Somália joins al-Shabab – the football club

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GETTY IMAGES Image caption Brazilian midfielder Somália is joining Saudi football club al-Shabab
GETTY IMAGES Image caption Brazilian midfielder Somália is joining Saudi football club al-Shabab

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.

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”.

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

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