Britain denies Iraqi soccer star's dream

BAGHDAD — Iraqi soccer phenom Nashat Akram's face already graces hundreds of posters plastered around Baghdad. And in recent days, he had been poised to do what no Iraqi player has done before: Sign a professional contract with a top team in England's Premier League -- a trailblazing move that many predicted would open the "golden door" for future soccer stars.

The only thing standing in his way was a work permit.

Last week, British officials denied his application for a second time, consigning Akram to the same fate as thousands of other Iraqis, his dreams another casualty of war.

"This is a very, very unfair decision," said Akram's agent, Najim Mohammed. "We want to make good relations between Iraq and the U.K. and America. We want to show Iraqi people these people want to help give us a hand. But this is against Iraqi people. . . . They keep the people suffering. They don't give them any joy."

As the news spread Saturday across soccer-crazed Iraq, fans reacted with anger and disbelief. Iraqi government and sports officials vowed to appeal and threatened to launch large-scale protests that would be visible around the world.

Britain's Home Office, which issues passports, visas and citizenship to immigrants, said it could not comment on individual cases.

But Akram's would-be employer, Manchester City Football Club, said the government's rejection of the appeal was based on a technicality. The Iraqi national team has not recently played against any of the world's top 20 teams and its two-year average rank is 71. To meet the requirements of the visa, the team needs to be ranked in the top 70.

"I'm sure people aren't happy [in Iraq], but people aren't happy at Manchester City either," club spokesman Paul Tyrrell said. "We genuinely don't understand the decision. We thought the immigration authorities would take into consideration that Iraq, because of the domestic problems, would have difficulty playing against any of the top 20 countries."

Despite the low ranking, the team won the Asian Cup last year and placed fourth in the 2004 Olympics. The only way to move up in the rankings is to play more, but because of the war, it has been impossible for Iraq to play any home matches.

"Thanks to the Americans, we can't do this," said Ahmed Abbas, general secretary of the Iraqi Football Assn. Because of the country's security problems, he said, "we couldn't have games in Iraq."

"Even abroad, we can't have games."