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Tuesday 27 Oct 2015 - 13:47 Makkah mean time-14-1-1437
(Image from google)
Burton, UK (IINA) – Football striker Nasser El Khayati who plays for the English football club Burton Albion and members of the club's community trust visited recently Burton's Uxbridge Street mosque near the capital London in order to develop stronger ties, Burton Mail reported.
The famous Dutch winger was trying with this visit to forge links with the town's Muslim community.
The visit was part of the multicultural work the trust undertakes with the Professional Footballers' Association, which includes staff development and community facilitation.
The football player El Khayati said: "It's important for the football community and the mosque. There are a lot of young people here, some with dreams of being a football player but the problem is that they might not believe that much because of their Muslim background.
"I'm happy to be part of helping them believe, showing them the example that I can do it and they can as well. People come and see me play and see a Muslim on the pitch and realize it's possible for everybody. When they come and see the atmosphere and how nice it is in the stadium it can only be a good thing."
The Albion visitors observed prayer, chatted with mosque leaders and talked about initiatives that can be explored.
Mohammed Tariq, speaking for the mosque, is a Burton Albion supporter and was delighted to extend a welcome to the club and its trust.
He said: "The more we engage the more we can understand each other and the more our children can look towards football. We do look to cricket but football is the national sport in England and a lot of Asians are playing it and looking for a breakthrough and what better breakthrough than with Burton Albion.
"Hopefully, after this meeting we can work with the trust, put on more activities for kids and move forward."
Riz Rehman, a project worker for the professional footballers' association, said: "It was important to get Nasser here, to get the trust staff here, so that they could observe prayer and see how peaceful it was. It was important for the mosque to open its arms to them and tell them to come on a midweek where there are 300 kids here and invite the trust to share its programme."
SM/IINA
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