UAE champions land Nekounam

AFC – In demand Iran international midfielder Javad Nekounam will play for with UAE champions Al Wahda from January 2006 until the end of the season, Rashed Al Zaabi, the Abu Dhabi’s club’s General Secretary has announced.

Al Zaabi confirmed the signing to the Gulf News but did not elaborate on the details of the deal or on which of the side’s other foreign players will make way to accommodate Nekounam.

“We have signed him up till the end of the season and we have not decided who he will replace," said Al Zaabi, who is also head of Al Wahda’s football team.

In the UAE league teams can only field two foreign players while in the AFC Champions League three members of the squad can be non-nationals.

Al Wahda currently have in their ranks E-League leading scorer Darko Metrovic from Bosnia, Angola international Maurito and Fabio Junior, the 28-year-old former Brazil international who has had spells in Italy with Roma, in Portugal with Vitoria Guimaraes and in Japan with Kashima Antlers.

Nekounam was Pas’ most influential player in their 2005 AFC Champions League campaign, scoring four times in seven matches as Tehran’s side bowed out of the competition at the quarter-final stage to eventual runners-up Al Ain of the UAE.

The 25-year-old’s impressive performances and crucial goals during Pas’ ACL campaign and his influential role in Iran’s qualification to the 2006 World Cup finals caught the eye of clubs outside the continent.

Until Al Wahda’s signing coup, Nekounam had been linked with Kaiserslautern in Germany, who former Al Ain star Boubacar Sanogo joined after four seasons with the inaugural AFC Champions League winners, and English Premier League outfit Tottenham Hotspur.