In new videos, World Cup stars exhort fans to take action for children

PSAs from Sport's Biggest Names Part of UNICEF Series Released Today

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•Visit UNICEF's football site •More on 2002 FIFA World Cup auction

30 May 2002, NEW YORK, LONDON, GENEVA, TOKYO, SEOUL: Numerous current and former World Cup stars will be appearing in an historic video series on behalf of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) that will be officially launched today, the eve of the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Seoul, South Korea.

The series of TV spots will be seen by hundreds of millions of fans around the world during and after the FIFA World Cup. The players in them form a veritable "dream team" of World Cup stars, who together are saying that football, the world's greatest passion, must be played on behalf of its greatest resource, children.

The stars who have pledged their support to children include Luis Figo of Portugal, FIFA World Footballer of the Year and the runner up, England's David Beckham; Elhadji Diouf of Senegal, the African Footballer of the Year; and China's Fan Zhiyi, the Asian Footballer of the Year (see attachment for full list).

Many of the spots juxtapose the game of football with the efforts that must be made to improve the situation of children everywhere -- an essential first step for a more prosperous, just and stable world. For example, in his spot Argentina's captain Juan Sebastian Veron echoes many of his fellow footballers. "For some people football is an obsession, it's a way of life, it's a passion. For some people it is more important than life or death," he said, while wearing the familiar blue and white jersey of Argentina. "More important than children? I don't think so."

The 30-second public service announcements (PSAs) are part of a new global alliance between FIFA and UNICEF, launched last year by Brazilian legend Pele, that promises to have far-reaching benefits for children. The World Cup, which FIFA has dedicated to children, is the partnership's first major event. The partnership is also working in numerous countries, where FIFA is providing support to UNICEF programmes that use football in a variety of ways, from helping war-affected children to preventing HIV/AIDS.

45 players, 17 Countries, 3 Languages

So far 45 World Cup players from 17 national teams have pledged to support UNICEF and many have recorded spots -- most of them in English, Spanish or French. This includes 14 players from defending champion France, who interrupted their training at Clairefontaine to record the spots, and major portions of the Equadoran and Costa Rican squads. In addition, former World Cup stars like Pele have also stood before the cameras to make pledges on behalf of children.

UNICEF is distributing the TV spots rights-free to broadcasters worldwide for use during and after the World Cup. They are also available on the UNICEF website (www.unicef.org/football).

The spots follow two main themes. One is a general statement in support of action on behalf of children, like Mr.Veron's. The other is a more specific message on preventing HIV/AIDS. The UNICEF-FIFA partnership is focusing on HIV/AIDS prevention to help foster open discussion about the pandemic, which mainly impacts the young.

In addition to the video spots, other child-related activities for the 2002 FIFA World Cup include:

These current activities build on a rich tradition of footballers working on behalf of children. One of the most active is George Weah, Liberia's former World Footballer of the Year. A UNICEF Ambassador, Mr. Weah works tirelessly to help children affect by armed conflict. Ivan Zamorano of Chile, Ole-GunnarSolskjaer from Norway and Le Huynh Duc from Vietnam have also done stellar advocacy for children's issues.

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For further details please contact:

Marc Vergara - ( English/French) - (82-16) 9456 5200
Marc Chalamet - English/French) -(82-16) 9456 5167
Christina Miguel - (Spanish )- (82-2) 546 2271
Sae Ryo Kim - (English.Japanese/Korean/Chinese) - (82 16) 758 5338
Sam Koo - (English/Japanese /Korean) - (82-17) -263 5423
Karuna Nundy, New York, knundy@unicef.org, +1-212-303-7941

Note to Broadcasters

Video b-roll called "The Right to Play: Children and Football" is available upon request. For script and shotlist, please visit: http://www.unicef.org/broadcast/brolls/righttoplay/index.html

THE CHILDREN'S DREAM TEAM:

The biggest names in football are on the same team for children:

Luis Figo (Portugal), David Beckham (England), El Hadj Diouf (Senegal), Raul Gonzalez Blanco (Spain), Juan Sebastian Veron (Argentina), Paolo Maldini (Italy) and Fan Zhiyi (China) may be rivals on the field, but they are all dedicated to working together to make a better world for children.

They are joined in their efforts by an international roster of football champions for children, who have pledged their support to ensure that every child has the right to play:

Argentina - Juan Sebastian Veron
China - Fan Zhiyi
Costa Rica - Wilmer López, Rolando Fonseca, Reynaldo Parks , Steven Bryce, Harold Wallace,
Luis Marín, Juan Jose Rodríguez, Alvaro Mesen, Erick Lonnis, William Sunsing, Mauricio Wright
Croatia - Davor Suker
Ecuador - Clever Chala, Edwin Tenorio, Carlos Tenorio, Hernan Dario Gomez, Jose Cevallos, Ivan Kaviedes
England - Wes Brown, David Beckham, Sir Alex Ferguson
France - Alain Boghossian, Mikael Silvestre, Johan Micoud, Philippe Christanval, Ulrich Rame, Willy Sagnol, Marcel Desailly, Thierry Henry, Guy Stefan (assistant coach), Gregory Coupet, Vincent Candela, Djibril Cisse, Emmanuel Petit, Lilian Thuram, Sylvain Wiltord, Mikael Silvestre, Bernard Lama
Germany - Oliver Bierhoff
Ireland - Mick McCarthy
Italy - Francesco Totti, Paolo Maldini
Portugal - Luis Figo
Senegal - El Hadj Diouf, Tony Sylva, Khalilou Fadiga
Slovenia - Zlatko Zahovic, Marko Simeunovic
South Africa - Quinton Fortune
Spain - Raul Gonzalez Blanco, David Albelda, Fernando Hierro, Santiago Canizares
Turkey - Ogun Temizkanoglu
Uruguay - Fabian Carini, Paolo Montero
USA - Brian McBride, Landon Donovan, Cobi Jones

UNICEF AMBASSADORS

Enzo Francescoli: Uruguay (since 1996)
George Weah: Liberia (since 1997)
Ivan Zamorano: Chile (since 1998)
Le Huynh Duc: Vietnam (since 2000)
Ole-Gunnar Solskjaer: Norway (since 2001)
Luis Figo: Portugal (since 2002)
Paolo Maldini: Italy (since 2002)
Bernard Lama: France (since 2002)
Marko Simeunovic: Slovenia (since 2002)
Zlatko Zahovic: Slovenia (since 2002)
Manchester United partnership with UNICEF called "United for UNICEF" (since 2000)