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Monday, January 03, 2011

Algerian football decides against new coach - because of his "Jewish roots"

Algerian soccer team ES Setif's Italian coach left the team a couple of weeks ago, and the club was on the verge of hiring his replacement: French coach Victor Zvunka.

But at the last minute, the team withdrew their offer to hire Zvunka.

The official reason is that Zvunka was not interested in the job.

But Al Arabiya (Arabic) reports:

Negotiations broke down for fear of reactions to unpleasant consequences after it emerged that [Zvunka] has  "Jewish roots."

It goes on to say that management will try to avoid the embarrassment from the issue.