A political stance halted his international career for five years and now that he is back in the fold, Syrian football great Firas al-Khatib says he doesn't care about politics anymore as football could end up being better at bringing about peace in his war-ravaged country.
Firas had hit international headlines when he withdrew from the national team back in 2012 to protest against Syrian President Bashar-al-Assad, accusing him of bombing his home town Homs, following the uprising in 2011.
Firas boycotted the Syrian national team for five years -- from 2012 to 2017. He agreed to return to lead the national team "for the sake of his people", in the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers last year.
"Our players always try their best to do well on a football pitch and bring some smile on the faces of our fans. This is our first and foremost thought," he said.
"Apart from that, we don't care about the politics, we don't care. We play football, we play sport. We don't care about other things."
"The (Syrian) league has restarted, 20,000 people come to support the players, their teams and this is good."
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