Politics and Sports

Theo Zwanziger, president of the German Soccer Association (DFB), held an hour-talk with Dejagah on Tuesday, Oct. 16 to assess whether the player should remain on the national Under-21 team.

DFB sports director Matthias Sammer, coach and sports director at Dejagah's Bundesliga Club VfL Wolfsburg Felix Magath and Jörg Neubauer, Dejagah's advisor, also took part in the discussions.

Some German politicians and the Central Council of Jews -- Germany's top Jewish organization -- had demanded that Dejagah be dropped from the team after he asked two weeks ago to be kept from traveling with the German squad to play a match against Israel.

The politics of sports

Germany's Interior Ministry, which is also responsible for sports issues, said that politics should play no role in sports.

After Tuesday's discussion with the player, Zwanziger said there was no reason to remove him from the team

"Ashkan Dejagah has assured us that, due to his Iranian background, he was exclusively concerned with the well-being of his family," Zwanziger said in a statement. "He stressed ... that there were no racist or anti-Semitic reasons."

Dejagah had asked to be allowed to withdraw from the match in Israel on Oct. 12 for "personal reasons."

Dejagah was born in Tehran but later moved to Germany with his parents. He holds both German and Iranian passports.

Bild, Germany's biggest-selling newspaper, quoted Dejagah on Oct. 8 as saying his decision not to play was politically motivated.

Dejagah then apologized for his quote in Bild.

"In case I expressed myself in a way that was misunderstood, I am sorry," he said. "Discrimination in any form is beyond my intent."

Dejagah has said he would play against Israel when the team visits in September of next year for the return leg in qualifying for the European Championships.