ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Famous Kurdish pop singer Helly Luv says she has asked football stars Ronaldinho Gaucho and Luis Figo to visit the Kurdistan Region to highlight its war with ISIS and help local efforts to develop the sport.
The singer said she met both sportsmen at the Web Summit technology conference in Lisbon this month, which she attended at the invitation of Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa.
“I talked to them about the Kurdistan Region and the role the Peshmerga are playing in the war against ISIS,” she told Rudaw Sports.
“They were sad to hear that Kurdistan was at war and urged Kurds to unite,” she added. “Ronaldinho was not familiar with Kurds when I talked to him about the Kurdistan Region. He didn’t know where Kurdistan was, but was thrilled to hear that he had plenty of fans in the Kurdistan Region.”
The pop star added that she asked Ronaldinho to visit Kurdistan to witness the strength of Kurdish sports despite limited opportunities and visit the hundreds of thousands of Syrian war refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) that Kurdistan is hosting. She said the Brazilian footballer said he would like to visit one day.
Helly Luv, whose real name is Helan Abdulla, was a panelist at two of the conferences at the summit, which took place on Nov. 6-9.
There, she met with Figo, the former Portuguese football star who owns the Dream Football app that lets talented young footballers engage with a community of club scouts worldwide.
“I asked Figo to visit Kurdistan to help the Kurdish sports personnel benefit from his application, so that they too can develop their abilities and become strong players,” Helly explained.
“Ronaldinho and Figo were accompanied by a team that was taking notes when I was talking to them. That made me happy. I believe that they will come to Kurdistan one day and will assist our sports personnel and help out the refugees as well,” she said.
“I also talked to them about the future World Cup games in Russia. We might go together to see these games.”
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