Bangladesh president offers Zidane a job

DHAKA—Bangladesh’s president has offered retired French football legend Zinedine Zidane a new job — as an election observer in the South Asian nation’s parliamentary polls this January.
The proposal came after Zidane, who has spent two days in Bangladesh at the invitation of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, said he was “overwhelmed” by his reception and promised to return.
“The president told Zidane that he was very popular in Bangladesh. He invited him to be an election observer for the upcoming general elections,” an official statement said after Zidane met with President Iajuddin Ahmed.
Bangladesh has been rocked by violent protests ahead of the polls as opposition parties contest the independence of the election commission and call for its chief to quit.
Zidane was also quoted as saying that he was “overwhelmed with the warm hospitality given by the people of Bangladesh”, adding he would “come here again if I get the opportunity.”
Zidane was in Bangladesh to launch the a food company jointly owned by French food giant Danone and Yunus’s Grameen Bank.
On Tuesday, he visited a village near the capital and thrilled villagers by taking part in an impromptu game with local children.
Later at the national stadium in Dhaka he played in an exhibition match with under-16 teams watched by an estimated television audience of 25 million. He was scheduled to leave the country later Wednesday.—Agencies