
Osasuna's Iran international Javed Nekounam has revealed how he is a product of his country's thriving street football culture during the Iraqi war.
"Well, it's a fact. I grew up playing games in the streets of our neighbourhood at a time when this utterly wrong war was damaging our country and threatening everyone's lives," Nekounam told the Sunday Herald ahead of Osasuna's looming UEFA Cup tie with Rangers.
"Each street had it's own football team and we competed against each other - mostly I have great memories from those times.
"The very first games I went to watch as a tiny boy are, in fact, my first memories in life.
"My father would take me to the stadium even though it meant leaving the house at eight in the morning in order to beat the stadium gates being locked because of a full house at 11am and that was for an evening kick off!
"Probably it was a fluke, but everyone in those neighbourhood teams thought they really could become a professional and some did, including my great friend Ali Karimi who I used to play with and who's now a star at Bayern Munich.
"Young people were constantly dying and eventually professional sport competitions had to be stopped. But we continued our street games even when the rockets would fly over us high up in the sky."




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