UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador David Beckham to attend Soccer Aid for UNICEF 2021

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• UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador of 16 years, David Beckham is due to attend the tenth Soccer Aid for UNICEF match on Saturday 4th September at Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium
• The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation will match public donations made to this year’s Soccer Aid for UNICEF, meaning every donation is doubled, up to £6.3 million
• A £10 donation becomes £20, which could help UNICEF provide life-saving therapeutic food to treat a severely malnourished child anywhere around the world
• The value of every ticket purchased for the game will also be matched by the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, and are available to purchase at socceraid.org.uk/tickets
• Donation lines are now open at socceraid.org.uk/donate

22 July 2021 – David Beckham OBE, Founder of 7: The David Beckham UNICEF Fund and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 2005, has today announced that he will be attending Soccer Aid for UNICEF 2021, due to take place at Etihad Stadium, Manchester on Saturday 4^th September and broadcast live on ITV and STV. During his attendance, the sporting icon will present the trophy to the winning team and reunite with old teammates Wayne Rooney, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes who are all set to play as part of the England team.

David Beckham also announced that the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) will match public donations and fundraising along with the value of every ticket purchased for this year’s Soccer Aid for UNICEF, meaning everything is doubled – up to a total of £6.3 million.

The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation is the world’s largest philanthropy that focuses specifically on improving children’s lives. Recognising the impact of Covid on children’s life, their investment for this year’s Soccer Aid for UNICEF campaign will go directly towards UNICEF projects battling child wasting – the worst form of child malnutrition.

UNICEF is the world’s leading organisation in preventing and treating malnutrition, providing 80% of the world’s lifesaving food. Tragically, global Covid-19 restrictions needed to protect people against the pandemic are disrupting vital food and medical supplies and are preventing healthcare and nutrition experts from visiting the communities that urgently need their help – continuing to push millions more children into hunger and malnutrition.  With the help of the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, this year’s Soccer Aid for UNICEF could help get life-saving therapeutic food supplies and healthcare services open and fully moving again. And by vaccinating frontline community health workers from Covid-19, we can make sure that they can continue to protect children against hunger and keep on saving lives.

Beckham joins an incredible line up of sports and celebrity names attending and taking part in this year’s Soccer Aid for UNICEF including Usain Bolt, Olly Murs, Liv Cooke, Paul Scholes, Sir Mo Farah, Wayne Rooney, Gary Neville, Tom Grennan, Fara Williams, Martin Compston, Ore Oduba and Kelly Smith.

UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, David Beckham said: “I’m delighted to be attending Soccer Aid for UNICEF in my role as UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. What a year it has been for football and I can’t wait to watch England take on the Soccer Aid World XI in what is set to be an incredible match”

“I have been a Goodwill Ambassador for over 16 years and have seen first-hand the incredible work that UNICEF does for children around the world. Soccer Aid for UNICEF has never been more important, with the Covid crisis making life for kids in the world’s poorest countries even harder. With the support of the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, donations will go twice as far in supporting the health and nutrition of kids around the world.”

Anna Hakobyan, Chief Impact Officer at the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, said: “Today millions of children across the world are suffering from wasting, the worst form of malnutrition, and COVID has made it worse. In partnership with UNICEF, we want to prevent and protect these children from hunger and malnutrition and bring life-saving therapeutic food to treat those already suffering. Let’s turn the tide on this unacceptable crisis and transform the lives of these vulnerable children so they can build the future they deserve!”

Steven Waugh, Interim Executive Director at the UK Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK), said: “Everyone at UNICEF is grateful to the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) for offering to match all public donations to Soccer Aid for UNICEF pound for pound, up to £6.3 million. This is a huge sum of money that will mean so much to children’s lives around the world. This year, Soccer Aid for UNICEF has its biggest goal ever as the Covid crisis is making life for children in the world’s poorest countries even harder – the support of CIFF is vital and every pound we raise from the campaign is another strike against the pandemic. It really is us against Covid for every child, everywhere”.

Soccer Aid for UNICEF is the biggest celebrity football match in the world and this year there will be a bumper week of shows across ITV and STV in the lead up to the match, helping raise as much money as possible to give children the best start in life. In the face of a global pandemic, public donations and fundraising could help UNICEF deliver 2 billion Covid-19 vaccines worldwide, get children back to school, beat malnutrition, and get the healthcare they need today and long after the crisis is over.

Since 2006, when UNICEF UK Ambassador Robbie Williams co-founded the concept, Soccer Aid for UNICEF has raised over £47m to help give children all over the world a childhood full of play. This year, with the support of the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, UNICEF UK is hoping to raise more money than ever and beat the record breaking £9.3 million that was raised last year.

Watch Soccer Aid for UNICEF on Saturday 4 September on ITV and STV and donate now at socceraid.org.uk/donate

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Notes to Editors:

For more details, please contact:

UNICEF UK Media Team, 0207 375 6030, media@unicef.org.uk

About UNICEF UK

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. Across more than 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, to build a better world for everyone.

The UK Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK) raises funds for UNICEF’s emergency and development work for children. We also promote and protect children’s rights in the UK and internationally. We are a UK charity, entirely funded by supporters.

United Kingdom Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK), Registered Charity No. 1072612 (England & Wales), SC043677 (Scotland).

For more information visit unicef.org.uk. Follow UNICEF UK on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube.

About Children’s Investment Fund Foundation

The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) is an independent philanthropic organisation headquartered in London with offices in Nairobi, New Delhi, Beijing and Addis Ababa.  CIFF works with a wide range of partners seeking to transform and empower the lives of poor and vulnerable children and adolescents in developing countries, with the ultimate goal of solving seemingly intractable challenges to ensure all children and adolescents have the chance to survive and thrive. For more information please visit www.ciff.org

About Soccer Aid Productions Limited

The multi-stakeholder project of Soccer Aid for UNICEF is run by Soccer Aid Productions, a collaboration between UNICEF UK and Triple S Events which is part of the Triple S Sports & Entertainment Group.

About ITV Responsibility

ITV, as an integrated producer broadcaster, creates, owns and distributes high-quality content on multiple platforms. ITV operates the largest commercial family of channels in the UK and delivers content through traditional television broadcasting as well as on demand, via the ITV Hub. For more information, please visit itvplc.com. ITV’s social purpose is to use its influence on popular culture to create positive change. Its on-screen social cause strategy is focussed on health and wellbeing, to inspire, engage and empower people to make a difference to their own and other people’s health. For more information, please visit itvresponsibility.com.

About Initial

Initial, part of Banijay, the UK’s largest television production group, are experienced in making large scale reality programmes, physical gameshows, quizzes and factual entertainment formats, which include hit shows such as Big Brother, Tenable and Total Wipeout. Initial has been the producer of Soccer Aid since its inception in 2006.