The Match Against Poverty is a
friendly football match that has taken place every year since 2003 to raise funds to support specific development projects selected by the
United Nations Development Programme
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...
(UNDP).
The UNDP organized the game with the help of UNDP Goodwill Ambassadors
Zinedine Zidane
Zinedine Yazid Zidane (; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. He most recently coached Spanish club Real Madrid and is one of the mos ...
and
Ronaldo, is supported by both
FIFA and
UEFA
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...
, and raises awareness and mobilizes public opinion for the
Millennium Development Goals
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were eight international development goals for the year 2015 that had been established following the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000, following the adoption of the United Nations Millenn ...
(MDGs) that were created in 2000.
Since 2003, 12 Matches against Poverty have raised nearly US $4 million to support UNDP's work, including that on post-earthquake reconstruction in Haiti and Pakistan, Typhoon recovery in the Philippines, post-famine relief in the Horn of Africa and anti-poverty projects in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America.
History
![Football against poverty 2014 - Zidane et Nedved](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Football_against_poverty_2014_-_Zidane_et_Nedved.jpg)
Adopted in 2000 and re–affirmed by the leaders of 191 countries at the UN Summit in 2005, the Millennium Development Goals seek to halve world poverty by 2015 by setting targets for rolling back hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation and discrimination against women.
Thus the Match Against Poverty was created in 2003 at the initiative of Zidane and Ronaldo. At the launch of the event, Ronaldo said, "We use this match as a way to raise funds and to make people aware of the fact that the solution to this problem is in our hands. It is by working together that we will all win the Match against Poverty."
The first match included the likes of
David Beckham,
Edwin van der Sar
Edwin van der Sar (; born 29 October 1970) is a Dutch football executive and former professional player who is currently the chief executive of AFC Ajax, with whom he began his senior playing career in the early 1990s; he is considered to be a m ...
,
Samuel Eto'o
Samuel Eto'o Fils (; born 10 March 1981) is a Cameroonian football administrator and former player who is the current president of the Cameroonian Football Federation from 11 December 2021. In his prime, Eto'o was regarded by pundits as one of ...
,
Roberto Carlos
Roberto Carlos da Silva Rocha (born 10 April 1973), commonly known as Roberto Carlos, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who now works as a football ambassador. He started his career in Brazil as a forward but spent most of his car ...
,
Robinho
Robson de Souza ( or , born 25 January 1984), known as Robinho (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward.
In 1999, at 15 years of age, Robinho was picked by Brazil legend Pelé as his heir apparent and, in 2002 ...
and
Rivaldo
Rivaldo Vítor Borba Ferreira (born 19 April 1972), known simply as Rivaldo (), is a Brazilian former footballer who played mainly as an attacking midfielder but also as a second striker, and on occasion deployed as a wide midfielder or as a ...
, with "Ronaldo & Friends" defeating "Zidane & Friends" 4−3 in front of 30,000 people at
St. Jakob-Park.
The match raised more than $800,000 for anti-poverty projects in developing countries.
In 2008, Ronaldo and Zidane invited Marta to play in UNDP’s Match Against Poverty in Fez, Morocco, where she became the first woman in the history of football to play in an internationally sanctioned men’s football match.
On 19 November 2008, Zidane and Ronaldo took part in the fifth annual Match Against Poverty in
Málaga, Spain, which ended in a 2–2 draw. The ambassadors, who collaborated in conceiving the yearly event to benefit the
United Nations Development Programme
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...
, regularly captain their respective teams consisting of active footballers, other professional athletes and celebrities.
Zidane, a UN Goodwill Ambassador since 2001, stated his reason for being part of the event was because ''"everyone can do something to make the world a better place."''
![Football against poverty 2014 - Marta](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Football_against_poverty_2014_-_Marta.jpg)
The tenth Match Against Poverty was held in
Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre (, , Brazilian ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of 1,488,252 inhabitants (2020) makes it the twelfth most populous city in the country and the center of Brazil's fif ...
in 2012.
It followed nine successful editions that took place in
Basel
, french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese
, neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...
,
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...
,
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second- ...
,
Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...
,
Málaga,
Fez
Fez most often refers to:
* Fez (hat), a type of felt hat commonly worn in the Ottoman Empire
* Fez, Morocco (or Fes), the second largest city of Morocco
Fez or FEZ may also refer to:
Media
* ''Fez'' (Frank Stella), a 1964 painting by the moder ...
,
Lisbon,
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
and
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
.
Each year funds raised support specific projects in different countries facing difficult challenges.
Proceeds from the tenth Match in Brazil were split between two projects – one in Brazil and one in
Cape Verde, West Africa, both aimed at re-integrating marginalized youth.
In Brazil, proceeds funded the “Rede Esporte para Mudança Social (REMS)” a project that promotes poverty reduction and social inclusion through sports.
The match was played in front of more than 50,000 fans at the
Arena do Grêmio on 18 December 2012 and raised $360,000 for the two youth-oriented projects.
In 2013, Global Ambassador and
football goalkeeper
In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...
Iker Casillas helped launch a national website on volunteerism and social innovation in Uzbekistan through the UNDP and Match Against Poverty platform to encourage Uzbek youth to volunteer and become active in sport.
The eleventh match was held on 4 March 2014 at the
Stade de Suisse in
Bern, Switzerland, with the proceeds going to recovery efforts in the Philippines in the wake of
Typhoon Haiyan
Typhoon Haiyan, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Yolanda, was one of the most powerful tropical cyclones ever recorded. On making landfall, Haiyan devastated portions of Southeast Asia, particularly the Philippines. It is one of the ...
, one of the most devastating storms in history.
Participants of the eleventh match included
Robert Pires
Robert Emmanuel Pires (born 29 October 1973) is a French football coach and former professional player.
Pires played for French clubs Metz and Marseille prior to his time with Arsenal, where he won two FA Cups and two Premier League titles inclu ...
,
Claude Makélélé
Claude Makélélé Sinda (born 18 February 1973) is a French football manager and former professional player who played as a defensive midfielder. He is currently a youth coach and technical mentor at Chelsea, having formerly been the head co ...
,
Paolo Maldini
Paolo Cesare Maldini (; born 26 June 1968) is an Italian former professional footballer who played primarily as a left back and centre back for AC Milan and the Italy national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest defenders of a ...
,
Freddie Ljungberg
Karl Fredrik "Freddie" Ljungberg (; born 16 April 1977) is a Swedish former professional footballer and manager who played as a winger. He was most recently a former assistant coach, and interim head coach of Arsenal.
He began his career at Hal ...
,
Luís Figo
Luís Filipe Madeira Caeiro Figo (; born 4 November 1972) is a Portuguese former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Winger (association football), winger for Sporting CP, FC Barcelona, Barcelona, Real Madrid CF, Real ...
,
Pavel Nedvěd
Pavel Nedvěd (; born 30 August 1972) is a Czech former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is regarded as one of the most successful players to emerge from the Czech Republic, winning domestic and European accolades with Ital ...
,
Marta and
Ruud Gullit
Ruud Gullit (; born Rudi Dil; 1 September 1962) is a Dutch footballer and subsequent manager who played professionally in the 1980s and 1990s as a defender, midfielder or forward. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all ...
. The match was played against
BSC Young Boys, who donated some of the $190,000 profits to the club’s partner charity, the Laureus Foundation Switzerland to support sports-related projects.
The eleventh Match Against Poverty also received a donation of $24,000 from
Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professiona ...
through their annual fund raising initiative "the 46th Aino Izumi" at the Sony Building in
Ginza, Tokyo, Japan.
The 12th Match against Poverty took place in
Saint-Etienne, France on Monday 20 April 2015, where Ronaldo and Zidane teamed up with other football stars against past and present players of French
Ligue 1 side
AS Saint-Étienne. According to UNDP, "two thirds of all proceeds will go towards helping the hardest-hit countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone build back better from the
Ebola epidemic
This list of Ebola outbreaks records the known occurrences of Ebola virus disease, a highly infectious and acutely lethal viral disease that has afflicted humans and animals primarily in equatorial Africa. The pathogens responsible for the d ...
."
Goodwill Ambassadors
UNDP, along with other UN agencies, has long enlisted the voluntary services and support of prominent individuals as Goodwill Ambassadors to highlight these causes. Their fame helps amplify the urgent and universal message of human development and international cooperation, helping to accelerate achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
They articulate the UNDP development philosophy and programmes of self-reliant opportunities and motivate people to act in the interest of improving their own lives and those of their fellow citizens.
Global Ambassadors
*
Ronaldo["Match Against Poverty"](_blank)
. United Nations Development Programme. Retrieved 25 September 2014
*
Zinedine Zidane
Zinedine Yazid Zidane (; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. He most recently coached Spanish club Real Madrid and is one of the mos ...
*
Didier Drogba
*
Iker Casillas
*
Marta
Matches
![Football against poverty 2014 - Ronaldo (3)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Football_against_poverty_2014_-_Ronaldo_%283%29.jpg)
*2003, December 14:
St. Jakob-Park,
Basel
, french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese
, neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...
,
Switzerland (30,000) :
Zidane
Zinedine Yazid Zidane (; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. He most recently coached Spanish club Real Madrid and is one of the mos ...
& Friends vs.
Ronaldo & Friends 3-4. The first match against poverty raised approximately $1 million for the UNDP.
*2004:
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...
, Spain: The 2nd Match Against Poverty was held on 14 December 2004, at the
Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, home of
Real Madrid, and was attended by 65,000 fans who saw the two sides play out a 4−4 draw. $200,000 was raised for projects in Haiti.
*2005:
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second- ...
, Germany: The 3rd Match Against Poverty was played at the
Esprit Arena
Merkur Spielarena (stylized as MERKUR SPIEL-ARENA), previously known as the Esprit Arena (until 2 August 2018), the LTU Arena (until June 2009), and as the Düsseldorf Arena (during the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest), is a multi-functional footba ...
on 22 December 2005.
The match was attended by over 48,000 fans and broadcast live in over 30 countries.
Teenager
Freddy Adu
Fredua Koranteng Adu (born June 2, 1989) is an American professional soccer player who played as an attacking midfielder. The last club he played for was Ettan Fotboll club Österlen FF.
From before the time of his signing with D.C. United at ...
became the first American to play in the series, as the two sides played out a 4−2 match in favor of Zidane.
$450,000 was raised for projects in Ethiopia, Maldives, Burkina Faso, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cuba.
*2006:
Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...
, France: Zidane and friends prevail in 2006 Match Against Poverty.
*2007:
Málaga, Spain: The 5th Match Against Poverty brought together 30,000 fans.
*2008:
Fez
Fez most often refers to:
* Fez (hat), a type of felt hat commonly worn in the Ottoman Empire
* Fez, Morocco (or Fes), the second largest city of Morocco
Fez or FEZ may also refer to:
Media
* ''Fez'' (Frank Stella), a 1964 painting by the moder ...
, Morocco: The 6th Match Against Poverty was the first to be played outside of Europe, being held at the
Complexe Sportif de Fès
The Fez Sports complex () is a multi-purpose stadium in Fes, Morocco, Fez, Morocco. It is used mostly for association football, football matches and it also has athletics facilities, the stadium holds 45,000 and was built in 2003.
History
Th ...
in
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...
on 17 November 2008.
$180,000 was collected to finance projects in Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America.
*2010:
Lisbon, Portugal: The match raised more than $760,000 for earthquake victims in Haiti.
*2010:
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
, Greece: The match between Zidane & Friends vs.
Olympiacos F.C. finished 2−2, with
Kostas Mitroglou
Konstantinos "Kostas" Mitroglou ( el, Κωνσταντίνος "Κώστας" Μήτρογλου, ; born 12 March 1988) is a Greek professional footballer who plays as a striker. He is nicknamed "Mitrogoal" and "Pistolero" by fans due to his go ...
scoring twice for the Greek side, and was broadcast live in more than 30 countries.
The match raised more than $540,000 for recovery efforts in Haiti and for Pakistanis' affected by the devastating floods in July 2010.
*2011:
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
, Germany: The 9th Match against Poverty raised more than $100,000 for humanitarian and relief operations in the Horn of Africa.
The match was
Ronaldo,
Zidane
Zinedine Yazid Zidane (; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. He most recently coached Spanish club Real Madrid and is one of the mos ...
, & Friends vs. a
Hamburger SV
Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three ...
all-time team.
*2012:
Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre (, , Brazilian ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of 1,488,252 inhabitants (2020) makes it the twelfth most populous city in the country and the center of Brazil's fif ...
, Brazil: The 10th Match Against Poverty raised $360,000 to support UNDP projects in Brazil and Cape Verde.
This match was
Ronaldo & Friends vs
Zidane
Zinedine Yazid Zidane (; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. He most recently coached Spanish club Real Madrid and is one of the mos ...
& Friends.
*2014:
Bern, Switzerland: The 11th Match Against Poverty raised $190,000 for recovery efforts in the Philippines in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan.
This match was either
Ronaldo & Friends vs
Zidane
Zinedine Yazid Zidane (; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. He most recently coached Spanish club Real Madrid and is one of the mos ...
& Friends. or
Ronaldo,
Zidane
Zinedine Yazid Zidane (; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. He most recently coached Spanish club Real Madrid and is one of the mos ...
, & Friends vs. a
BSC Young Boys all-time team.
*2015:
Saint-Étienne, France: Raised money for African countries most affected by the
Ebola epidemic
This list of Ebola outbreaks records the known occurrences of Ebola virus disease, a highly infectious and acutely lethal viral disease that has afflicted humans and animals primarily in equatorial Africa. The pathogens responsible for the d ...
. This match was
Ronaldo,
Zidane
Zinedine Yazid Zidane (; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. He most recently coached Spanish club Real Madrid and is one of the mos ...
, & Friends vs. a
AS St-Étienne
As, AS, A. S., A/S or similar may refer to:
Art, entertainment, and media
* A. S. Byatt (born 1936), English critic, novelist, poet and short story writer
* "As" (song), by Stevie Wonder
* , a Spanish sports newspaper
* , an academic male voic ...
all-time team.
See also
*
United Nations Development Programme
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...
*
International development
*
United Nations Millennium Campaign
The United Nations Millennium Campaign (UNMC) was a UN campaign unit that was set up in response to the Millennium Declaration signed by 189 member states. Established in October, 2002, the UNMC aimed to increase support to achieve the Millenniu ...
*
United Nations Volunteers
The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is a United Nations organization that contributes to peace and development through volunteerism worldwide.
Volunteerism is a powerful means of engaging people in tackling development challenges, and ...
*
Development assistance
Development aid is a type of foreign/international/overseas aid given by governments and other agencies to support the economic, environmental, social, and political development of developing countries. Closely-related concepts include: developm ...
References
{{Reflist
External links
Match Against Poverty at UNDP
United Nations Development Programme
FIFA
UEFA
Annual events
Charity football matches