DUBAI // UAE national team star Ismail Matar will join football legend Diego Maradona and other icons of the sport at a match to promote peace, to be played in front of Pope Francis in Rome.
The pontiff invited Maradona, a sports ambassador for Dubai, and the team from the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for World Peace, to the match at the Olympic Stadium on Wednesday.
Retired football stars, such as Ronaldinho, Roberto Carlos and Juan Sebastian Veron, will take to the field for the match to convey a message of peace to the world.
Other football heroes and heads of European states are also expected to attend.
Brig Ahmed Al Mansouri, secretary-general of the Award for World Peace, said the UAE was the only Arab country to be invited to the event, “which proves to the world that the country is a great peace contributor”.
UAE participation “builds bridges of cooperation with other religions and cultures”, said Dr Hamad Al Shaibani, the chairman of MRAWP’s board of trustees.
“We are honoured to be the only Arab country participating in the match – a communal game with the one and only goal of achieving world peace – an undertaking that we continuously seek to achieve at MRAWP,” he said.
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