Zidane, Ronaldo to play for ‘Yolanda’ victims

Zinedine Zidane. AFP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – Football superstars Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo are set to play in the annual Match Against Poverty (MAP) organized by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) for the benefit of survivors of super typhoon Yolanda (international name Haiyan).

“Two-thirds of the funds raised from ticket sales and television rights will help communities affected by the biggest storm ever recorded globally to rebuild their lives in the Visayas regions of the Philippines,” UNDP said in a statement released after football star David Beckham visited Tacloban City, Leyte to bring cheer to the evacuees still living in tents.

“Many of the people here were already living in extreme poverty, reliant on subsistence agriculture or fisheries. We must help them restore their lives quickly,” UNDP Country Director in the Philippines, Maurice DeWulf, said in the statement.

Zidane is a retired football player who previously played for the French national team Juventus and Real Madrid. The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has named him as the best European football player for the past 50 years.

Ronaldo, a retired Brazilian football player, is among the awardees of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Player of the Year. He and Zidane have both been awarded three times.

Both players will play against Bern professional football club, the BSC Young Boys and Friends.

This year’s MAP will be held in Bern, Switzerland on March 4th. It will be the 11th MAP organized for the benefit of UNDP programs aimed at alleviating poverty.

According to the UNDP website, around $1.3 million have been raised in two MAP events in Athens, Greece and Lisbon, Portugal for the recovery efforts in Haiti where a Magnitude 7.0 earthquake killed around 100,000 to 150,000 people.

The first MAP in 2003 held in Switzerland raised around $1 million.

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