Iraqi football legend Radhi dies from virus

BAGHDAD: Iraqi football legend Ahmed Radhi died Sunday from complications linked to COVID-19, the health ministry said, just hours before he was to be flown for treatment in Jordan.

Radhi, 56, scored what remains Iraq’s only World Cup finals goal in 1986 against Belgium. He had been hospitalised last week in Baghdad after testing positive for coronavirus but had checked out on Thursday after his condition improved.

He relapsed a few hours later and was readmitted, but passed away early Sunday. In a video reportedly from his hospital bed on Saturday, Radhi could be seen in a green jersey struggling to breathe as medics in full protective gear try to treat him.

“Sometimes it’s hard to breathe but that’s normal,” he could be heard telling the medical team, his voice strained. “Ahmed Radhi passed away wearing the green jersey, which he loved so much that we loved him in it,” wrote Iraqi premier Mustafa al-Kadhemi.

Radhi, a striker, led Iraq to victory in the Gulf Cups of 1984 and 1988, when he was voted Asian footballer of the year. In the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, he scored against Belgium but Iraq went on to lose the match 2-1 and exited the tournament in the group stage without a point. Radhi was such a household name that even popular sayings evoked his famous header. If an Iraqi wanted to insist that something was accurate, they’d say, “This is as spot-on as Ahmed Radhi’s header.”