Austrian club cancels signing of pro-Assad goalkeeper who 'fought for Syrian regime'

Austrian football club Wien FC has cancelled its plans to sign Ibrahim Alma, a Syrian goalkeeper who opposition activists say fought for the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

A Viennese football club has cancelled its plans to sign a Syrian goalkeeper following a storm of protest by Syrian refugees.

The Austrian Bundesliga side had been due to sign Ibrahim Alma, who plays for the Syrian national team and the Al-Wahda football club in the Syrian Premier League.

However, the football club’s Facebook page found itself inundated with over 6,000 comments from Syrians after posting about Alma’s signing.

Many of the responses pointed out Alma’s links to the Assad regime, which is accused of having committed numerous during over eight years of war in Syria.

Some of the comments showed Alma, or a man resembling him, holding an AK-47, and claimed that he had fought for Assad and killed people.

One Facebook user commented: "You don't need deep search to find how much he is part of supporting the killers [sic]. You shouldn’t support him or sign any contract with him."

Another user said: "To the club that wants to deal with this criminal: from this pic you can know that he is a criminal and participated in the war. By using this weapon, he has killed many civilians and innocent people in Syria. He still announce that he supports the assad's regime and his militias and the Iranian militias that kill innocent people. Shame on you to deal with like this murder."

Pro-regime Facebook users left comments in support of Alma. One user said" "Ibrahim Alameh, Syria goalkeeper and safety valve is one of the stars of Syria that we are proud of and we are confident that he will play a big role in making the Syrian people happy in the upcoming World Cup qualifiers."

In response to the comments, Austria Wien FC issued a short statement on their Facebook page announcing that the player's transfer had been cancelled.

"We will not buy the goalkeeper you are talking about, guys! Warm greetings to you all from Vienna," the post read.

The pro-regime news website Al-Mayadeen said that negotiations to sign Alma were at an advanced stage and that a provisional agreement had been finalised.

Last year, a video emerged of Alma shouting abuse at Syrian fans in Austria, who raised the Syrian revolutionary flag while he was training there. They shouted back that they were in a free country.

More than 500,000 people have been killed and millions more displaced in the Syrian conflict since 2011, mostly as a result of regime bombardment of civilian areas. Syrians opposed to the regime have led calls for a boycott of institutions and individuals associated with it.