London-born footballer Kashif Siddiqi wants to show the world the good his sport can do after months of negative headlines surrounding the game.
The former Arsenal and Northampton Town defender and co-founder of Football for Peace, a non-governmental organisation that aims to use the game to bridge social divides, will meet Pope Francis at the Vatican on Tuesday as part of the first global conference on faith and sport: Sport at the service of Humanity
Siddiqi, a British Muslim born in Hammersmith, will propose a “peace match” between Muslins and Catholics to be held at St Peter’s Square.
It will be one of the biggest events yet to be organised by Football for Peace and is part of Siddiqi’s vision to remind the world of the good his sport can do.
“With Football for Peace we are in a position to make a real contribution,” Siddiqi told Standard Sport. “I think sport, especially football, has such an important role to play in bringing people together and it’s a role we want to advocate.
“With what’s going on at Fifa and at the FA Football for Peace can stand up for all the goodwill in this sport.
“Football has a unique and irreplaceable capacity to unite. Whether it’s conflict or corruption football transcends that. It’s so important to understand that at its grassroots it is a sport about working together.”
Football for Peace’s work has received high-profile backing from stars of the game and beyond, with Ronaldinho, Prince Albert of Monaco and Prince William, who attended an event in Birmingham late last year.
And whilst even the most garlanded of world footballers may never meet the Pope Siddiqi will be meeting him for the second time in his career on Tuesday.
He added: “Two years ago we were lucky enough to meet Pope Francis for the first time to speak about our vision and what we’re trying to do in terms of uniting people through sport.
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“He was really forthcoming on the power of sports – obviously his vision is about uniting people with faiths in sport. He’s quite the football fan so it wasn’t a hard sell for him, particularly as we’ve had such success with peace matches before.
“The match is part of a wider process but helps bring together teams from different cultures and unite them against a team of UN ambassadors and footballers.
“The first one we did was on Easter Island – Pele was an ambassador and we brought him and others to play against a team made up of many different Rapa Nui tribes [the native Polynesian inhabitants of the island]. We feel we have left a real legacy there where young people are becoming peace ambassadors for the different tribes.”
Now they hope to do the same in the UK, building on the momentum of a “peace match” in Birmingham with similar events across the country, including in London where they are in discussions with Newham Council over hosting a similar game.
