Foreign Policy Blogs

Global Appeal of Football

As an avid Italian football team fan, it is very hard for me to praise the Brazilian team.  But I will acknowledge this: No other team has the same global fan appeal as Brazil.  Brazilian football players are revered all around the world and Iran is no exception.  Brazilian football star Ronaldo, best known for being the all-time top-scorer in the World Cup competition, is now set to play himself in an Iranian movie.  The movie entitled “Number 9”, after Ronaldo’s jersey number, is about a Palestinian girl who dies before her dream of meeting Ronaldo comes true.  The movie is reportedly based on the true story of a 13-year-old girl, Alneyrab, who wanted to meet the football star when he visited Palestine on a humanitarian mission in 2005.  She, unfortunately, was unable to meet her idol and was later killed in a conflict in the region.

According to the Press TV, the film will be shot in Lebanon and will be released in 80 countries.

For all the football fans reading this blog, here is a video of all fifteen goals scored by Ronaldo in the World Cup competition:

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/NEKyl2yakOE" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

 

Author

Sahar Zubairy

Sahar Zubairy recently graduated from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas- Austin with Masters in Global Policy Studies. She graduated from Texas A&M University with Phi Beta Kappa honors in May 2006 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics. In Summer 2008, she was the Southwest Asia/Gulf Intern at the Henry L. Stimson Center, where she researched Iran and the Persian Gulf. She was also a member of a research team that helped develop a website investigating the possible effects of closure of the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf by Iran.