| | UN job for Zidane 齐达内被任命联合国亲善大使 | 2001-03-23 09:03:01 英文锁定 | French superstar Zinedine Zidane one of the world's highest paid soccer players was appointed goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Development Program Monday, with the aim of cutting poverty. "I've known hard times, too," said Zidane, who had a modest, often difficult, upbringing. "I know what (poverty) is. I, too, lived in difficult places where we didn't have everything. And today I want to help.
French superstar Zinedine Zidane one of the world's highest paid soccer players was appointed goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Development Program Monday, with the aim of cutting poverty.
"I've known hard times, too," said Zidane, who had a modest, often difficult, upbringing. "I know what (poverty) is. I, too, lived in difficult places where we didn't have everything. And today I want to help.
"I will push myself to work hard, to make sure I'm present and to do some good with my image and what I represent."
Nearly one in five people some 1.2 billion men, women and children lives in extreme poverty, subsisting on less than a dollar a day, according to UNDP. Half the world struggles on less than two dollars a day.
The agency estimates that 800 million people do not have access to health services, and 500 million are chronically malnourished. Some 90 million children are unable to attend primary school and 230 million have no access to secondary school.
"Competition behind a football is much easier for me," the Juventus player said. "Today's battle is very difficult. It's not yet won. It won't be easy for me or anyone else.
"But we should not be deterred by the magnitude of remaining problems because the good news is that each of us can do something to help reduce poverty."
The son of an Algerian immigrant born and raised in a tough suburb of Marseille, Zizou as he is popularly known in France has since risen to dizzying heights of stardom.
The UN's newest ambassador against poverty is now ranked among the world's highest paid soccer players, in an era of rampant commercialization and spiraling professional salaries.
"I think if we have those salaries it's because we deserve it," said Zidane, the star of France's winning team at the 1998 World Cup, twice elected FIFA Player of the Year. "I have known difficulty and now I'm taking advantage of what is happening to me.
But it's up to the haves to help the have nots.
"Everyone who has money and who has a heart must do something, it's undeniable," he said.
Zidane has been involved privately in a number of humanitarian projects and teamed up with Ronaldo for a UNDP advertising campaign last year.
Zidane is the second soccer player after Brazil's Ronaldo to be appointed a UNDP goodwill ambassador. Other ambassadors are US actor Danny Glover, Egyptian-born actor Omar Sharif, South African novelist Nadine Gordimer and Japanese actress Misako Kono.
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