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Soccer helps U.N. raise poverty awareness

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- World soccer greats will play in a match against poverty to generate awareness of the U.N. Millennium Development Goals.

The game on March 19 in Marseille, France, marks the fourth "Match Against Poverty: Ronaldo and friends vs. Zidane and friends." It will feature Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane, both goodwill ambassadors for the U.N. Development Program, the United Nations said Wednesday.

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"It has been really encouraging to see the response from the public and the media to the previous games," said AC Milan striker Ronaldo, who with former French captain Zidane been the driving force behind the Match Against Poverty since 2003.

"We really want to continue mobilizing the world of football in helping to raise awareness and overcome poverty."

This will be the first game in Europe for Zidane since he retired from international football at the end of the 2006 World Cup.

The U.N. Millennium Development Goals, adopted in 2000 by the world body, seeks to cut the rate of world poverty in half by 2015 by setting targets for rolling back hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation and discrimination against women.

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All proceeds from ticket sales will go to projects selected by UNDP in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

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