Somália joins al-Shabab – the football club

Somália has joined al-Shabab – but not in the way you might think.

Wergiton do Rosario Calmon, better known as Somália, has spent the past three years with France’s Toulouse FC.

But the 29-year-old Brazilian has now signed with Saudi football team Al-Shabab FC.

While al-Shabab, meaning youths, is a harmless enough name in Arabic, social media users were quick to pick up on the names’ echoes of the jihadist group fighting in east Africa.

• Who are Somalia’s al-Shabab?

The al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab has fought Somalia’s UN-backed government for much of the past decade and has carried out a string of attacks across the region.

Toulouse FC announced the move on Thursday and thanked Somalia “for his professionalism”.

OFFICIEL – Le Brésilien #Somalia s'est officiellement engagé aujourd'hui avec @AlShababSaudiFC. Le TFC remercie "Somi" pour son professionnalisme et son état d'esprit.#Mercato

→ https://t.co/hsCYiiPmoP pic.twitter.com/ge0OIHrqsf

— Toulouse FC (@ToulouseFC) August 23, 2018

But the coincidence was too much for some:

https://twitter.com/ryokyler/status/1032678692932268032

https://twitter.com/somalihermione/status/1032926259381252096

The Brazilian player is headed to Riyadh on a two-year contract.

SOURCE:BBC