Religon and Football?

Shooting For Supreme Joy

In 2009, the footballing authorities in many South American countries such as Brazil and Columbia received a stern telling off from FIFA, which administers soccer worldwide, because South American players have a habit of proclaiming their religious faith in very spectacular ways. South American players of a Pentecostal or evangelical background like to display their faith by pointing upwards to heaven after a goal, kneeling to give thanks after being victorious in a match, or, as Falcao famously did in 2007 and often thereafter, stripping down to an under-shirt which proclaimed "With Jesus you'll never be alone".... However, FIFA reminded football players by reminding them about the rule which states that " the basic compulsory equipment must not have any political, religious or personal statements". FIFA clarified that they are not banning religion altogether as players are still allowed to knell to pray. 
Anyway, it seems to be that the government body expects to keep one of humanity's strongest connections, religion, entirely separate from one of its favourite activities, Football. It is a known fact that religion has helped to find many of Europe's greatest football sides. While Brazilian players have injected Europe with Christianity, Footballers whose roots are in Algeria, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia are adamant in refusing to abandon their Muslim obligations for the sake of an earthly prize. Devout soccer players utilise social-media accounts so that they can proclaim their faith to the world. Brazilian international and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) centre back Thiago Silva claimed on twitter that he sees a link between his Christian faith and his recovery from the disease tuberculosis (TB).
For Muslims, training and even matches have been organised around their need to fast and pray. Muslim players are often unhappy about appearing naked in front of their team mates and prefer to wear under-garments in the shower, some non Muslim players also copy this habit. In an intensive and expensive market for football talent, managers and head coaches have an interest in accommodating players with certain religious needs as pragmatically as possible. The fact that PSG is controlled by PSG is controlled by Qatari companies has not stopped it being an accommodating places for Christian Brazilians, such as David Luiz and Lucas.
Even FIFA have become more pragmatic as it has now laid down that women football players should be allowed to wear headscarf's, and have denied the French football federation from maintaining a ban.
But football's diversity does have its awkward side. Both those devout Brazilians from PSG caused a storm by voicing their opinion to homosexuality on French television at a time when German footballer Tomas Hitzlsperger had just become the first football player in Europe to come out and say he was gay. The PSG Qataris probably did not have a problem with the players stance, but in some parts of Europe it was seen as taking steps backwards to old prejudices. Many people recall the tragedy of Justin Fashanu,  a Black British football player who hanged himself after being accused of having consensual gay sex. 
The football pitch, like everywhere in the world, is struggling to get a grim of extraordinary range of value systems and cultural norms. Back in the day, sporting rivalries mirrored religious disparities between groups. For example, In Scotland, Glasgow comprised of two footballing giants, Celtic who were Catholic and Rangers who were Protestant. These days, people of widely differing believes and value systems find themselves on the same team and in the same changing room. 

We are still working out how to manage that in football, but banning religion does not seem to be a realistic answer.