Azernews.Az

GROZNY – A star-studded football side headed by Argentinian Diego Maradona played a match against a team fielded by the provincial government of Chechnya, a Russian region notorious for human rights abuses and an Islamic insurgency, the Interfax news agency reported Thursday.

Chechnya's authoritarian leader Razman Kadyrov captained the local side in the Wednesday game, which was organized to celebrate the opening of a new 30,000 seat stadium in the provincial capital Grozny.

"This is one of the best stadiums in the world," Portuguese footballing great Luis Figo told reporters after the game.

Kadyrov, a former guerrilla who changed sides to ally himself with the Kremlin in 1999, netted two goals to a team made up of local politicians and athletes to a 5-2 victory. Maradona scored once.

The stadium will be the new home of the Russian First Division Terek Grozny. Former Dutch international Ruud Gullit is the coach.

Unemployment and poverty dominate modern Chechnya, which since the early 1990s has seen widespread banditry, two civil wars and a long-running Islamic insurgency against Russian rule.

International human rights protection groups have repeatedly alleged Kadyrov and his regime of deep-seated corruption and of using brutal tactics to fight insurgents.

Critics said that Wednesday's game, as well as another football match in March featuring former Brazil stars Romario, Cafu and Carlos Dunga as well as ex-Germany captain Lothar Matthaeus, were used as PR events by Kadyrov.

Kadyrov, whose father was the leader of Chechnya from 2000 until a 2004 assassination, has said he is a Chechen patriot and that the insurgents are bandits.