According to reports in Aaj TV news and The Nation, legendary football superstar Zinedine Zidane – perhaps the greatest player of modern football – will be visiting Pakistan in March this year.
The main purpose of the visit is to raise funds for special children in Pakistan and he will also visit earthquake affected areas. He will be coming to Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad for charity dinners. This is part of Zidane’s worldwide charity tours and he visited Algeria recently, Bangladesh in November 2006 and now coming to Pakistan.
This vist is being arranged by famous French-Pakistani fashion designer Mahmood Bhatti who comes to Pakistan every year to raise money for charity. According to The Nation:
Bhatti said he had planned Zidane’s visit to help improve Pakistan’s image in the world. “We all need to contribute in every way we can to improve Pakistan’s image in the world. There should be no politics when this national interest is at stake. “I believe all well-known Pakistanis living abroad should be approached by the government and asked to contribute in the development of country. They should be honoured and given recognition for their services,� he said.
… After the quake tragedy Bhatti raised Rs 15 million by organising a dinner at the residence of Pakistani ambassador in Paris. Bhatti has no outlet for his label in Pakistan. He, however, is ready to give franchise here if he found the right business people. Bhatti now comes to Pakistan only for charity reason. For two years in a row he has been holding shows here to raise funds for charity Umeed-e-Noor that takes care of special children.
By the way, the company “Bhatti”, with more than 500 designers, operates in Finland, India, Poland, Taiwan, Japan, Switzerland, Germany, the US and the UK; and through which he has transacted multi-million dollar transatlantic business over more than three decades.
On Zinedine Zidane, the story in The Nation points out:
Two times world’s best player and three times Europe’s best player Zidane led his team to win the 1998 World Cup held in France. In 2006 again he led his team to finals of World Cup. One of the best soccer players in history, Zidane, earlier this month visited Algeria – the country of his parents – where he was awarded a tumultuous welcome by the government and people and a three-day holiday was declared.
Being a football fan, I have loved watching Zidane do magic on football pitch. In all those 10 years or so I have watched him play in Spanish La Liga and Italian Serie A, I have never seen anyone move with football like Zidane. It is unfortuate that some people remember him because of that head butt incident in 2006 World Cup final but I will always remember him for the great things he did on the football pitch. Watch this and this clip on youtube and you will agree with me.
thank you Zidane and Bhatti sahab, working for a great cause for the children of Pakistan who deserve alot more in life!
Great news Zidane is coming to Pakistan. His image will definitely help the charity cause, but I seriously doubt it will do anything for football in Pakistan. I am a self proclaimed biggest football fan in the world, and I am sure many Pakistanis are, but when it comes to playing the game, we only have talent and passion for Cricket and thats why it gets patronized and prioritized by our government and other sponsors and football takes a back seat. I don’t think its the fault of our government or the “Sialkot Billionaires” that we are ranked 164th out of 198 FIFA member countries, we just lack the pedigree.
on a lighter note,
check this out:
http://atifshaikh.blogspot.com
I think its a good news that Zidane is coming to PK for charity work and might bring some positives to football as well. I happen to know one club, Karachi United, started by above middle class and elite society but now turned into a fantastic outlet for footballers in Karachi. There is a regular league by KASB bank as well which features teams from all over the city and there are many. Ironically, these teams play a great deal better than the national side as seen on tv. c http://www.karachiunitedfc.com
But I do see a bad trend taking place in pk and that is of conditional charity. Recently it seems that only the famous are able to generate quick and frequent funds banking on their status as being a celebrity, we saw Brian Adams recently and now Zidane.
Its not a bad deed by the famous but its a bad deed on us that we ‘supposedly’ think of donating charity just because someone’s concert or appearance we feel like attending to.
Its like those cruel spam mails we get on the internet every now and then in which charity is given only after a certain number of emails have been forwarded and so on.
Whereas charity in a successful situation is generated by cause and not by celebrities. In Shariah, charity is a must in the form of Zakat, but we are just too ‘liberal’ to properly implement it.
I wonder what Adil Najam would comment on this besides others, as I see he has authored a book on a similar subject.
great news indeed! i love Zidane too I rate him even higher than Maradona and Pele. It broke my heart to see what happened in world cup final. It was just that Italy were destined to win.
Any idea about the schedule of his visit and can anyone provide more details? As rightly pointed out by Deeda-i-Beena, this is a golden chance to promote football in Pakistan if only businessmen from Sialkot and other football manufacturing cities have a common sense and brain.