Ashkan Dejagah, an Iranian-born player in Germany's under-21 national football team, has withdrawn from an upcoming match against Israel citing "personal reasons", according to the German Football Association (DFB).
Dejagah, 21, who plays for VfB Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga, asked national team managers to allow him to withdraw from Germany's European Championship qualifier against Israel, which is scheduled to be played in Tel Aviv on Friday, the DFB said.
"He came to us citing personal reasons that seemed very plausible," Jens Grittner, DFB spokesman, said.
Dejagah could not be reached for comment, but Bild, the German tabloid daily, quoted him as saying his motive was political.
"It has political reasons," Dejagah said of his decision to withdraw, according to Bild.
"Everyone knows that I am German-Iranian."
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"It has political reasons. Everyone knows that I am German-Iranian."
Ashkan Dejagah,
German footballer |
Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran has refused to recognise 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, and he holds a German passport.
The striker's withdrawal has created controversy in Germany, which has good relations with Israel after some six million Jews died during the Holocaust.
Bild, Germany's biggest-selling newspaper, called for Dejagah's exclusion from the national team, a call that was backed by Friedbert Pflueger, a leading member of the Berlin branch of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU).
In 2004, Vahid Hashemian, Iranian striker, was dropped from Bayern Munich's roster for a Champions League match against Israel's Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Although Bayern cited a back injury as the reason for Hashemian's withdrawal, the potential visit proved controversial and Iran's national sporting body opposed it.