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Ronaldinho to help United Nations charity
NEW YORK, Aug 13 (SW) - It’s one for charity for Brazilian star Ronaldinho. On Friday he agreed to use his celebrity status as well as his image as being an international icon to help the United Nations fight poverty.
He told a press conference that sport was a universal language and that football had given him everything that he wanted in life thus far. He felt obliged to use his football talents to give something back.
The world body appointed the FC Barcelona midfielder as its spokesperson for sport for development and peace and Ronaldinho said he that would campaign against poverty during visits to poor areas in Latin America and the Caribbean.
His visit to UN headquarters coincided with a visit by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, but Ronaldinho drew far larger admiring crowds in the UN corridors.
Ronaldinho, the Fifa World Player of the Year in 2004 and 2005, will be paid a dollar a year for his work, said Djibril Diallo, director of the New York UN Office of Sport for Development and Peace. Fifa is the world soccer association.
Barcelona are in New York for a scheduled exhibition match on Saturday against Major League Soccer's New York Red Bulls.
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