More football stars join charity game for ‘Yolanda’ survivors

MANILA, Philippines – More football superstars have united with legends Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo in urging people to help the Philippines recover from super typhoon Yolanda (international name Haiyan) through their annual charity football game.

“I am making an appeal to the public to come [watch the game at] the Stade de Suisse [in Bern, Switzerland],” Portuguese footballer Luis Figo, 2001 Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Player of the Year, said in a statement on the FIFA website.

“I would be delighted to see the stands full of people so we could celebrate football together in the fight against poverty. Let’s help the Philippines,” he said.

Joining Figo is Patrick Vieira who won the 1998 FIFA World Cup and UEFA EURO 2000 alongside various titles in England and Italy.

“I am very excited about this game. Football speaks a universal language and we need to take advantage of this to appeal for the reconstruction of the Philippines,” Vieira said.

The charity game dubbed the Match Against Poverty (MAP) is an annual event organized by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in cooperation with international football organizations FIFA and UEFA.

“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 previous statement.

Fabio Cannavaro, 2006 World Cup and FIFA World Player of the Year, said that he would also donate his time and efforts to the match in order to contribute in the fight against poverty.

“Unfortunately, natural disasters affect us every year. The fight against poverty must be constant and I’m very happy if I can contribute to it through football,” Cannavaro said.

“It is a great honor to play alongside these talented players who have had such successful careers,” he said citing football legends Zidane and Ronaldo who have each been awarded the FIFA World Player of the Year three times.

Ronaldo and Zidane are also Goodwill Ambassadors of the UNDP and they have participated in previous MAP events. 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.

“To have celebrities like Ronaldo, Zidane and Marta lending their names as Goodwill Ambassadors to the work of UNDP means more to us than money could ever buy,” UNDP Administrator Helen Clark said in the statement.

“Their reputations are so fantastic, their followings so great that for them to be talking about the work that we do to help devastated communities and people moving out from poverty is just so valuable.” she said.

This year will be the 11th anniversary of MAP. The first MAP held in 2003 in Switzerland raised around $1 million for the projects of UNDP around the world.