Match Against Poverty
In the News
Dec-21-12 Football match against poverty
(CNC World) Organized by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the 10th edition of the Match Against Poverty, took place Wednesday in Porto Alegre, one of the 2014 FIFA World Cup host cities, in southern Brazil.
Dec-20-12 Fans flock to Match Against Poverty in Brazil
(uefa.com) More than 50,000 fans at the new Grêmio Arena in Porto Alegre, Brazil, saw Ronaldo's side beat Zinédine Zidane's team 3-2 in the tenth UEFA-backed Match Against Poverty on Wednesday night.
Dec-20-12 Ronaldo overcomes Zidane in Match Against Poverty
(Sambafoot.com) The game in Porto Alegre raised funds for charitable projects in Brazil and Africa and featured more than 40 top names from Brazil and Europe. Zidane's team started brightly in front of more than 50,000 fans, hitting the post twice before Brazil 1994 World Cup winner Bebeto struck at the other end to hand Ronaldo's side the lead.
Dec-17-12 Forty stars for Match Against Poverty
(uefa.com) Forty international players, past and present, will join UNDP Goodwill Ambassadors Ronaldo and Zinédine Zidane in a star-studded line-up at the tenth annual Match Against Poverty, backed by UEFA and taking place in Porto Alegre, Brazil on 19 December.
Oct-2-12 Football Stars Call for Another Match against Poverty
(Prensa Latina) The former football stars Ronaldo (Brazil) and Zinedine Zidane (France) convened today a group of international figures for the tenth edition of the Match Against Poverty, December 19 in the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre.
(UNDP) Football legends and UNDP Goodwill Ambassadors Ronaldo and Zinédine Zidane are inviting some of the world's top players to join them in an all-star line-up for the 10th "Match Against Poverty," to take place on 19 December 2012 at the Gremio Arena in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
The Match Against Poverty is more than a game — it is an expression of solidarity, a symbol of hope, a powerful advocacy tool, and a metaphor for the vision that we can all, each and every one of us, do something to help end poverty &mdash and that often by working together as a team, we are more powerful than working alone. The annual Match draws crowds in excess of 30,000 people and is seen on television throughout the world, conveying one strong message: let us all team up to end poverty.
The match is supported by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). Its aim is to raise awareness and funds for global poverty reduction efforts.
Each match takes place in a different city. Since the first game in Basel, Switzerland, the Match has taken place in:
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Each year, the host city is chosen through a call for proposals. The RFP is announced on the UEFA website at www.uefa.org and on UNDP's procurement website at procurement-notices.undp.org. The proposals are evaluated through a number of criteria, including the amount of advocacy, outreach and marketing proposed, and the amount of resources to be generated for projects to improve livelihoods.
"The 10th anniversary of the Match Against Poverty is a testament to the important link between sports and development. As an instrument for peace, sport brings people together to compete in peaceful ways."
— UNDP Administrator Helen Clark
The Players
The annual match usually involves a UNDP team playing against a host team. At the 2011 match in Hamburg, for example, the HSV team played against a UNDP team consisting of Zidane and Ronaldo joined by, among others UNDP Goodwill Ambassador Didier Drogba (Côte d'Ivoire), Dida, Serginho (Brazil), Jens Lehmann (Germany), Lucas Radebe (South Africa), Fernando Hierro, Michel Salgado (Spain), Gheorghe Popescu, Gheorghe Hagi (Romania), Luís Figo, Fernando Couto (Portugal), Christian Karembeu (France), Steve McManaman (England), Pavel Nedved (Czech Republic), Fabio Cannavaro (Italy), and Sami Al-Jaber (Saudi Arabia).
At the 10th Anniversary Match in Porto Alegre, Brazil, Ronaldo and Zidane each captained their own team to play against each other, in a game attended by 50,000 spectators where Ronaldo's XI beat Zidane's 3-2. Ronaldo's team included Zico, Bebeto, Dida, Cafu, Roberto Carlos, Juninho Paulista, Leandro Damiao and Paulinho - all from Brazil. Zidane's team included Vitor Baia and Fernando Couto of Portugal, Falcao, Juliano Belletti, Diego Cavalieri, and Emerson from Brazil as well as Fernando Hierro and Michel Salgado of Spain, Juan Pablo Sorin of Argentina, Paolo Montero of Uruguay, Paraguay's Carlos Gamarra, Nakata from Japan, Fredrik Ljungberg of Sweden and Christian Karembeu from France.
"Greek spectators became the real players in this Match. Despite the economic crisis in Greece, the spectators filled the stadium in solidarity with the poor."
— Evangelos Marinakis, Olympiacos President
Advocating to End Poverty
Proceeds from the matches have contributed to sustainable solutions to alleviate poverty in 29 developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Proceeds from the 10th Match in Brazil on 19 December 2012 totaled US$350,000 and were evenly split between two projects - one in Brazil and one in Cape Verde, West Africa, both aimed at re-integrating marginalized youth. In Brazil, proceeds will fund the "Rede Esporte para Mudança Social (REMS)" a project that promotes poverty reduction and social inclusion through sports. In Cape Verde, an island nation off the coast of West Africa, UNDP will work with AfroReggae, a Brazilian non-governmental organization, to improve education amongst marginalized youth.
Most of the proceeds of the 2011 match in Hamburg went to Somalia to support UNDP's cash-for-work programme, which is creating direct employment opportunities in the Horn of Africa. The funds also helped rehabilitate the community and enabled 113,442 households in humanitarian emergency and acute food crisis - 38 per cent of whom were women - to buy food and other essential items. In 2010, the Match Against Poverty with the Olympiacos Football Club of Athens raised US$540,000 for ongoing recovery efforts in Haiti and Pakistan, and for disadvantaged communities in Greece.
"The struggle against poverty is not a game but we use this match to raise both funds and awareness that the solution is in everyone's hands. Working together, we will all be winners in the Match Against Poverty."
— Ronaldo
Following the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti, UNDP and the Benfica Football Club of Lisbon raised $767,000 for a cash-for-work programme that put tens of thousands of Haitian men and women back to work and helped reinvigorate the local economy. The work included removing rubble from the streets, crushing and sorting of reusable material and disposal of debris. The project helped restore essential public services, such as repairs of public infrastructure, access to water and protection of water sources, markets, communal washing areas and community centres.
While the proceeds of each Match are important, the primary goal the players wish to score is to get the message across that we can all, players and fans alike, do something to help end poverty. In concert with the Match, numerous outreach efforts are made through social media, radio, television and print to get the message across. Like a well-oiled team, everyone has a role to play, from the goalkeeper to the captain. All of us - whether in the private or public sectors, whether at school or at home, whether old or young - we all possess unique talents, unique networks, unique skills and capabilities, that when combined with others, can overcome any challenge. That is the message of the Match Against Poverty.
For more information
Match Against Poverty Coordinator: Aziyadé Poltier-Mutal +41 22 917 83 68 email: aziyade.poltier@undp.org
