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UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Marcel Desailly for Soccerex

“It’s an honour to be part of Soccerex. After 20 years of playing football, it is good to engage with the business side of the game,” said Desailly.

Johannesburg, 21 Nov 2007…UNICEF announced today that Marcel Desailly, Goodwill Ambassador, World Cup Winner and former Captain of the French national football team will be a guest of honour at Soccerex, the world’s largest business-to-business football exposition to be held in Johannesburg from 25 to 28 November.

The Ghanaian born, French football star is expected to take part in a series of activities beginning on Monday 26 November, when he joins the celebrity line-up at the Expo’s opening ceremony at the Sandton Convention Centre at 09h30.

“It’s an honour to be part of Soccerex. After 20 years of playing football, it is good to engage with the business side of the game,” said Desailly, from his home in France. “As a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF, which is the official humanitarian partner of Soccerex this year, I am even more pleased to have this opportunity to promote the power of football to change the lives of children.”

Key Attraction
Charlie Taylor, Soccerex’ Director of Marketing says one of the key attractions in the programme of activities in the three-day convention is the World Cup Focus panel discussion scheduled for 16h00 on 26 November.

With the theme: Leaving a Legacy: the Commercial Benefits of CSR, the famous footballer will join UNICEF South Africa Representative Macharia Kamau, FIFA’s Head of Corporate Social Responsibility Federico Addiechi, John Jakke President of Ajax Amsterdam, Lander Unzueta General Manager FC Barcelona Foundation and Jürgen Griesbeck, Managing Director of Street Football World in a discussion moderated by Tim Modise, Head of Communication for South Africa’s 2010 Local Organising Committee.

Marcel Desailly says that playing football taught him self-discipline and confidence – lessons which young girls in Ghana are also learning through sport.

Sport for development Field Visit
Among other highlights of Mr. Desailly’s day, will be a field visit to Senoane High School in Soweto, where he will host a mini soccer clinic and pose for photos with children in the school’s sports programme.

According to UNICEF, this programme is operated by two of its community-based sport for development partners – Play Soccer, recognized as an implementing partner in the Football for Hope movement, a corporate social responsibility initiative of FIFA and Little Champs Sports Academy, which focuses on early childhood development through play and sport.

Some 4,000 delegates are expected at the annual Soccerex convention to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa for the next three years in the run up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

UNICEF South Africa unveils a 3-year partnership with Soccerex

UNICEF and Soccerex team up to promote children’s development through sport

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