MUNICH (ANS) — Which of the 32 soccer teams competing in the World Cup in Germany deserves to be the champion? The side that gives God the utmost glory, says Lucio, a Brazilian soccer pro.
The 28-year-old full back is a devout Christian and earns his money with the German club Bayern Munich. Seven of the players in the Brazilian squad are Christians. They pray on the field and sometimes display T-Shirts with the slogan “Jesus Loves You” after they scored a goal.
Brazil is the current world champion. They defeated Germany four years ago at the Games in South Korea and Japan. As Lucio told the German magazine “Neues Leben” (New Life), his team prayed before that match – “not for victory but rather that our team praises God as is his due”.
Even if the Brazilians had lost, they would have shown their Jesus-Loves-You shirts, said Lucio “We should always give Jesus the glory – in good times and bad”.
Internet users may vote for “The Christian Footballer of the World Cup” at the Dutch site http://www.gristelijk.nl/. They have a choice of eleven players. So far Dirk Kuyt of the Netherlands is in the lead with Kaka (Brazil) and Andranik Teymourian (Iran) in second and third place. Teymourian, an Armenian, is the only Christian in the Iranian squad.
The other contenders are Lucio and Ze Roberto (Brazil), Brian McBride and Tim Howard (USA), Lee Young Pyo and Song Chong-Gug (South Korea), Sammy Kuffour (Ghana) and Kew Jaliens (Netherlands).
The World Cup kicked off June 9 in Munich with the match pitting Germany versus Costa Rica. There are also some devoted Christians in the German side – for instance Gerald Asamoah and Arne Friedrich.
An ecumenical church service was held in Munich before the opening match. Bishop Wolfgang Huber, leader of the main line Protestant Churches in Germany, called for fair sportsmanship and mercy during the competition.
“Those who do not win, are not failures”, said Huber. Spectators and players alike should enjoy the matches without fear that a negative result will “bring the world down”. The real victory should belong to faith in God and not to the one, who carries the trophy, said the bishop. He paid his respect to those players who show their devotion to God.
Many Christian initiatives are accompanying the World Cup, which ends July 9. Evangelistic outreach projects are planned as well as prayer meetings. Approximately 1.200 local churches are opening their premises for soccer fans. They offer twelve selected world cup matches on large screens with an accompanying Christian TV program.
Christians affiliated with the Evangelical Alliance in Frankfurt are praying round the clock for a safe and fair World Cup. The initiative kicked off with a worship service in front of the main line railway station, June 9.
| Wolfgang Polzer (56), is senior news editor of the Evangelical News Agency idea, Wetzlar (Germany), which he joined in 1981. In all, he has spent 30 years in Christian media. Wolfgang can be contacted by e-mail at: Wolfgang.Polzer@idea.de. |