Rabat - German football player Danny Blum has announced his conversion to Islam.
The player described Islam as a religion of hope and strength.
"Islam gave me strength. Pray calms my soul," the 24-year-old said.
"I was short tempered, erratic and did not know where I belong," he added.
Blum joined his team FC Nurnberg last year. The team plays in the German Bundesliga's Second Division.
"I have visited a mosque and I immediately risen the heart. I felt this is something for me and wanted to know more," he told German newspaper Bild.
Blum said that his parents were scared at first when he told them about his conversion to Islam.
"They are devout Christians. But soon they said that I have to go that route if I believe that it is right," he said.