By IANS/AKI,
Belgrade : Iranian football club Sepahan cancelled a friendly match with Belgrade Partizan because the Belgrade team’s coach is an Israeli, Partizan officials said Monday.
Partizan is currently in Antalia, Turkey, preparing for the spring season and was supposed to play a friendly match with Sepahan Feb 24, but the game was called off because Partizan has recently engaged an Israeli coach Avram Brant.
Partizan was due to play a friendly match in Dubai recently, but that match was cancelled for the same reason.
Before joining Partizan, Grant has coached several English teams and he told Serbian media he never had similar problems.
“The match has been called off and I’m disappointed,” Avram said. “I was unofficially told that Iranians want no contact with me because I’m Israeli,” he explained.
“It’s a shame, I never mixed politics with sports,” Avram said.
“In England I worked with many Arabs and gained many friends among them,” Avram concluded.