Some 500 posters of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan dressed in a Türkiye national team jersey, numbered 56, were put up across Vienna by the Union of European Turkish Democrats (UETD) ahead of a charity football match tied to the EU-Latin America Summit.
The posters, printed in German, promoted Erdoğan as a new forward for the EU side. He was joined in Vienna by Türkiye national team coach Fatih Terim, both of whom were set to take part in the match.
Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, described as an able player himself, organized the indoor football game as a curtain-raiser to the formal summit proceedings. Leaders from several countries participated, including Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, Polish Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, and EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso.
The match, also featuring leaders from Bulgaria, Romania, and Slovenia, was held to raise funds for street children in Romania and Moldova. Each participating country was invited to bring a former national football player to join the game.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in May 2006, in its own words.