Football Partnerships

In the end it was the Hand of God that saved the Christians.

As Prince Charles, who would like one day to style himself Defender of Faith, moved towards the sidelines of the Christianity vs. Islam soccer tournament, the big German vicar Heribert Süttmann just managed to get his keeper’s glove to the ball and save the honor of the West.

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Football stars Ronaldo and Zinédine Zidane announced today that the sixth annual Match Against Poverty will take place in Fès, Morocco on 17 November. As Goodwill Ambassadors for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Ronaldo and Zidane will each captain an international team of world renowned footballers for this friendly game. The primary objective of the event is to mobilize the public in the fight against poverty and to promote the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which seek to halve world poverty by 2015.

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By Paula Hancocks

It’s the first time I’ve seen a lap of honor before the game has even started — and the crowd loved it.

As the Palestinian football team kissed the ground of their new stadium before their match against Jordan, I looked around and saw grown men with tears in their eyes. Only a Palestinian can understand what it means to have their team play their first ever match on home soil. This was national pride at its purest.

As for the football itself, it started a little late (what doesn’t in the Middle East?), and my football expert producer tells me it was a great start for Palestine and a goal from the captain, but petered off towards the 1-1 draw.

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