Arnold had a clause in his Socceroos contract forbidding him from taking on coaching roles with other national teams immediately after he stepped down in September 2024 due to Australia's poor start to their 2026 World Cup qualification campaign, a clause which has recently expired.
He has since been working with NRL club South Sydney Rabbitohs as a goalkicking mentor, with this to be his first return to football since last year's resignation.
The shoe will be on the other foot for the 61-year-old as he steps in to rescue the stumbling World Cup campaign of another national team that nobody saw coming: Iraq's Black Lions dropped out of the two automatic qualification spots in Group B after failing to defeat both Palestine (L 2-1) and Kuwait (D 2-2) in the March 2025 window.
According to local media, Arnold will be appointed through to the end of the 2027 AFC Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia, but only on the premise that Iraq qualifies for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North America.
Iraq's final two World Cup qualifiers take place in June when they face the top-two teams of the group: South Korea (home, June 5) and Jordan (away, Jordan 10).
Failure to finish in the top-two would see them advance to the fourth round of AFC qualifying, where the six third and fourth-placed teams from the three third round groups will be split into two single round-robin groups.