Friday, May 05, 2006

A Soccer Game Between Imams and Pastors

FIFA World Cup will kick off next month in Germany. There are concerns that the neo-Nazis may try to disturb the games. BUT, the good news are more interesting. Deutsche Welle reports:

As part of an initiative aimed at increasing understanding among religions, Christian ministers will tackle Muslim imams in a pre-World Cup soccer friendly in Berlin. In an attempt to keep things clean and well represented, the match will be officiated by a Jewish referee. Reports of Buddhist waterboys and Hindu physiotherapists were unconfirmed at the time of publication.

The eight-a-side match is being organized by the German Protestant Church and will take place just over a month before the big World Cup kick-off on June 9.
[...]
Churches of different Christian denominations are also organizing a series of events including festivals and concerts under the banner "kickoff2006 - Kick-off Faith," using soccer's global appeal to promote tolerance and unity.

Read more...

I can't predict who's going to win this match. So, we have to wait until tomorrow to know the result of this interesting game.



UPDATE I - May 6, 2006
The pastors won the game:

Berlin - A team of Christian priests thrashed a group of Muslim imams 12-1 to win Germany's first soccer cup between religious leaders on Saturday.

"We have tried for such a long time to strengthen the contact between the three faiths - Judaism, Christianity and Islam," said Imam Taha, who captained the Muslim squad. "I think we can say we have achieved that today."

Read more...

I guess German pastors are as good as any other German when it comes to soccer.

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