Somália joins al-Shabab - the football club
- Published
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".
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But the coincidence was too much for some:
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The Brazilian player is headed to Riyadh on a two-year contract.