A record number of Muslim stars has lead the twice crowned European champions France in the 13th European football championship, Euro 2008, which starts Saturday, June 7.
The 23-man squad of Les Bleus (the nickname for the French soccer team) featured nine Muslim players. Leading among Muslim stars is Germany’s Bayern Munich right-sided winger Franck Ribery.
The 25-year-old Ribery is known for supplicating to God before the game kickoff. “Islam is the source of power for me inside and outside the football field,” Ribery has said.
“My life was hard enough and I had to find something to take me to safety and I found Islam.”
Ribery’s reversion to Islam, which was leaked in 2006, was first noticed during France’s opener against Switzerland in the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
The blue-eyed boy of the French soccer fans started his playing career at his home town club US Boulogne and then moved to Alès, Brest and FC Metz in consecutive seasons.
His move to Olympique Marseille has earned him top French player honors for the months of August, October and November 2005. He was selected for the French squad for the FIFA World Cup 2006 in Germany.

Muslim Stars
A second Muslim soccer star, Eric Abidal, also appeared in French colors in Euro 2008. The 29-year-old Barcelona defender reverted to Islam five years ago and named himself “Bilal”.
Abidal, who was considered one of the best fullbacks in the French league, says his Muslim faith encourages him to spare no efforts to serve his team.
“I embraced Islam in full conviction,” Abidal, who is married to an Algerian woman, has told Paris Match magazine.
Abidal, a father of two, started his professional career with AS Monaco on September 16, 2000, where he earned 22 first-team appearances.
He moved to Lille OSC and at the end of 2004, he returned to his native region by joining Olympique Lyonnais. In June 2007, Abidal moved to FC Barcelona, the world’s second richest club, for 15 million sterling pound.
Les Bleus also featured Muslim striker Thierry Henry, who moved to Barcelona from Britain’s Arsenal for 16.1 million sterling pound.
Henry usually encourages people to read more about Islam and the Noble Qur’an to get more acquainted with the faith. Henry, known as the magician, was twice nominated for the FIFA World Player of the Year. He led the French national team to win the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000. Defender Lilian Thuram is also another Muslim star in the French team.
There is also super striker Anelka, who reverted to Islam in 1991 when he was 16. The French team also features Muslim midfielder Lassana Diarra (Portsmouth), striker Karim Benzema (Lyon), midfielder Samir Nasri (Marseille) and left-winger Hatem Ben Arfa (Lyon).
Sixteen teams are vying in the tournament, which is jointly organized by Austria and Switzerland and will run until June 29.

Adapted from: Islam Online

PS: Although the French squad has been eliminated from Euro 2008 with all of its famous stars, but it was a source of honor for this team to experience its first international appearance with 9 Muslim players out of 11.

 In a ceremony marking the 1150th birth anniversary of Roudaki, Ban ki-moon has hailed the 8th century Iranian poet as a messenger of justice.

Iran’s ambassador to the UN, Mohammad Khazaei, said the purpose of this ceremony was to familiarize other nations of the world with Iran’s rich cultural heritage which is based on compassion and understanding.

“Mutual cultural and religious understanding can bring nations and communities together and inject compassion and mercy (the very basis of all religion especially Islam) into people’s lives” he asserted.

He described Roudaki as a man of wisdom and insight quoting words from the great man himself. “Since the dawn of time, no one who has spent his life pursuing knowledge has ever regretted doing so.”

Khazai honored Roudaki’s revered character by saying that “even after 11 centuries, Roudaki is still a constant reminder of the value of compassion and friendship.”

The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who joined UNESCO representatives at the UN headquarters in New York June 19, hailed Roudaki’s works as a possible basis for global cultural unity.

Abdollah Ja’far Ibn Mohammad Roudaki (859-941 AD) composed his poems in the ‘New Persian’ style and though the exact number of poems Roudaki wrote is not known for sure, around 550 verses have been retrieved from ancient sources and cherished by the Iranian people.

In the course of the ceremony UNESCO representatives and cultural figures from Afghanistan and Tajikistan gave speeches about the renowned Iranian poet.

Adapted from: Press TV

The Iranian national football team smashed their Persian Gulf coastline opponent during the FIFA 2010 World Cup qualification round match against UAE.
The match which was held Saturday June 6th in a small stadium of Al-Ain city, finished with a 9 minute’s goal of Fereydoon Zandi for 1-0 Iran victory, marking the 8th lose of UAE to Iran during the history of matches between two neighboring countries.
It also needed to note that UAE had never won against Iran in an official FIFA match since 1990.
Iranian team which is being managed by the best all time FIFA goal scorer Ali Daei as head coach, defeated UAE after the outlandish Emirate coach quoted his side is the winner with a probability up to 80%.
Iran is determining her chances as the group’s first hope for qualifying to runner-ups, securing its 4th World Cup appearance with a communal struggle and aids from the majesty God.
Iran will meet two other Persian Gulf rivals, Syria and Kuwait within the next weeks, currently standing in the first place of its own group, being followed by the disappointed UAE.
Ali Daei and his squad collected 4 points against Bruno Metsu and his men in two matches while Metsu was recently claiming that Daei is an inexperienced coach and his team is not able to beat UAE, but received the trenchant answer soon!

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has openly called for Israel to be wiped off the map.
“The establishment of the Zionist regime was a move by the world oppressor against the Islamic world,” the president told a conference in Tehran entitled The World without Zionism.
“The skirmishes in the occupied land are part of a war of destiny. The outcome of hundreds of years of war will be defined in Palestinian land,” he said.
“As the Imam Khomeini said, Israel must be wiped off the map,” said Ahmadinejad, referring to Iran’s revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini.
Addressing about 4000 students gathered in an Interior Ministry conference hall, Ahmadinejad also called for Palestinian unity, resistance and a point “where the annihilation of the Zionist regime will come”.
“The Islamic umma (community) will not allow its historic enemy to live in its heartland,” he said in the fiery speech that centred on a “historic war between the oppressor and the world of Islam”.
While Iranian people are the volunteers of dialogue among civilizations and their will is the global peace to be settled all over the world, but they beleive that every terrorist government which bases its foundations on horror, terror and genocide must be wipped off and it is a natural process which does not need any military intervenes by Iran or any other state; it will happen automatically.