Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has pledged to build a new football stadium in Iraq following a landmark game played between the two nations in the Iraqi city of Basra.
The Reuters news agency said King Salman made the promise in a phone call with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi yesterday (Monday), although further details were not revealed.
Iraq secured a 4-1 win over Saudi Arabia in the friendly match played last week. The game at Basra International Stadium (pictured) was Iraq’s first encounter with Saudi Arabia on home soil in almost four decades and was watched by a crowd of 60,000.
Reuters said the call between the two leaders also addressed enhancing and strengthening cooperation between their countries, and the Iraqi-Saudi Joint Coordination Council, a body formed in October to improve strategic relations and help rebuild devastated areas retaken from Islamist militants in Iraq.
Relations between the two nations are steadily improving following years of tension that were triggered by Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
Image: Yesar Al-Maleki
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