Devout Catholic, and Ireland soccer manager, Giovanni Trapattoni, has agreed to take charge of the Vatican City soccer team later this month.
The 71 year old Italian who recently stated in an interview on The Late Late Show on RTÉ that his faith was responsible for everything that he had achieved in football and whose sister is a nun, has now agreed to take charge of the Vatican's annual football match against the Finance police on October 23.
Former Italy coach Roberto Donadoni will manage Mr Trapatoni's opponents for the game, which will be played at a sport's centre in Rome's Villa Spada, with the Clericus Cup going to the winners.
The Vatican side rarerly plays games but did record a 0-0 draw with Monaco in Rome in 2002. Pope Benedict was believed to be a strong football fan when growing up in Bavaria in Germany while his Polish predecessor Pope John Paul II famously played in goal as a teenager.
Trapattoni's only surviving sibling, Sr Maria Trapattoni, has dedicated her life to the Sisters of Charity Order in Milan in Italy where Mr Trapattoni lives.
SIC: CIN/IE