Algerian Players Boycott A Match Due To The Presence Of Israeli Coach Avram Grant

Three Algerian players withdrew from a “legends” soccer match in Qatar on Friday to protest the opposing team’s Israeli coach Avram Grant.

The FIFA Arab Legends and FIFA World Legends met on Friday in an exhibition event leading up to the FIFA Arab Cup final.

Rabah Madjer, Rafik Saïfi and Rafik Halliche decided not to play the match because of Grant’s participation as a coach and player for the World Legends team.

Although the Legends of the World team seemed stronger early in the match, the Arab Legends struggled to win on penalties.

The boycott was not mentioned in the match report on the FIFA website.

Grant’s public appearance at a party in Qatar was in itself unusual: Qatar has no normalized ties with Israel and is a key donor to Hamas.

Grant previously managed the English soccer giant, Chelsea, and was coach of the Israeli national team from 2002 to 2006.

Algeria has no diplomatic ties to Israel and has long supported Palestinian Islamism.

In 2016, the Algerian soccer team withdrew from a friendly match with Ghana because the latter had Grant as coach.

In September, the International Judo Federation banned Algerian judoka Fethi Nourine from competing for 10 years after his withdrawal from the Tokyo Olympics to avoid a possible fight against an Israeli opponent.