He was the playmaker who took Iraq to unexpected victory in the Asia Cup and united a nation split asunder by war and religious strife.

But yesterday Nashat Akram was left bitter and disappointed after the Home Office scuppered his hopes of Premier League glory by refusing him a work permit. Whitehall mandarins decided that Iraq’s team was simply not good enough to allow him entry.

Akram, 23, has been refused a permit because Iraq, which trains and plays every match abroad, is placed 72nd in the world rankings. The Home Office gives permits only to internationals from the top 70 teams.

“It’s like a judgment against my country,” Akram told The Times last night. “I am upset and the Iraqi people are upset. There are a lot of people hoping I would be the first Iraqi to play in the British league,” he said.

Sven-Göran Eriksson, the Manchester City manager, said: “This is a big blow and a great disappointment to us. I have huge sympathy for Nashat. He is a very good footballer with an excellent pedigree.”

Akram, a midfielder, said that he had now abandoned his dream of playing for Manchester City and would try to join a club elsewhere in Europe. “I want to find another club in a country where I am welcome.”

His disappointment was shared widely in Iraq, which yearns for international recognition after years of isolation under Saddam Hussein, and for which football is a rare unifying force. The victory over Saudi Arabia in July’s Asia Cup final sparked riotous celebrations among Sunnis, Shias and Kurds. Baghdad is still plastered with posters of the team above the slogan: “The dream came true because of our determination and zeal.”

The Iraqi Government said that it had asked the Home Office to reconsider. Others demanded that an exception be made given the conditions under which the Iraqi team has to play. It has difficulty getting players out of the country and has not played a game in Iraq for nearly two decades.

“Everybody knows that Iraq is going through difficult circumstances,” Najim Mohammed, Akram’s agent, said. “We were shocked by such an unfair decision. We had hoped that British authorities would understand the current situation of the country.”

Ahmed Abbas, of the Iraqi Football Federation, said that the planned move of Akram was meant to open doors for Iraqis. “I called this man [Akram] the Iraqi football ambassador to the West and that’s why we were all shocked and disappointed.” Abdul-Rahman Rashid, the head of Zawra, the Baghdad team at which Akram started his career, said that to have had him playing for Manchester City would have been a source of pride to all Iraqis. Akram was given a farewell dinner by his Iraqi team-mates and flew to Britain last week, only to return two days later.

“I want to ask why,” he said. “I wanted to pave the way for other Iraqis. I wanted to give them hope.” He accused the British authorities of double standards. “There are lots of players from African countries whose home leagues are not ranked well.”

Like his Iraqi team-mates, Akram refuses to say if he is Sunni or Shia. He has played for the UAE’s Al-Ain club for the past year. He said that he felt cheated but would not appeal.

Egil Olsen, the Iraqi team manager, said: “We don’t understand. It doesn’t make sense. He’s the best I have seen.”

The Home Office said that it could not comment on individual cases.

The ruling comes amid the long-running battle of Iraqi translators to win asylum in Britain. The Ministry of Defence said this week that nearly 400 Iraqis employed by British Forces in southern Iraq had had their applications rejected and must make their own way to a third country before being processed as refugees.

Winners and losers

Despite scoring 35 goals for Kaiser Chiefs, the South African champions, Collins Mbesuma was denied a work permit after signing for Portsmouth in 2005 because Zambia, his home country, was not in Fifa’s Top 70. Portsmouth successfully appealed

Middlesbrough appealed successfully against a decision not to grant Ayegbeni Yakubu a work permit because he had not played in three quarters of his native Nigeria’s international games in the preceding two years. They argued that personal animosity by the Nigerian national coach was to blame

Trinidad and Tobago striker Jason Scotland was refused a permit to play for Dundee United despite offering the same argument: a bad relationship with his national coach

Mark González from Chile was refused a work permit even though Liverpool were prepared to pay £2.35m for him in 2005. Chile stood two places outside Fifa’s Top 70 and Liverpool’s claim that his skills warranted an exception was rejected

Watford midfielder Al Bangura was awarded a work permit this month, avoiding a return to Sierra Leone. Although he claimed his life was in danger there, the permit was granted because of his sporting ability

Source: www.workpermit.com; Times archives

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