GERMANY/JERUSALEM: FOOTBALL/SOCCER: German Under 21 soccer team visit Israel's Holocaust memorial amid row over player who did not make journey

A delegation from Germany's Under 21 soccer team visited Israel's Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem, on Wednesday (October 10) amid controversy in Germany and Israel over one of their players who did not make the journey. German soccer federation president Theo Zwanziger was accompanied by the German team's manager, coach, and one of the players around the museum. He adjusted the intensity of the eternal flame, laid a wreath and signed the guest book. "It is once again necessary to come here to show our solidarity and to make clear that we have learnt and that we wish to work in this direction," Zwanziger said. The German squad is scheduled to play Israel's Under 21 team Friday in Tel Aviv. But the headlines are about the player who did not travel to Israel. An Iranian-born player in Germany's under-21 national soccer team withdrew from the upcoming match against Israel citing "personal reasons", the German Football Association (DFB) said on Monday (October 8). Ashkan Dejagah, 21, who plays for Bundesliga club VfB Wolfsburg, asked national team managers to allow him to withdraw from Germany's European Championship qualifier against Israel, to be played in Tel Aviv on Friday, the DFB said. Dejagah could not be reached for comment, but tabloid daily Bild quoted him as saying his motive was political. Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran has refused to recognize Israel's right to exist and Iranian citizens are forbidden from travelling to Israel. Dejagah was born in Tehran, but later moved with his parents to Germany. German politicians have called for Dejagah, who holds both German and Iranian passports, to decide where his loyalties really lie. At a press conference in Berlin on Wednesday (October 10) national team manager Oliver Bierhoff expressed sympathy for the young player, but also made clear that playing for Germany carried certain responsibilities. "We want our players to identify with the team and our country. If they can't then I don't think the player should have a role on the team. If there are other reasons, like family reasons, one has to consider that it might not have been as simple for the boy as it looked to us from the outside." The German Football Association (DFB) has said Dejagah withdrew from the match because he fears his family in Iran will suffer reprisals if he travels to Israel. A spokesman for Wolfsburg denied a report that Dejagah had been suspended by the Bundesliga team.

ITN Source | October 12, 2007

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