammoudi, with two votes in favor of him and one blank vote. Four members left the meeting hall before the voting process began, as did the committee president."
He added, "The first vice president of the Olympic Committee, Aqeel Maftun, will assume the presidency of the committee in acting capacity according to the internal regulations, and after a secret voting process, the General Assembly set February 10 as the date to elect a new president for the committee, pending the approval of the International Olympic Committee on these procedures."
Hammoudi, a former goalkeeper for the Iraqi national team and its captain in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, was elected to lead the Olympic Committee in 2009 and held this position for nearly 14 years. Hammoudi lost his position in the elections held on November 14, 2020, which were won by former swimming federation president Sermaad Abd al-Ilah, before the latter was ousted due to the International Olympic Committee's non-recognition of those elections because of legal objections against the new president.
