Football: Auckland signing has taste for battle

Ivan Carril has joined Auckland City after spending time in Iraq. NZME.

Auckland City's latest import has ended up in New Zealand after abandoning his Iraqi club when the threat from Isis became too real.

Plenty of footballers have remarkable tales but Ivan Carril's is hard to top - playing in Iraqi Kurdistan with the front line just 40km away.

The 29-year-old has a decent football CV. After an early spell at Deportivo La Coruna, playing alongside the likes of Roy Makaay, Joan Capdevilla, Juan Carlos Valderon and Diego Tristan, he came to prominence in the Austrian Bundesliga. Carril enjoyed a successful three-year stint with Riad (61 games/nine goals) before a serious injury.

The midfielder then had a short spell in Greece - where the club president sacked players in the dressing room - before accepting an offer to play for four-time Iraqi champions Erbil SC.

"The [financial] offer was incredible and it was a chance to play in the AFC Cup," he said. "I went to Iraq because the money is very good and life for a football player is not too long."

Carrill had read the city of Erbil was "an oasis in a war-torn country" and decided to take the plunge.

However, his arrival in July last year coincided with an escalation of the conflict between Isis and Kurdish/Western forces. Erbil was a refuge for those fleeing from the encroaching militant threat, and became one of the main frontiers of the battle between the Peshmerga Kurds, aided by the US, and the Islamic State. Carril describes seeing checkpoints stopping every car on nearby streets, and laden convoys heading off to battle. Local fear and panic increased via Facebook and Twitter before authorities blocked access to social media.

"We heard [Isis] wanted to take the capital," said Carril. "They were about 40km away and were saying, 'we are coming, we will be there'. [Day-to-day] I didn't see a lot of change but for my family [in Spain] it was difficult to be seeing the news. I told them I was good but how would I know?"

Carril's initial request to leave was blocked and the club retained his passport, arguing their significant investment needed to be justified and participation in the AFC Cup was non-negotiable. Eventually, Erbil relented and Carril returned to Spain, playing for a second-tier club before his transfer to Auckland City last month. His time in Greece, at second-division club Olympiacos Volou, was also dramatic.

"It was very insecure, unstable," said Carril. "The lifestyle is great and the country is beautiful but there was no security in football."

Carril says he wasn't paid for the last five months there and matches were often precarious.

"You are about to take a corner [away from home] and they are throwing seats, fireworks and spitting. That wasn't for me. Sometimes after a game the [club] president would come into the dressing room and say, 'OK - today was your last game. Go home'. I saw this three or four times."

Now he's here and enjoying the serenity.

"I want to find a place that is good for my life," Carril said. "It's a nice country and at Auckland City I can find everything I am looking for. The league may not be the biggest but it is a very good team and they always want to play with a possession style.

We'll try to win this championship and [OFC] Champions League and maybe [go to] the Club World Cup."

The next step of that journey starts today, as Team Wellington visit Kiwitea Street.