BORMANN: In a football-mad country called Iraq, the young professionals from the Zura Club are taking a body count. The squad is together for the first time since the war. The coaching staff are thanking God that the team actually survived. For these young men, the end of the regime is the best sporting news in decades. The nation might be free from Saddam Hussein, but better still, Iraqi football is also free from its chief administrator, Uday, eldest son of Saddam.
LAITH HUSSEIN, IRAQI FOOTBALLER: If the team is lose, he would put the team in the jail or he cut hair. Sometimes he slapped some player. That's what he do.
BORMANN: So Uday would slap the player?
LAITH HUSSEIN: Not Uday, but the bodyguard.
BORMANN: Laith Hussein - 100 international games for his country over 16 years, sporadic poor form, punishment and jail in 1986, '88, '89, '98 and 2000. What effect did that have on your performance? Did you play differently next week?
LAITH HUSSEIN: Sure, sure. I play very well.
BORMANN: Uday Saddam Hussein was a media baron, businessman and all-round thug under his father's regime and unfortunately for Iraqi sport, a football fanatic.
When the Americans started bombing, this was one of the first places they hit. The Iraqi Olympic committee was a sham. Linked to the international organisation, it was from here Uday controlled all Olympic sports and football as well.
Hisham Mohammed is one of Iraqi's most prolific strikers and when he was offered a contract to play in the Gulf states, Uday only let him go on the condition he would get a 40 percent cut of his salary. But Hisham still had to make himself available for Iraq for those dreaded internationals.
HISHAM MOHAMMED, IRAQI FOOTBALLER: Whenever we played, our mind was concentrating on not losing any opportunity. During the game I was just thinking about the punishment.
BORMANN: This was where Hisham ended up after a bad game - Radwanya prison. After losing to Japan at the Asian championships two years ago, he and the rest of the team spent 16 days here. It was Uday's private jail for poor-performing athletes. A place where their heads would be shaved, where athletes would suffer water torture and have to undergo back-breaking training for 12 hours a day. Uday's interest extended beyond football when it came to the Olympic Games. Maysa Matrood is Iraq's fastest woman over 10,000 metres. At the Sydney Olympics, she was one of only four athletes from Iraq.
BORMANN: So this is Sydney?
MAYSA MATROOD: Yeah, Sydney.
BORMANN: A group of Iraqi Australians raised money and were planning to give each of the struggling athletes US$3,000. Instead, it went straight back to Baghdad.
MAYSA MATROOD, IRAQI ATHLETE: Of course the Olympic committee took the money. Not only this time, but in Athens and the World Cup championships. They said they would give each player U.S. $1,000, but we got nothing.
BORMANN: Maysa Matrood is so disillusioned with sport she's retired from the running and taken the veil. Uday revelled in the humiliation of all of his sporting stars, even the greatest. Ahmed Radhi is perhaps Iraq's best ever footballer -- national team captain for seven years and World Cup goal scorer in 1986. His every public appearance warrants crowd control. But even the best can put in a poor game. Ahmed Radhi's career stats include three jailings and two shavings.
AHMED RADHI, IRAQI FOOTBALLER: Always when we lose
maybe we are in the other country, we have a game or championship. When we lose this game, we are always speaking about how they punished us when we return to Baghdad.
BORMANN: When Ahmed Radhi won a US$30,000 contract to play in Qatar, Uday wanted every cent before he'd allow his star player to leave the country. Instead, Ahmed handed over US $5,000 and his US$25,000 car. In this shattered city, a kick in the park is about all these men and boys have left to do. Iraq's professional footballers were recruited from these suburbs. They played for Iraq and endured punishment from Uday because football was the only opportunity they ever had.
LAITH HUSSEIN: I feel is very good the future. For me and for all the player. Maybe go play outside. All the player we go to make contracts with any country.
BORMANN: Laith's mentor too is talking of a new future for football in Iraq. The old regime did not know about sport Ahmed Radhi told his players. They didn't really care.
LAITH HUSSEIN, IRAQI FOOTBALLER: If the team is lose, he would put the team in the jail or he cut hair. Sometimes he slapped some player. That's what he do.
BORMANN: So Uday would slap the player?
LAITH HUSSEIN: Not Uday, but the bodyguard.
BORMANN: Laith Hussein - 100 international games for his country over 16 years, sporadic poor form, punishment and jail in 1986, '88, '89, '98 and 2000. What effect did that have on your performance? Did you play differently next week?
LAITH HUSSEIN: Sure, sure. I play very well.
BORMANN: Uday Saddam Hussein was a media baron, businessman and all-round thug under his father's regime and unfortunately for Iraqi sport, a football fanatic.
When the Americans started bombing, this was one of the first places they hit. The Iraqi Olympic committee was a sham. Linked to the international organisation, it was from here Uday controlled all Olympic sports and football as well.
Hisham Mohammed is one of Iraqi's most prolific strikers and when he was offered a contract to play in the Gulf states, Uday only let him go on the condition he would get a 40 percent cut of his salary. But Hisham still had to make himself available for Iraq for those dreaded internationals.
HISHAM MOHAMMED, IRAQI FOOTBALLER: Whenever we played, our mind was concentrating on not losing any opportunity. During the game I was just thinking about the punishment.
BORMANN: This was where Hisham ended up after a bad game - Radwanya prison. After losing to Japan at the Asian championships two years ago, he and the rest of the team spent 16 days here. It was Uday's private jail for poor-performing athletes. A place where their heads would be shaved, where athletes would suffer water torture and have to undergo back-breaking training for 12 hours a day. Uday's interest extended beyond football when it came to the Olympic Games. Maysa Matrood is Iraq's fastest woman over 10,000 metres. At the Sydney Olympics, she was one of only four athletes from Iraq.
BORMANN: So this is Sydney?
MAYSA MATROOD: Yeah, Sydney.
BORMANN: A group of Iraqi Australians raised money and were planning to give each of the struggling athletes US$3,000. Instead, it went straight back to Baghdad.
MAYSA MATROOD, IRAQI ATHLETE: Of course the Olympic committee took the money. Not only this time, but in Athens and the World Cup championships. They said they would give each player U.S. $1,000, but we got nothing.
BORMANN: Maysa Matrood is so disillusioned with sport she's retired from the running and taken the veil. Uday revelled in the humiliation of all of his sporting stars, even the greatest. Ahmed Radhi is perhaps Iraq's best ever footballer -- national team captain for seven years and World Cup goal scorer in 1986. His every public appearance warrants crowd control. But even the best can put in a poor game. Ahmed Radhi's career stats include three jailings and two shavings.
AHMED RADHI, IRAQI FOOTBALLER: Always when we lose
maybe we are in the other country, we have a game or championship. When we lose this game, we are always speaking about how they punished us when we return to Baghdad.
BORMANN: When Ahmed Radhi won a US$30,000 contract to play in Qatar, Uday wanted every cent before he'd allow his star player to leave the country. Instead, Ahmed handed over US $5,000 and his US$25,000 car. In this shattered city, a kick in the park is about all these men and boys have left to do. Iraq's professional footballers were recruited from these suburbs. They played for Iraq and endured punishment from Uday because football was the only opportunity they ever had.
LAITH HUSSEIN: I feel is very good the future. For me and for all the player. Maybe go play outside. All the player we go to make contracts with any country.
BORMANN: Laith's mentor too is talking of a new future for football in Iraq. The old regime did not know about sport Ahmed Radhi told his players. They didn't really care.