Israeli and Iranian footballers pose together on Facebook

Israeli footballer Maor Buzaglo has posted a picture of himself alongside the captain of the Iranian national team saying: “We’re showing it can be different”.

While Iranian sportsmen usually decline to compete against Israeli opponents, often boycotting competitions, the two footballers were in London on Sunday, where Buzaglo who is receiving treatment on a knee injury, posted the picture of him alongside Ashkan Dejagah, who plays for Nottingham Forest.

The midfielder, who plays for Maccabi Haifa as well as the Israeli national team, wrote on his Facebook account: “In soccer there are different rules and there is one language without prejudice and without wars. The captain of the Iranian national team and I show it can be different.”

The picture is even more surprising given that Dejagah, who was born in Tehran but moved to Germany with his family when he was one, declined to travel to Israel play for the German U21 side in 2007, saying that he feared he would be imprisoned if he went back to Iran.