RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) — Brazilian soccer star Ronaldo is set to play himself in an Iranian movie about a Palestinian girl who was killed in a refugee camp in Lebanon.
News media reported Thursday that the all-time World Cup scorer signed on to the movie to be shot in Lebanon in 2010. The movie is based on the true story of Alneyrab, a 13-year-old girl who dreamed of meeting the soccer star when he visited the Middle East on a humanitarian mission in 2005. She was only able to watch "The Phenomenon" from a distance and later died in a refugee camp in southern Lebanon after losing a leg to an anti-personnel mine.
The soccer superstar will play himself in dream sequences.
Ronaldo, 32, has been a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Development Program since 2000 and made a trip to Israel and the West Bank in 2005 as part of his campaign against poverty around the world.
Ronaldo, who has scored 15 goals in World Cup games, has also played for several major teams in Europe. He was a member of the Brazil team that won its fourth World Cup title in 1994 in the United States.
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