Muhammad knows nothing about football. Well maybe he doesn’t but some of his supporters sure object to being told so. The club song of German Bundesliga Club Schalke 04 (“Blau und weiß, wie lieb ich Dich” – Blue and White How I Love You) contains the line “Muhammad Was a Prophet Who Knows Nothing About Football” and they have been singing it on the terraces for generations. But now the song has come to the attention of the Turkish media and the complaints are rolling in demanding that the lyric be changed.

Der Spiegel reports it’s unclear why the song contains the reference to Muhammad given that the rest of the lyrics focus on the beauty of the team colors of white and blue and on the fact that Schalke will never die. “The song is age old. Both sides should sit down and discuss this, we’re all sensible people,” Schalke’s former manager Rudi Assauer told the mass circulation Bild newspaper. The late Pope John Paul II was an honorary member of Schalke after celebrating a mass in the club stadium in 1987.

A newcomer to join New Kids on the Block. Talking of Popes, the pop groups New Kids on the Block, Guns N’ Roses, and Tokio Hotel will have a new label mate by Christmas. Their record label Geffen and Universal has signed Pope Benedict XVI to produce an album called ‘Alma Mater’ which is due to be released on November 30. The German-born Pope will be accompanied by the Vatican choir singing in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.