IK Sirius midfielder André Alsanati, with seven Swedish youth caps, has decided to start representing Iraq. He confirms this in an interview with Iraqi media.
– It has been a long and tiring process with passports and papers, but I am looking forward and am very motivated to get started and perform with Iraq’s national team, says Alsanati to Iraqiproplayers.
André Alsanati, 23, has had a couple of good seasons in AFC Eskilstuna, and thanks to this has been signed to IK Sirius ahead of this season. Now his achievements have also earned him a place in the national team, and that in Iraq.
Alsanati has been in Baghdad these days and there completed papers and arranged an Iraqi passport, in order to be able to be selected for the Iraqi national team. Now all the paperwork and the passport are ready, and the Eskilstuna-born midfielder – with seven youth caps for Sweden – can start playing for Iraq, which he confirms in an interview with the Iraqi site Iraqiproplayers, which covers Iraqi football and has close to 1 million followers on Instagram:
– It has been a long and tiring process with passports and papers, but I am looking forward and am very motivated to get started and perform with Iraq’s national team. It’s fun to be here, and I think we have great conditions to do something good together, says Alsanati.
The skilled midfielder already participated in a camp with Iraq’s U23 national team a year ago, but it was only a training camp without international matches. Nothing official or binding in any way.
The Iraqi national team is currently assembled in Iraq, where Alsanati is with the team and training. In the coming days, the squad will fly to Russia, which they will face in a friendly match on March 27. Alsanati was actually supposed to come along, but the Swedish government won’t let him go because it’s a match against Russia in Russia. The same thing happens to the Swedish players Alai Ghasem (IFK Göteborg) and Kevin Yakoub (AGF Aarhus), whom the Danish government does not give permission to go.
Hope to break through in the Allsvenskan in Sirius
Alsanati was a great talent as a youngster, and made his debut for Sweden’s U17 national team already when he was 15 years old. In the U17 national team, there were a total of seven international matches and one goal, and when he was 16, he was recruited from Eskilstuna City to Hammarby. There were games in the cooperation club Frej but never in Hammarby’s A-team, and after a few years he moved to AFC Eskilstuna. He did well there, and for this year’s season, Sirius has signed him.
– I’m looking forward to playing for Sirius, it’s a nice and good club. I believe in a good season, and hope to contribute with goals and assists, says Alsanati to Iraqiproplayers.
In the interview, Alsanati concludes that with the national team game it will be fun to be reunited with Amar Muhsin, with whom he played together in AFC Eskilstuna and who also represents Iraq.