Cyrille de la Morinerie / Photo credits: PHILIPPE MILLEREAU / KMSP / KMSP via AFP
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07:01, May 5, 2024
The Variétés club de France is organizing a match for peace with an interreligious dimension this Sunday at 3 p.m. in Poissy. Jacques Vendroux’s team will face a unique national selection which brings together priests and nuns. A match under the sponsorship of Europe 1.
Sister Cristina will leave her traditional monastic habit in the locker room this Sunday to put on a jersey and football shoes. This nun from the Béatitudes community, who lives south of Orléans, has been passionate about football since her early childhood. She is looking forward to facing the stars of the Variétés club de France like Robert Pirès and Alain Giresse, this Sunday at 3 p.m. in Poissy, in Yvelines.
“We will have the joy of touching the ball with them”
“I’m Italian and a supporter of Lazio in Rome. I’ve loved football since I was little and I watch all the World Cup or Euro matches. Even if we don’t have a huge chance of beating this team of former football glories, with their experience and their talent, with my priest and seminarian friends, we will have the joy of touching the ball with them”, confides the nun to Europe 1, partner of the event.
Sister Cristiana is so passionate about football that she had a football field built next to her convent where she can train as she pleases with other sisters from the community. It is therefore natural that this nun joined the national selection of priests and seminarians. This Catholic football team brings together the best football priests from the different dioceses of France and selected by Father Bertrand Cherrier, former player for the Girondins de Bordeaux.
The kick-off given by Michel Drucker and Rai
These priests and nuns have been training for several months to be ready for this big meeting. Because this unique selection of its kind will face the famous Variétés team, reinforced for the occasion by representatives of the main religions including the pastor of the Protestant Church of Clamart, Amos Ngua Mouri, fan of Roger Milla, the former glory Cameroonian football. “I have been playing football since my early childhood like any self-respecting Cameroonian. I started playing in the street. For me, sport and religion can go together with the same goal of peace and fraternity.”
The match will kick off with Michel Drucker and former PSG star Rai. The match will be refereed by Mgr Dominique Lebrun, archbishop of Rouen and former referee. A prayer will be organized before kick-off in memory of the victims of the Furiani tragedy. Entrance is free and this match is organized for Holy Games, a Catholic movement welcoming athletes during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.