TNT Sports
Stange quits Iraq post
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Published 05/07/2004 at 15:16 GMT+1
Bernd Stange has resigned as coach of Iraq "with deep regrets" because of the deteriorating security situation in the country. German Stange, 56, who guided Iraq from the closing months of Saddam Hussein's regime nearly two years ago into the violence-filled post-war era, said he no longer felt safe there.
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He said it was becoming increasingly impossible to train a soccer team amid the worsening turmoil.
"It is with deep regrets that I decided to dissolve my contract with the Iraq football association," Stange told Reuters by telephone from his home in eastern Germany on Monday.
An assistant coach will now take over, he said.
Violence has racked Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam last year. Insurgents have continued to attack military targets, while a number of foreign workers have been taken hostage.
Stange said he was heeding warnings from the German Foreign Office as well as his own bodyguard to stay out of Iraq because security for foreigners could no longer be assured.
"My personal bodyguard told me he feared for my life," he said.
"The conditions for foreigners in Iraq are extremely difficult and I didn't feel I could continue to risk being there. And you can't prepare a team for the Olympics, the Asian Cup or World Cup qualifications long-distance on the telephone."
Despite being forced to play all their matches away from home, Iraq qualified for the Asian Cup, which starts July 17 in China, and August's Olympics Games in Athens.
In their last match, a World Cup Asian zone second stage game in June, the team beat Taiwan 6-1.
RETURN UNLIKELY
Stange said last year he had felt immune to the troubles because he was so well known as coach of the national side.
"Everything has got worse since then," said Stange. "The football situation has also deteriorated. Players are leaving Iraq. There's no real first division play."
Stange, who helped Iraq rise as high as 42 in the FIFA world rankings from 77 when he took over, said the Iraqi FA wanted him to return when the situation stabilized.
"They were quite satisfied with me and have written that they would be 'happy to resume the cooperation when the circumstances improve'," he said.
A return was unlikely, however.
"I believe a clear severance is better, as much as it pains me," said Stange, who has not been paid since February.
"I truly regret it because I would very much like to have seen my work in Iraq come to fruition.
"We made football history in Iraq, it was the highest FIFA ranking in the last 15 years. I'm very proud of what we accomplished."
In December, FIFA President Sepp Blatter presented Stange with an award on behalf of Iraq's beleaguered soccer community.
Stange has previously coached East Germany, Bundesliga side Hertha Berlin, Perth Glory in Australia and Oman.
His controversial decision to accept the Iraq job in late 2002 caused uproar when he was photographed signing a four-year contract smiling in front of a portrait of Saddam.
Insisting he was a soccer coach, not a politician, Stange later became a folk hero in Germany for helping rebuild Iraq football.
He said he hoped to find a new coaching job in Europe.
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