Goodwill Ambassadors

Zinédine Zidane

Something he'll not give up for any amount of fame

French soccer star Zinédine Zidane earned his reputation as one of the world's best players with his peerless, often impossible-looking displays of technique and control, but there are things that he would not "give up for any amount of fame or success."

One of these is his commitment, since being appointed a UNDP Goodwill Ambassador in March 2001, to help countries reduce poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

Mr. Zidane stunned fans by capturing the 1998 World and 2000 European crowns for France and scoring the winning goal in Real Madrid's 2002 Champions' League triumph, thus joining the soccer greats of all time.

"But I've known hard times, too," he says. "I know what poverty is. I, too, lived in difficult places, where we didn't have everything. And today I want to help. There are things in this world that are more important than football." He describes his anti-poverty efforts as "the kind of thing my family, my upbringing and people I love have always encouraged. It's something that is part of you or isn't — but it's not something you embark upon or give up for any amount of fame or success."

Mr. Zidane first collaborated with UNDP in September 1999 when he and another soccer superstar, Ronaldo, launched the UNDP mobilization campaign, "Teams to End Poverty." They appeared in an advertisement carried pro-bono by more than 150 media outlets throughout Europe, inviting people, businesses and institutions to get involved in anti-poverty actions locally or internationally. He himself chose to support an education project in Albania, one of Europe's poorest countries.

His other social and humanitarian activities include public appearances, such as a match in Marseille with the French team in early 2000, organized by Secours Populaire Francais, to benefit 60,000 children whose families could not afford to send on vacation.

In December 2003, he and Ronaldo, also a UNDP Goodwill Ambassador, along with such stars as England's captain David Beckham and Brazilians Rivaldo and Roberto Carlos, raised more than US$800,000 for anti-poverty projects in developing countries at the "Match Against Poverty" in Basel, Switzerland.