Football nominated for Nobel Prize

Football and an Israeli traitor have been nominated for the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize.

Football was nominated by a Swedish MP for promoting harmony and understanding between nations.

Israeli Mordechai Vanunu, serving 18 years in prison for revealing Israeli nuclear secrets, has also been nominated.

Lars Gustafsson, a Christian Democrat, said soccer has survived two world wars and scores of ethnic and regional conflicts, and hostile nations meet on the soccer field at times when other contact would be unthinkable.

He said the International Football Federation, FIFA, could accept the honour on behalf of the sport.

"Soccer has and will continue to play an important role in the global arena, when it comes to creating understanding between people," Mr Gustafsson wrote in his letter of nomination to the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo.