Stars sign for Match Against Poverty

Superstars and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Goodwill Ambassadors Ronaldo and Zinédine Zidane team up with other stellar football names for the 12th Match Against Poverty, backed by UEFA, at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in Saint-Etienne, France, on Monday (kick-off 20.00CET).

The Ronaldo, Zidane & Friends team will take on an AS Saint-Étienne All Stars team to help boost Ebola recovery efforts.

UNDP will receive two-thirds of the match proceeds which will go towards helping the hardest-hit countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone recover from the epidemic, while the remaining third will go to the Club's Association ASSE Coeur-Vert, which supports social projects in Saint-Etienne.

The players confirmed up to now in the Ronaldo, Zidane & Friends team are: Cafu, Clarence Seedorf, Edwin van der Sar, Éric Abidal, Christian Karembeu, Youri Djorkaeff, Fabien Barthez, Gianluca Zambrotta, Frank de Boer, Ronald de Boer, Jay-Jay Okocha, Karel Poborský, Louis Saha, Vladimír Šmicer and David Trezeguet.

Former and current St-Étienne players will comprise the St Etienne All Stars team: Alex, Laurent Batlles, Brandao, Pascal Feindouno, Jérémie Janot, Bjørn Tore Kvarme, Lubomír Moravcik, Laurent Paganelli, Stéphane Pédron, Sébastien Perez, Lionel Potillon, Dominique Rocheteau, Julien Sablé, Kurt Zouma and Efstathios Tavlaridis. The club's coach, Christophe Galtier, will be in charge. Renowned Italian former referee Pierluigi Collina will take charge of the match. More names are expected to confirm participation ahead of the match.

Ronaldo, Zidane and the UNDP have been the key figures behind the Match Against Poverty since the opening edition in 2003. Eleven successful matches have been staged in Basel, Madrid, Dusseldorf, Marseille, Malaga, Fez, Lisbon, Athens, Hamburg, Porto Alegre and Berne. Each year, the funds raised aid specific projects in different countries dealing with difficult challenges.

Ticket prices range from €8 to €12 and are on sale at: http://billetterie.asse.fr/ and ticket counters at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, 14, rue Paul et Pierre Guichard, 42000 Saint-Etienne.