An Israel footballer, Diaa Saba will become the first player to compete in Arab league after signing a two-year contract with Dubai’s Al-Nasr SC football club.
Dia Saba 27, who was born in Majd al-Krum, an Arab town located in Galilee in Israel’s Northern District, posted an image of himself on Saturday on a Dubai-bound Emirates flight, confirming his transfer from China’s Guangzhou R&F football club.
The news came after the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel signed an accord on 15 September to normalise relations during a ceremony at the White House in the United States (US)
Al-Nasr’s Twitter account wrote “Welcome to Diaa Saba at the Blue Citadel” on Sunday, accompanying the tweet with a video of the player wearing a number nine jersey in the Al-Maktoum stadium.
According to media reports, the transfer fee for Saba was $2.9m. Saba has scored 87 goals in 255 appearances in all competitions and currently has 10 caps for the senior Israeli national team.
Last month, an Emirati businessman linked to an investment company owned by UAE Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan made an offer to invest in Israel’s most controversial football club, Beitar Jerusalem, notorious for its to the Israeli far-right and ruling Likud party, and for its racist anti-Arab and anti-Muslim sentiments.
The investment company, the Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment, has a majority stake in the City Football Group, which controls football clubs on four continents, including Manchester City.
