Michel Platini said during a visit to Jerusalem on Tuesday that soccer promotes “peace, tolerance and friendship.”
Platini spoke during a meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres, an avid sports fan and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994.
Michel Platini recalled a 2006 meeting with Peres in Seville, Spain, where the two men helped put together a team of Israeli and Palestinian players for an exhibition against a Spanish team.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the men discussed how soccer can bridge communities around the world.