Islam And Football

The FIFA 2010 World Cup may have come and gone, but now has come for the regular club season to get up and running again. The globe's favourite competitive sport has a great Muslim presence in all of the biggest leagues, from the Premier League to La Liga to Serie A - and AYTD thought it'd be a great idea to bring together an Islamic starting XI that would be a strong force to be reckoned with against any team out there.


GOALKEEPER







Volkan Demirel
Nationality: Turkey
Date Of Birth: 4 Oct. 1981
Current Team: Fenerbahce
Former Teams: Kartalspor


DEFENCE















Kolo Touré
Nationality: Ivory Coast
Date Of Birth: 19 Mar. 1981
Current Team: Macnhester City
Former Teams: Arsenal, Mimosas

Abou Diaby
Nationality: France
Date Of Birth: 11 May 1986
Current Team: Arsenal
Former Teams: Auxerre

Eric Abidal
Nationality: France
Date Of Birth: 11 Sep. 1979
Current Team: Barcelona
Former Teams: Lyon, Lille, Monaco

Khalid Boulahrouz
Nationality: Netherlands
Date Of Birth: 28 Dec. 1981
Current Team: Stuttgart
Former Teams: Seville, Chelsea, Hamburg, RKC Waalwijk


MIDFIELD


















Franck Ribery
Nationality: France
Date Of Birth: 7 Apr. 1983
Current Team: Bayern Munich
Former Teams: Marseille, Galatasaray, Metz, Stade Brestois, Ales, Boulogne

Sulley Muntari
Nationality: Ghana
Date Of Birth: 27 Aug. 1984
Current Team: Inter Milan
Former Teams: Portsmouth, Udinese

Samir Nasri
Nationality: France
Date Of Birth: 26 Jun. 1987
Current Team: Arsenal
Former Teams: Marseille

Lassana Diarra
Nationality: France
Date Of Birth: 10 Mar. 1985
Current Team: Real Madrid
Former Teams: Portsmouth, Arsenal, Chelsea, Le Havre


CENTRE-FORWARD









Nicolas Anelka
Nationality: France
Date Of Birth: 14 Mar. 1979
Current Team: Chelsea
Former Teams: Bolton, Fenerbahce, Manchester City, Liverpool, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, Arsenal

Karim Benzema
Nationality: France
Date Of Birth: 19 Dec. 1987
Current Team: Real Madrid
Former Teams: Lyon


What Muslim footballer would make your team? E-mail ATYD with your starting XI, over at aytdeny@gmail.com