Zidane Playing at Benfica to Raise Money for Haiti

Ronald and zidane: raising money for haiti

The United Nations Development Programme and the Benfica Foundation have organised the seventh Match Against Poverty to take place on 25th January 2010 in Lisbon. Profits from the match between Zidane & Friends and Benfica All Stars will go to aid relief efforts in Haiti.

Ronaldo was due to take part, but has to start the football season with his Club Corinthians-FC on January 24 and so Kaká will be taking his place. Kaká who is also a UN Goodwill Ambassador for the World Food Programme (WFP) said:

I am honoured to represent Ronaldo and I am looking forward to playing this important match, dedicated to Haiti’s relief efforts.

Benfica Foundation President Luis Filipe Vieira said his organization stands ready to offer full support in solidarity with the Haitian people:

We are extremely saddened by the disaster in Haiti. We would like to show our full support by dedicating the Match to the relief of the victims

UNDP Goodwill Ambassadors Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo echo Vieira’s sentiments. “Donating the proceedings from the Match, lends deeper meaning to our cause against poverty,” said Zidane.

“We would like to help the victims of the quake in the best way we can,” added Ronaldo. “Through the Match we hope we will be able to raise both awareness and funds for Haiti. Though we are aware that it will be but a small contribution to an enormous need.”

In This Story: Haiti

Haiti is a Caribbean country that shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic to its east. Though it’s still recovering from a 2010 earthquake, many of Haiti’s landmarks dating to the early 19th century remain intact. These include Citadelle la Ferrière, a mountaintop fortress.

Jean-Jacques Dessalines (later Emperor Jacques I), defeated Napoleon Bonaparte’s forces and declared Haiti’s sovereignty on 1 January 1804.

Haiti became the only state in history established by a successful slave revolt. Apart from Alexandre Pétion, the first President of the Republic, all of Haiti’s first leaders were former slaves.