What Liverpool Players are Muslim Religion?
ISLAM and FOOTBALL at Liverpool
Do you know what Mo Salah, Sadio Mané, Xherdan Shaqiri and Naby Keïta have in common? Aside from football and Liverpool, it’s their religion: Islam.
These players came from Egypt, Senegal, Guinea and Kosovo; countries where most of the population (85-95%) are Muslims. The great thing about seeing these players thrive in a sport where their religion is likely a minority is that it represents hope to the children and their fellow Muslims who follow their every game.
Again, religion shouldn’t matter in a sport where the only thing that matters are your skills and aptitude but what I’m saying is that you can’t be help but be proud that these players are representing a whole lot more!
There were a lot of outstanding players before but our brothers from the Islam faith could not fully relate to them. Now, it’s different. Mo Salah, Sadio Mané, Xherdan Shaqiri and Naby Keïta are players with exceptional skills and our Muslim brothers can fully identify with them.
Such is the power of sports. It transcends walls that divide people.
Football is one of the most popular sports in the whole world. Millions of fans eagerly await every game for the team they are supporting and once you are with a crowd of fans, you can really feel the electric energy in the air as they pledge their undying support.
It’s not surprising why football (or soccer to some countries) has a wide fan base. For one, the game can be cheap to play. You just need a level field, set-up a couple of opposite goals, form a couple of teams, and that’s it! Second, it can be played anywhere. Three, it’s versatile: it can be played indoors or outdoors. Fourth, it doesn’t require a lot of skill (or new ones). All you do is run around and kick the ball (although if you really want to excel, of course you must do what the others are not doing and practice like crazy). Last but not least, the game is so simple, a child can play it.
I’d like to emphasize the last reason. Children can play this sport without having to overthink how they’re supposed to play it.
Children can be equally excited about their favourite team’s football match as adults. As such, I’m sure that they have also people to look up to, players they think highly of and consider a role model.
This is a great thing because sports, any sports, should be able to transcend the barriers we people have set-up among ourselves - barriers such as religion, socio-economic status, race, beliefs, etc.