Zidane, Ronaldo to play for Pakistan, Haiti in charity match

ISLAMABAD, November 24, 2010: World champion footballers and United Nations goodwill ambassadors Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane have announced that the 8th Annual Match Against Poverty will raise funds for the nearly 25 million people affected by the Haiti earthquake and Pakistan floods.

The two men, who use their celebrity status to promote the anti-poverty work of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), will mobilise their all-star team to challenge Greek-side Olympiacos in a friendly on December 15.

The match, which will be played at Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus, Greece, is part of the global campaign to achieve the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the targets to slash poverty, hunger, disease and other social ills, all by 2015.

“With five years left to accomplish the set of eight goals,” said Zidane, “I hope this 8th Annual Match Against Poverty will help communicate a sense of urgency that we all need to join the team to end poverty now.”

UNDP will receive half of the match’s proceeds, which will go to ongoing relief efforts in Haiti and Pakistan.

“Our goal with this 8th Match Against Poverty is to support the people and governments of Pakistan and Haiti to recover from the devastating natural disasters which affected them so terribly in 2010,” said UNDP Administrator Helen Clark, expressing gratitude to Zidane and Ronaldo for raising awareness for those “who are often too quickly forgotten.”

Olympiacos Football Club owner Evangelos Marinakis also voiced hope that the match would bring people around the globe together and break down barriers.

“Using football’s magic driving force, Olympiacos F.C. is on the pitch to raise an appeal against poverty and mobilise action towards achieving the MDGs,” he said.

Olympiacos will donate its share of the proceeds to parents of children with special needs, as well as to homeless and disadvantaged communities in Piraeus.

Earlier this year, the 7th Annual Match took place in Lisbon, Portugal, where Zidane, Ronaldo and the UNDP goodwill team played Benfica and raised more than a half million Euro for the people of Haiti.

Proceeds from previous matches have benefited anti-poverty initiatives ranging from support to female entrepreneurs to the construction of sports centres for street children and the disadvantaged throughout Asia, Africa and Latin America.