Third match against poverty

Footballing heroes Ronaldo and Zinédine Zidane invited for the third consecutive year some of the world’s best-known footballers to join them in an all-star line-up for the third Match Against Poverty on December 22, at the LTU arena in Düsseldorf, Germany. As goodwill ambassadors for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Ronaldo and Zidane each captained an international team for this friendly aimed at mobilizing the public in the fight against poverty. Pierluigi Collina agreed to come out of retirement to referee the match for the third year running.

In the first half Zidane&Friends looked the stronger and better of the two sides with Deportiva La Coruna Spanish striker Diego Tristan scoring two goals in the 12. and 26.minute to give his team a 2-0 lead, but two minutes before the breather PSV Eindhoven's Dutch international Philip Cocu reduced the deficit after a melee in the penalty area following a corner. It was 2-1 for Zidane&Friends at halftime.

After the breather a lot of substitutions took place to allow all stars who had come to Düsseldorf to play and show their skills. Zidane&Friends increased the lead through Bayer 04 Leverkusen's Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov, before Al-Ahly's Egyptian striker Aboutarika reduced the deficit to one goal for Ronaldo&Friends. The final goal came a minute before the end through German comedian Oliver Pocher, who just had to tap the ball in from a cross from Werder Bremen's French midfielder Johan Micaud. Among those in the 40-player line-up were teenage striker Freddy Adu (D.C. United) and Brazilian Rivaldo.

Other sporting celebrities taking part include European Ryder Cup hero Sérgio Garcia who swapped his golf clubs for a pair of football boots. Coaches were PSV Eindhoven manager Guus Hiddink and Rudi Völler, former head coach of the German national team and current and Technical Director of Bayer Leverkusen for Ronaldo’s side and German world football champion Lothar Matthäus for Zidane’s team.

Kemal Dervis, UNDP Administrator praised all those who have signed up to take part in the game. "These talented athletes have inspired thousands of football fans like me to join our fight against poverty and we are lucky to have them on our team. Whatever the outcome of this game, we will all be winners," he said.

The match was supported by FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) while Nike and Adidas, contributing equipment for the teams.

It was an overall successful evening with 48.783 people coming to watch the match to raise money to fight poverty. More than 30 TV channels covered the event live.


½ million US dollars were raised from net profits of ticket sales to contribute to mobilizing people around the world to combat poverty and finance anti poverty projects around the world. Proceeds from the previous games have gone to anti-poverty projects in Brazil, Comoros, Guinea Bissau, Haiti, Morocco, Namibia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.