In a bizarre series of events, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir appears to have been publicly duped by a woman posing as an official spokesperson for the Spanish football team FC Barcelona.
According to Huffington Post Arabi,“Alissa Plasco”, owner of the investment company “Leading Edge Guides” travelled to Sudan in order to expand her company’s investment to the conflict-plagued African nation. In order to secure a meeting with him, she pretended to be an official representative of FC Barcelona bearing gifts to President al-Bashir.
In a meeting with a number of Sudanese media outlets and government officials in attendance, Plasco presented al-Bashir with a number 10 FC Barcelona jersey signed by Lionel Messi himself, who allegedly greatly admires the Sudanese President for his excellent leadership.
In response, al-Bashir thanked the famous star and heaped compliment after compliment onto FC Barcelona, going as far as claiming that 90% of Sudanese people supported the famous Spanish club.
The story took off, with the meeting making front page news in Sudan as media outlets in the country were quick to praise al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court in the Hague for war crimes. The air of celebration continued until the Sudanese sports website “Al-tagheer” decided to contact FC Barcelona, who said they never presented any gift to al-Bashir. In fact, they neither employed nor knew an Alissa Plasco.
Adding to al-Bashir’s woes was a Bein Sports interview with Lionel Messi, who also denied any knowledge of the incident.
Observers have speculated that Plasco made her stunt simply to gain a meeting with the president and build a close relationship with Sudanese authorities, not intending for the story to gain the traction that it did.
This isn’t the first time Messi has unknowingly caused trouble in the Arab world. Earlier this year, the football star presented a gift to the Egyptian people in the form of his shoes. Presenting shoes is considered a major insult in the Arab world, and the response by the Egyptian public was one of anger and offense.
