A Saudi football player, participating in a “legends” football match in Qatar, appeared to be scribbling the Israeli flag on his military uniform, according to photos circulated on social media.
Nawaf Al-Tmyat, who plays with FIFA Arab Legends in Friday’s match against FIFA World Legends at an exhibition event prior to the Arab Cup Final, is seen with a distorted Israeli flag on his uniform.
The T-shirts for the friendly match bore the flags of all 211 member countries of FIFA, including Israel.
There was no immediate comment from FIFA.
The incident came after three Algerian players withdrew from the match in protest against the coach of the competing Israeli team, Avram Grant.
Rabah Madjer, Rafik Saifi and Rafik Halliche decided that they would not play in the match due to Grant’s participation as coach and player for Legends of the World.
Nawaf Al-Tmyat appeared to blur the knowledge of “Who is this” about the match between Arab stars against world stars, a position to be credited and thanked for, even if the withdrawal was the best and the best position because the coach of the stars of the world was a Zionist .. but something is better than nothing pic.twitter.com/Qv64JfrFch
– Abdullah . (@_night01) December 18 2021
Although the World Legends team looked stronger at the start of the game, Arab Legends fought back to win the eventual penalty shootout.
There was no mention of the boycott in the report on the game presented on the FIFA website.
Grant’s public appearance at a game in Qatar was unusual in itself – Qatar does not have normal relations with Israel and is a major donor to Hamas-controlled Gaza, distributing aid payments to the Palestinian population of the strip.
Look at Nawaf Al-Tmyat’s movement in the T-shirt today, the World Stars match, my brother Abu Bandar, the love of the player I love the most outside the union???? .. pic.twitter.com/hCqgMjy2Tb
– yabash | H9 (@xq_1) December 18 2021
Grant previously managed English football giant Chelsea, and served as the head coach of the Israel national team from 2002 to 2006.
There are no diplomatic relations between Algeria and Israel, and it has always been supportive of the Palestinian cause.
In 2016, the Algerian football team reportedly pulled out of a friendly match with Ghana because the latter had Grant as head coach.
In September, Algerian judoka Fathi Norine was banned from competing for 10 years by the International Judo Federation after he withdrew from the Tokyo Olympics to avoid a potential confrontation with an Israeli competitor.